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Ironman Triathlon

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An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.

The name Ironman Triathlon refers to both the original Ironman triathlon and the annual Ironman World Championship. Also called Ironman Hawaii, the world championships of the event, held annually in Hawaii since 1978 (with an additional race in 1982), are now preceded by a series of qualifying events. Ironman Triathlon became known for its grueling length, harsh race conditions, and television coverage.

concrete tower
Aloha Tower was the original finish site

History

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 Collins 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 1975 Optimist Sports Fiesta Triathlon in Coronado, California. A number of the other military athletes in attendance were also familiar with the San Diego races, so they understood the concept when 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./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.219 mi./42.195 km).

Until that point, no one present had ever done the bike race. Collins calculated that by shaving 3 miles (4.8 km) 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." Each of the racers had their own support crew to supply water, food and encouragement during the event. Of the fifteen men to start off in the early morning on February 18, 1978, twelve completed the race. Gordon Haller, a US Navy Communications Specialist, was the first to earn the title Ironman by completing the course with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, 58 seconds. The runner-up John Dunbar, a US Navy SEAL, led after the second transition and had a chance to win but ran out of water on the marathon course; his support crew resorted to giving him beer instead.[1][2][3]

With no further marketing efforts, the race gathered as many as 50 athletes in 1979. The race, however, was postponed a day because of bad weather conditions. Only fifteen competitors started off the race Sunday morning. San Diego's Tom Warren won in 11 hours, 15 minutes, 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.

Start & Finish of the Ironman World Championship on Aliʻi Drive in Kailua-Kona Hawaii

In 1981 organizer Valerie Silk moved the competition to the less urbanized Hawaiʻi Island (called the Big Island) and in 1982 moved the race date from February to October; as a result of this change there were two Ironman Triathlon events in 1982.

A milestone in the marketing of the legend and history of the race happened in February 1982. Julie Moss, a college student competing to gather research for her exercise physiology thesis, moved toward the finish line in first place. As she neared the finish, severe fatigue and dehydration set in, and she fell, just yards away from the finish line. Although Kathleen McCartney passed her for the women’s title, Moss nevertheless crawled to the finish line. Her performance was broadcast worldwide and created the Ironman mantra that just finishing is a victory.

The sport of triathlon was added as an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as a shorter distance race (1,500-metre (0.93 mi) swim, 40-kilometre (25 mi) cycle, 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) run).

A number of non-WTC "Ironman Distance" triathlons have been held since the mid-1990s. The limited number of WTC-sanctioned events, and the limited number of entries available per race, have combined with a growth in the sport that has created demand for these non-trademarked events. Many of them share the 2.4-mile (3.9 km), 112-mile (180 km), 26.2-mile (42.2 km) format with Ironman. Originally, many used the Ironman name. Due to aggressive trademark protection, most of these races no longer use the word "Ironman". The largest of these include the Vineman Triathlon and Silverman Triathlon.

The original Ironman is held in conditions which are uniquely punishing for endurance racing: the Hawaii water is warm enough that helpfully buoyant wetsuits are not allowed, though "swim skins", non - buoyant swimming suits that improve an athlete's hydrodynamics and provide muscle compression are; though the cycling hills have only moderate gradients they are normally crossed by strong and gusting winds; and the marathon leg of the race is usually extremely 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 themselves an Ironman (the term being 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, but using the same standard distances) have different cut-off times.

Today

The Ironman format remains unchanged, and the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as an honored and prestigious triathlon event to win worldwide.[4][5] Although thousands of athletes worldwide compete at an Ironman event each year, the vast majority aim simply to just finish the course if they are first timers, or set a personal record if they've raced this distance before. Only very talented athletes realistically compete for a spot in Hawaii, and just finishing an Ironman race is often the highlight of many triathletes' career.

People completing such an event within the strict event time cutoffs are agreed to be recognized as "Ironmen": the plural "Ironmans" refers to multiples of "Ironman" as a short form of "Ironman Triathlon." In the triathlon community an Ironman is someone who has completed a race of the appropriate distance, whether or not it falls under the aegis of WTC.

Ironman World Championships

Main article: Ironman World Championship

Over time the popularity of the sport of triathlon grew, and the annual race on the Big Island became The Ironman World Championship, with a series of qualifying races required to enter the championship. The Hawaii race consists of the swim in the bay of Kailua-Kona, the bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hāwī and back, and the marathon run along the coast (from Keauhou to Keahole Point and back to Kailua-Kona); finishing on Aliʻi Drive. The most recent Ironman World Championship took place on October 13, 2012 and was won by Pete Jacobs of Australia in 8:18:37 and Leanda Cave in 9:15:54..

The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2011 by Craig Alexander (Australia), whose winning time was 8 hours 3 minutes 56 seconds. Chrissie Wellington (Great Britain) set the women's course record in 2009 with a winning time of 8 hours 54 minutes 2 seconds.

Amateur triathletes can qualify for the World Championship through placement in one of the other Ironman series of races or a few selected Ironman 70.3 races. Entry into the race can also be obtained through a random allocation lottery or through the Ironman’s charitable eBay auction.

Ironman series

For links to previous Ironman series, see Ironman World Championship.

There are 28 Ironman Triathlon races throughout the world that enable qualification for the 2013 Ironman World Championships. Professional athletes qualify for the championship through a point ranking system, where points are earned based on their final placement in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events. The top 50 male and top 35 female professionals in points qualify for the championship. Amateur athletes qualify for the championship by receiving slots allocated to each age group's top finishers in a qualifying event. The Ironman qualifying events for 2013 include:[6]

Australia

Ironman Australia: swim finish

Canada

Europe

Mexico

United States

Other

Notable Iron-distance triathletes

Men

  • Craig Alexander
    • 3-time Ironman World Champion (2008, 2009 and 2011)
    • Current Hawaii course record holder (8:03:56 in 2011)
    • Nickname is "Crowie"
  • Mark Allen
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (joint men's record)
    • 5 consecutive victories in Hawaii (overall record)
    • Nickname is "The Grip"
  • Jon Blais
    • The first person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or "Lou Gehrig's disease"), a terminal muscle-wasting illness, to enter and complete the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. He completed the October 15, 2005, race in 16 hours and 29 minutes. He died on May 27, 2007.
    • Nickname is "Blazeman"
  • Cameron Brown
    • 10-time winner of Iron Man New Zealand in Taupo (2001–2005, 2007–2011)
    • Second in Iron Man World Championship in 2001 & 2005, Bronze in 2002 & 2003
    • Top 3 finishes in Kona, Hawaii (2001-2003, 2005)
  • Jason Langston[citation needed]
    • Most Ironman Triathlon completed in one year (48 from July 7, 2012 to November 7, 2012)
    • First person in history to complete an Ironman in each of the 48 contiguous US States
  • Dick and Rick Hoyt
    • Around age 65, Dick completed the Ironman Triathlon with disabled son Rick, who cannot walk or talk. Dick pulled Rick in a boat through the swim, rode with him on a specially outfitted bike through the 112-mile (180 km) ride, and pushed him in a wheelchair through the run.
    • Completed six Ironman Triathlon competitions.
  • Luc Van Lierde
    • First European male winner of Ironman Hawaii
    • Holder of all-time record until 2011 (7:50:27 in 1996 Ironman Europe)
    • Set the Hawaii course record (8:04:08) in 1996, which held until 2011
  • Andreas Raelert
    • Current record holder for the fastest time for all Iron-distance races (7:41:33, Roth, 2011)
  • Dave Scott
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (joint men's record)
    • Nickname is "The Man"
  • Normann Stadler
    • 2-time Ironman World Champion (2004 and 2006)
    • Hawai'i bike course record holder (4:18:23 with an average of 26 mph; under overcast weather conditions)
    • Nickname is "Stormin' Norman"
  • Marino Vanhoenacker
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman in Klagenfurt, Austria
    • Currently (2011) holds the record time of 7 hours, 45 minutes and 58 seconds at "Ironman" sanctioned events
  • Greg Welch
    • First non-American male winner of Ironman Hawaii
    • Won the Grand Slam of races during his career
    • Nickname is "Mighty Mouse"

Women

  • Natascha Badmann
    • First European female winner of Ironman Hawaii
    • 6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii
  • Lisa Bentley
    • 11-time Ironman Winner from Canada
    • 5 Top 10 finishes at Ironman World Championships.
    • Competed as one of the best female triathletes of all time while living with the challenges of cystic fibrosis
  • Kelly Bruno
    • Holds Ironman Hawaii record for female amputees
    • Second female amputee to finish the Ironman Hawaii (2007)
    • Was a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua
  • Paula Newby-Fraser
    • 8-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (overall record)
    • 4 consecutive victories in Hawaii
    • 24 Ironman victories overall (overall record)
    • Nickname is "The Queen of Kona"
  • Sarah Reinertsen
    • First woman to attempt/complete the Ironman Hawaii triathlon on a prosthetic leg
  • Yvonne van Vlerken
    • Broke Paula Newby-Fraser's 14 year old all-time record in wet and cold conditions setting a 8:45:48 at Quelle Challenge Roth in 2008, and held this record for one year
    • Twice winner of Quelle Challenge Roth
    • Recorded a sub-9 hour time (8:51:55) on her Ironman-distance debut in Roth, 2007
    • Completed three sub-9-hour Ironman-distance results
    • The only female athlete in history[citation needed] to hold the world record over both the half-Ironman distance (4:07:29 at Ironman 70.3 Antwerp 2006) and the Ironman-distance (8:45:48 at Challenge Roth 2008)
  • Chrissie Wellington
    • Winner of the Ironman Hawaii World Championship at her first attempt, less than a year after turning professional
    • 3-time successive and 4-time overall female winner of Ironman Hawaii (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011)
    • Current female Hawaii course record holder: 8:54:02 (2009)
    • Current record holder for the fastest time for all Ironman-distance races (8:18:13 at Challenge Roth in 2011)
    • Holds the four fastest-ever women's times over the Ironman-distance: 8:18:13 (Roth, 2011), 8:19:13 (Roth, 2010), 8:31:59 (Roth, 2009), 8:33:56 (Port Elizabeth, 2011).
      • Until Caroline Steffen raced 8:34:51 at Melbourne on March 25, 2012, Wellington held the five fastest-ever times with her 8:36:13 at Tempe (2010).
    • Official Ironman world record record[n 1] holder: 8:33:56 (Port Elizabeth, 2011)
    • Fastest female iron-distance bike time: 4:36:33 (Roth, 2010)
    • Fastest female iron-distance marathon run time: 2:44:54 (Roth, 2011)
    • Greatest number of sub-9 hour times (nine, five more than Paula Newby-Fraser's previous record)
    • Undefeated over the Ironman distance
    • First Ironman World Champion from the United Kingdom
  1. ^ record over all WTC Ironman-branded ("M-dot") races only

Ironman 70.3

Main article: Ironman 70.3

In 2005, WTC instituted the Ironman 70.3 race series. This shorter course, also known as a Half Ironman, consists of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. As with the Ironman series, it consists of a number of qualifying races at various locations worldwide, culminating in a world championship race with athletes drawn largely from top finishers in the qualifying events. The world championship is held at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada.[7] For amateur athletes, some 70.3 events act as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.[8] For professional triathletes, up to three 70.3 events can be used to accumulate points to be put towards their championship qualifying point rankings.[6]

The Ironman trademark

The Ironman Triathlon logo is a trademark of the World Triathlon Corporation. The WTC has also registered the trademark "Ironman Triathlon" for its athletic competitions, and the trademark "Ironman" for a line of clothing, athletic equipment, and souvenirs, and licensed the name to Timex for their line of Timex Ironman wristwatches. The trademark also extends to the use of "140.6" and "70.3," the respective distances for a full and half Ironman.

Symbols

M-Dot is the symbol that refers to the event. The symbol is taken from the Ironman logo, which is the word IRONMAN (in all caps) with a dot on top of the letter M, which is meant to look like a person. The dot is the head of the person and the M is the body of the person. It represents the need to have a fit body and a strong willpower.

Iron-distance triathlon

Other organizations holding a race of equal distances may only refer to their triathlons as a "Full Distance Triathlon" or something similar, occasionally also involving the -man suffix, though the term 'ironman' is used to refer to such races unofficially. Races that are not officially "Ironman" race are also referred to as Iron distance and Half Iron distance (unofficially).

Examples of such races on the full iron distance are:

  • The Challenge Family is a series of large full, including Challenge Roth, and half iron-distance triathlon races.
  • HITS Triathlon Series
  • Revolution 3 triathlon series
  • Outlaw Triathlon, Nottingham, UK
  • Embrunman, Embrun, France
  • ElbaMan, Island of Elba, Italy
  • ForestMan, New Forest, UK
  • Norseman Triathlon, Eidfjord to Rjukan, Norway
  • Bergen Triathlon, at the island Askøy, Norway
  • Vineman Full, Sonoma County, CA USA
  • ChesapeakeMan, Cambridge, MD USA
  • Redman Triathlon, Oklahoma City, OK USA
  • Beach 2 Battleship, Willmington, NC USA
  • Israman, Eilat, ISR
  • Almere Holland Triathlon, Almere, The Netherlands

Training for Iron-distance triathlon

Training for the Ironman or Iron-distance triathlon requires preparing for long-distance competition in three events. Training can take several years of aerobic base training before a triathlete is prepared to safely compete at Iron-distance events. There are many coaching services available for full-distance triathlon training.

Notes

  1. ^ "A Look Back at a Look Back: Ironman's First 10 years". World Triathlon Corporation. 23 January 2003. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. ^ McDermott, Barry (14 May 1979). "Ironman". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  3. ^ Newell, Paul (10 October 2008). "Ironman competition co-founded by Navy officer in 1979". NavySeals.com. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  4. ^ "Ironman World Championship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Triathlete's Guide". BeyondTransition. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  5. ^ McCormack, Chris (2011). I'm Here To Win. Center Street. ISBN 978-1-4555-0267-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b "IM Qualifying". World Triathlon Corporation. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  7. ^ "Ironman 70.3 Series". World Triathlon Corporation. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  8. ^ "Ironman World Championship Qualification". World Triathlon Corporation. Retrieved 22 November 2011.

References

  • Müller, Mathias; Carlson, Timothy (2010). 17 Hours to Glory: Extraordinary Stories from the Heart of Triathlon. Boulder, CO: Velo Press. ISBN 978-1-934030-43-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

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