What is Ironman Triathlon?

Information about Ironman Triathlon

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Ironman Triathlon, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

The Ironman World Triathlon Championship or Ironman Triathlon is an annual triathlon race, made famous by its grueling length, race conditions, and sports television coverage.

Held every Fall in the US city of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii the race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hawi and back), and ending with a 26 ⁷/₃₂ mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island (from Keauhou to Keahole Point to Kailua-Kona); finishing on Ali'i Drive.

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

The logo shown above 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. Organizations may also refer to their triathlons generically as a "Full Distance Triathlon" to designate a triathlon of a similar distance.

History

Start & Finish line of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship on Ali'i Drive in Kona Hawaii.

The sport of Triathlon was born in Southern California, where multisport events involving swimming, cycling, running, and other things were run by athletic clubs celebrating summer exercise. Ironman Triathlon was the first major competition to extend the distance to an extreme endurance event. The first Ironman Triathlon was held in 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was there 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." Each of the racers had their own support crew to supply libations, nutrition, and encouragement during their long journey. Of the fifteen men to start off in the early morning on February 18th, 1978, twelve completed the race. Gordon Haller was the first to earn the title Ironman by completing the course in a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 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.

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 came nearer to the finish line, sever fatigue and dehydration set in. In the homestretch, she staggeredfell like a punch-drunk boxer. Just yards away from the finish line, she fell to the ground. 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 (1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle, 10 km run).

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.

Today

The Ironman format remains unchanged, and the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as the most honored and prestigious triathlon event to win worldwide. Many consider this to be the most difficult sport in the history of the world. 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).

Although thousands of athletes worldwide compete at an Ironman event each year, the vast majority aim simply to set a PR time or even to finish the course. 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 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.

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 15Ã— 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 BenÃ¶hr.

Ironman 70.3

In 2005, WTC instituted the Ironman 70.3 race series. This shorter course, previously known as a half ironman, consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile 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 in Clearwater, Florida. ^[1] Some 70.3 events also act as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

Qualifying events

By 2007 there were 21 Ironman Triathlon qualifying races throughout the world:

American Ironmans

Ironman Arizona in Tempe, Arizona; added in 2005
Ironman Coeur d'Alene in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA; added in 2003
Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach, Florida; added in 1999
Ironman Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky; added in 2007
Ironman USA in Lake Placid, New York; added in 1999
Ironman Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; added in 2002

European Ironmans

Ironman France in Nice, France
Ironman Germany in Frankfurt, Germany
Ironman Switzerland, in ZÃ¼rich, Switzerland
Ironman UK in Sherborne, United Kingdom; added in 2005; transition is in the grounds of Sherborne Castle
Ironman Lanzarote in the Canary Islands
Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt, Austria

Australian Ironmans

Other Ironmans

Ironman Brazil on Florianopolis Island, Brazil
Ironman Canada in Penticton, Canada
Ironman Japan in Gotō, Japan
Ironman Korea in Seogwipo, South Korea
Ironman Malaysia in Langkawi, Malaysia
Ironman New Zealand in Taupo, New Zealand
Ironman South Africa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

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.