Ironman Triathlon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ironman Triathlon, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Swimmers cross the waters of Kailua-Kona Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii in the first leg of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.
Enlarge
Swimmers cross the waters of Kailua-Kona Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii in the first leg of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.

An Ironman Triathlon is a triathlon sanctioned by the World Triathlon Corporation that adheres to specific distances for each part of the event. The Ironman World Championship is an annual triathlon race, possibly the most famous triathlon in the world. It is held in the US state of Hawaii. It features three endurance events: swimming, biking, and running. It is based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and involves a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometre) swim (across Kailua-Kona Bay), followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometre) bike ride (from Keauhou to Hawi and back), and a 26.2 mile (42.2 kilometre) marathon along the coast of the Big Island (from Keauhou to Keahole Point to Kailua-Kona).

Official qualifying events for the Hawaii Ironman take place annually around the world, in places such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, the Canary Islands (Spain), South Africa, and Europe.

Many people refer to all triathlons of this length as "Ironman" races, but this is technically incorrect. Race directors are careful to use generic terms, such as Iron Distance Triathlon, to describe races that are not affiliated with the World Triathlon Corporation, since "Ironman"® is a registered trademark, and can be used only with permission from the World Triathlon Corporation.

Contents

[edit] History

The Ironman Triathlon was the first major competition of its kind. The first Ironman Triathlon was held in 1978 Honolulu, Hawaii until 1980. In 1981, the competition was moved to the less urbanized Big Island by Valerie Silk. The following year, Silk moved the race date from February to October. There were two Ironman Triathlon events in 1982 as a result of the change.

The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay (a running race for 5-person teams). Among the participants were numerous representatives of both the Mid-Pacific Road Runners and the Waikiki Swim Club, whose members had long been debating which athletes were more fit, runners or swimmers.

On this occasion, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins pointed out that a recent article in Sports Illustrated magazine had declared that Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded "oxygen uptake" of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more fit than anyone. Cdr. Collins and his wife, Judy, had taken part in the triathlons staged in 1974 and 1975 by the San Diego Track Club in and around Mission Bay, California, as well as the Optimist Sports Fiesta Triathlon in Coronado, California, in 1975. A number of the other military athletes in attendance were also familiar with the San Diego races, so they understood the concept when Cdr. Collins suggested that the debate should be settled through a race combining the three existing long-distance competitions already on the island: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.85 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 mi./42.195 km).

It is worth noting that no one present had ever done the bike race; Cdr. Collins calculated that, by shaving 3 miles off the course and riding counter-clockwise around the island, the bike leg could start at the finish of the Waikiki Rough Water and end at the Aloha Tower, the traditional start of the Honolulu Marathon. Prior to racing, each athlete received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Handwritten on the last page was this exhortation: "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life", now a registered trademark.

With a nod to a local runner who was notorious for his demanding workouts, Collins said, "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Of the fifteen men to start off the in early morning on February 18th, 1978, twelve completed the race and the world's first Ironman, Gordon Haller, completed in 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds.

With no further marketing efforts, the race gathered as many as 50 athletes the following year. The race, however, was postponed a day because of bad weather conditions and only fifteen competitors started off the race Sunday morning. San Diego's Tom Warren, age 35, won in 11 hours, 15 minutes, and 56 seconds. Lyn Lemaire, a championship cyclist from Boston, placed sixth overall and became the first "Ironwoman".

Collins planned on changing the race into a relay event to draw more participants, but Sports Illustrated's journalist Barry McDermott, in the area to cover a golf tournament, discovered the race and wrote a ten page account of it. During the following year, hundreds of curious participants contacted Collins.

The Ironman Triathlon inspired the addition of the triathlon sport (though over shorter distances) at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

The original Ironman is held in conditions which are not uniquely suited to endurance racing: the Hawaii water is sufficiently warm that the helpfully buoyant wetsuits used in cooler triathlons are not allowed; though the cycling consists of long hills with only moderate gradients, strong and gusting cross-winds are normally found on the course; and the marathon leg of the race is usually strikingly hot. Other races under the WTC aegis have their own difficulties, characteristic of their setting and season. Anyone completing one of these races within the time limit, so long as it is the prescribed distance, is entitled to call him/herself an Ironman (the term being apparently gender-neutral). At one time there was no cut-off time, then a 15 hour time limit - for these events the normal time limit is now 17 hours. Some iron distance races (not sanctioned by the WTC corporation, but using the same standard distances) have different cut-off times.

[edit] Today

The Ironman format remains unchanged, and the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as the most honored and prestigious triathlon event to win worldwide. For the 25th anniversary on October 18, 2003, nearly 1500 athletes were enlisted, most of which had to go through qualification competitions (although some were admitted through the lottery).

The Ironman Triathlon is a grueling event that pushes its participants to the limits of endurance. Some, however, find the prescribed distances fall short of these limits. Hence, events such as the double iron triathlon have come about. More extreme formats have evolved; there are in fact triple, quadruple, quintuple, deca, and 15× events that are multiples of the original Ironman distance triathlon. The world records in the quintuple and deca iron races are held by a woman, Astrid Benöhr.

[edit] Qualifying events

By 2007 there were twenty-one Ironman Triathlon qualifying races throughout the world:

Another way of qualifying is the Ironman lottery. 200 spots are reserved for athletes that enter the lottery, 50 of them being international spots, the other 150 being US spots. The lottery entries are then drawn out of a pool of about 3,000 entries.

[edit] Legendary Ironman triathletes

  • Paula Newby-Fraser
    • 8-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (overall record)
    • 6 consecutive victories in Hawaii (overall record)
    • 24 Ironman victories overall (overall record)
    • Nickname is "The Queen of Kona"
  • Natascha Badmann
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii
  • Dave Scott
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (men's record)
    • Nickname is "The Man"
  • Mark Allen
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (men's record)
    • 5 consecutive victories in Hawaii
    • Nickname is "The Grip"
  • Greg Welch
    • First international winner of Ironman Hawaii
    • Won the Grand Slam of races during his career

[edit] Palmares

[edit] Women

[edit] Men

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../i/r/o/Ironman_Triathlon_23ab.html"