Glam influencer who drowned during Texas Ironman had battled flu but ignored pleas to ditch race

Source: New York Post

The glam influencer who drowned during a Texas Ironman swim had been battling the flu – but ignored pals who begged her to pull out of the brutal endurance race, according to one friend. “She was ill before the trip, she wasn’t okay,” Luis Taveira said of close friend Mara Flávia, 38, who died during Saturday’s race in The Woodlands. “My wife and I spoke with her to say she was too weak for this race, although a couple of days ago when we talked to her, she insisted she was okay,” Taveira said of the Brazil-born influencer, according to sports website the Spun.