The History of the Long, Grueling Ironman Triathlon
During the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay awards ceremony in Hawaii, an argument broke out. After this five-man team running race, members of the Waikiki Swim Club and Mid-Pacific Road Runners wanted an answer as to who was more fit, swimmers or runners.
In addition to their arguments, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins stated that, according to a
Sports Illustrated recent article about great Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx, cyclists were fit, seeing as Merckx had the highest recorded “maximum oxygen uptake.” Triathlons had already taken place in Mission Bay, California in 1974 and 1975, so other
athletes attending the event agreed when Collins suggested that the dilemma should be resolved through a race that combined three of the longest races already on the island. The 3.862 km Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the 185 km Around-Oahu Bike Race, and the 42.195
km Honolulu Marathon were combined to form what is now known as the Ironman Triathlon.
After some rearranging and shortening of the normally two-day bike race, the entire event was squeezed into a one-day race. Before the start of the race, Collins handed out a few sheets of paper stating the rules and course procedure for the race. On the
last page, Collins had handwritten, “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life!” After everyone had read this statement, Collins stated, with a nod, that “Whoever finishes first, we’ll call him the Ironman.”
Racers started at the Waikiki River, swimming 3.862 km, to where they mounted bicycles and began the Around-Oahu Bike Race portion of the triathlon. After the 180 km bike race, racers reached Aloha Tower, the traditional starting point for the Honolulu Marathon.
They then embarked on the 42.195 km run to the finish line of the first ever Ironman Triathlon. Of the fifteen athletes that started the triathlon on February 18, 1978, twelve completed the race. The world’s first Ironman, Gordon Haller, who was a U.S. Navy
Communications Specialist, completed the triathlon with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds.
The next year, over 50 participants signed up for the Ironman Triathlon, but only 15 started, a day late, due to awful weather conditions. Tom Warren, of San Diego, won the 1979 Ironman Triathlon in a time of 11 hours, 15 minutes, and 56 seconds. The world’s
first “Ironwoman,” Lyn Lemaire, a champion cyclist from Boston, placed sixth overall, but was first in the woman’s category.
Collins initially wanted to make the triathlon a relay event, but due to a ten page article in
Sports Illustrated about it, many curious participants contacted Collins resulting in the race being moved to, the less populated, Hawai’I Island, also known as the Big Island. Organizer Valerie Silk also changed the date from February to October in
the summer of 1982, resulting in two triathlons that year.
In February of 1982, the world appreciated how hard it is just to finish the Ironman Triathlon. Julie Moss, a student who was participating to gather research for her exercise physiology theses, fell just meters from the finish line, as a result of severe
dehydration and fatigue. Although passed by Kathleen McCartney, who took the Ironwoman title, Moss used her last remaining strength to crawl across the finish line. Due to the worldwide coverage of the sport, the Ironman mantra was created, that just finishing
the Ironman is a victory.
Today, the Ironman Triathlon is the same length as the first and is organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. Ironman events now have a 17-hour time limit, in which the swimming leg of the race must be completed by 9:20 AM, the bike race by 5:30 PM,
and the marathon by midnight, after starting at 7:00 AM. Ironman Japan has a time limit of only 15 hours. The annual Ironman World Championship is still held in Hawaii each and every year since 1978, with the exception of 1982, in which two triathlons were
held.
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