1974 – 1989 TRIATHLON CALENDAR, NAMES
There is something special about Ironman Triathlon in the history of sport. The Sport would not have happened without the actions of the four women that led to the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlons in Honolulu, Hawai’i and to Ironman Triathlon in Kona Hawai’i. The four women were the links to the triathlon contributions of three men. The seven women and men launched long distance triathlon from 1974 to 1989.
[See Lists From * to ****]
[Below are selected key dates and the 7 people in the chain of events of a new sport]
WHEN, WHO, WHAT, WHERE*
25 September 1974 Flo Squires, the Collins family – Mission Bay Triathlon, San Diego CA
14 February 1977 Judy Collins, John Collins – Triathlon decision night, Honolulu, HI
11 November 1977 Judy Collins, John Collins – Announcement at Waikiki Swim Club (WSC)
18 February 1978 Judy Collins, John Collins – The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (H.I.M.T.)
14 January 1979 Judy Collins, John Collins – The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
Summer 1979 Collinses say yes to ABC Wide-World-of -Sports to film Iron Man on 1/12/80
15 October 1979 Carin Vanderbush, Judy Collins, John Collins, “Hank” – Nautilus – The transfer
12 January 1980 “Hank” (Grundman) – Nautilus Ironman Triathlon
14 February 1981 Valerie Silk, Earl Yamaguchi – The International Triathlon, Kona HI
09 October 1982 Valerie Silk, Earl Yamaguchi – Bud Lite Ironman
18 October 1986 Valerie Silk, Earl Yamaguchi Cash awards, = $, F, M
1980 – 1989 ABC Television filmed Ironman Triathlon each year
11 November 1977 – Friday
Judy and John Collins made the first public announcement of the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) triathlon. The 140.6 miles joined the annual events of the swim, bike and run clubs – a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles of the 115 mile bike ride and the 26.2 mile marathon to make one course.
The 1977 WSC Annual Meeting, The Ranch House
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
December 1977 – January 1978
Judy and John Collins added extras to their triathlon including a special name.
The “Iron Man” name meant a long distance pace. A runner at the Naval Shipyard who could keep going for hours had earned the nickname “Iron Man.”
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 February 1978 – Wednesday
Pre-triathlon meeting for athletes and support crew: There were detailed rules and a special entry form and explanations about that. All was designed to make the triathlon a safe event so there would be Police Department approval for a second event the next year. Each athlete was required to have a support vehicle in the first three Honolulu triathlons. That was done each year in the O’ahu Perimeter Relays. In 1978 and 1979 the Collinses provided the powder for the athletes to mix an electrolyte drink for hydration, “Gookinaid.” The runners’ drink was the invention of Bill Gookin of the San Diego Track Club. The entry fee was $5 to cover the screen-printing screen and paint, the hardware store purchases for the trophies and the cost of the Gookinaid. Athletes provided their own shirts, new or used, for Judy and John Collins to screen-print with the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon logo. The scent of the screen-printed shirts as they dried still permeated the Collinses home on Saturday morning, 18 February.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
[18 February 1978 – and 6 June 1998]
NOTE: Judy Collins and John Collins planned a long distance triathlon for Honolulu, Hawai’i for February 1978 and 20 years later, an off-road triathlon in Portobelo Panamá for 6 June 1998. The triathlons that Judy and John put on in Hawai’i and Panamá continue to this day, 23 April 2023.
Portobelo Extremo Triathlon
La Guaira, Portobelo National Park, Panamá
18 February 1978 – Saturday ** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
18 on the beach, 15 started, including Race Director John Collins. First finisher was Gordon Haller.
On Sunday The Honolulu Advertiser Sports headline read “Iron-Man Triathlon: Haller Leads 15.”
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
19 February 1978 – Sunday – the Awards pick-up, all day
John Collins presented handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies of his design when athletes stopped by the Collins’ house to pick up their shirts. John was outside in the carport in the morning to screen-print the word “Finisher” on the shirts of 12 of the athletes and to finnish welding the trophies with help from Kristin Collins.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 January 1979 – Sunday *** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Second Annual Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
38 on the beach Saturday, 16 on Sunday. Twice cancelled, high winds, then on, thanks to a boat and driver from the nearby Outrigger Canoe Club, to carry the lifeguards. 15 started including the first woman, Lyn Lemaire, and 16 year old Michael Collins. First finisher was Tom Warren.
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 January 1979 – Monday evening – the Awards presentations
John Collins presented his handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies and the First Woman, First Man trophies that had been donated by Nautilus Fitness Club. The awards ceremony was at Honolulu Harbor dockside of the replica Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hokūlēa.
Honolulu Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
Spring and Summer 1979
There was mainland publicity in 3 publications from April to July – In Swim-Swim magazine, the West Coast Swims Newsletter, and an 8 page article by Barry McDermott in the 14 May Sports Illustrated. Tom Warren, first-to-finish in 1979, made an appearance on the Tonight Show. The Collinses said yes when ABC Wide World of Sports asked to film the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon on 12 January. The family then learned they would leave Honolulu (on 31 October 1979). They began a search for a 1980 Race Director.
Fall 1979
Phillip “Moki” Martin and friends planned and did a 1/2 distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in and around Coronado California. They called it “SUPERFROG.” Moki, a Navy Seal, is a native of the island of Maui, Hawai’i. Moki Martin’s SUPERFROG was the original 70.3 mile triathlon. News of the half-distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Coronado, California boosted the spirits of the Iron Man Founders, Judy Collins and John Collins.
15 October 1979 – Monday
“Hank” at Nautilus saved the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon by agreeing to be the Race Director after he had said no to that earlier. Nautilus had sponsored Gordon Haller, the first-to-finish the triathlon in 1978 and had then donated teeshirt blanks in 1979. It was the afternoon before Judy Collins must cancel the Iron Man at the 1979 Annual Banquet Meeting of the Waikiki Swim Club. John Collins would make the call to cancel the ABC filming of the Iron Man on 12 January 1980.
Judy Collins asked John Collins to go to Nautilus Fitness Club – with the mail from athletes requesting entries – to tell Hank about the offer from Carin Vanderbush to organize volunteers from the Waikiki Swim Club to help the 1980 Race Director.
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
16 October 1979 – Tuesday
Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) President Judy Collins announced the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (Nautilus) was back on the calendar. Incoming Waikiki Swim Club President Carin Vanderbush is the one who had lined up swim club volunteers to help the Race Director on 12 January.
The 1979 WSC Annual Banquet and Business Meeting
Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
12 January 1980 – Saturday **** See the list of 95 names below
Race Director Hank Grundman
The Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon
The swim leg was moved to shallow, still water because the water was too rough on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course that day. ABC would not be able to film the triathlon on Sunday.
108 athletes started including three women – Robin Beck and two from O’ahu, Eve Anderson, Junie Garnenez. The First finisher was Dave Scott, a past winner of The Waikiki Rough Water Swim.
The lagoon at Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 February 1981 – Saturday
Race Director Valerie Silk
Assistant Race Director Earl Yamaguchi
The International Triathalon (sic)
Volunteers wearing triathlon teeshirts supported the athletes at Aid Stations on the long triathlon course on the Big Island. The volunteers took the place of the athlete support vehicle requirement in the Honolulu Triathlons.
Records show 325 athletes.
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, Hawai’i
1981 to 1989 on The Big Island, Hawai’i
Valerie Silk and Earl Yamaguchi were the architects of the Kona Ironman Triathlons in the Kona years. They relied on a small staff, a community of loyal helpers and thousands of volunteers each year. Silk wrote or oversaw all the publicity about the Kona Triathlons. Silk converted a recreational swim club endurance triathlon event into a corporate business, the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC). Silk copyrighted a new one-word name, Ironman, instead of Iron Man, and created a new race logo, the “M dot.” Earl Yamaguchi became Vice President for Ironman Qualifying Events and organized Ironman events beyond Hawai’i. Silk published a magazine for the athletes in 1982. There had been an Ironman Triathlon in February 1982. The ABC cameras had filmed a dramatic moment when the the first two women were near the finish line. Silk and Yamaguchi made the decision to hold a second triathlon that year so that the annual Triathlon was in a month with good weather that followed a season suitable for athletes to train. The Kona Ironman World Championship has been held in October since 1982. In the fall of 1982 there was a beer sponsor in the Ironman Triathlon name.
09 October 1982 – Saturday
Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship
Kona, Hawai
Something else happened in 1982 which is a little known fact: Silk wrote an anonymous story for the athlete magazine in 1982 that she believed to be true. It was not. Silk had been credited for the Triathlon idea. That is why she wrote a story in a hurry that sounded like what had been written in a humorous sports column before the first Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu. That 1978 column discussed the origins of the Iron Man Triathlon on O’ahu based on conversation with an unidentified runner who had called it in. That person told the editor to call John Collins too. There were many errors in the column but it was an amusing read accompanied by a silly cartoon. In June of 2001 Judy Collins asked Silk a question in a phone call. “Do you know who in the media first wrote there was a single founder of Iron Man?” Silk’s answer, “It was I. My “ex” told me the triathlon was John’s idea.” Judy and John learned then that Silk’s “ex” was the person the Collinses knew as “Hank” at Nautilus. That is when Judy and John learned from Silk that Hank’s last name was Grundman.
Silk’s “ex” had been the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon Race Director. Silk told Judy and John Collins in 2018 that she wrote or oversaw the writing of all the articles and press releases for Ironman in those years. Anonymously. Silk and the Founders met in Kona in 1983 when Silk invited them to see the triathlon. It was a wonderful event and Silk was a gracious host. By then the “Ironman origins myth” had been circulating for over a year unknown to Founders Judy Collins and John Collins.
Judy and John thought Silk featured John in Kona because he had been in the 1978 Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu and he was comfortable behind a microphone. Reporters asked odd questions of John and wrote odd stories. The Kona community and athletes seemed to be following a script that was unknown to Judy and John. The Collinses had no reason to mention all the years of incorrect media stories to Silk until 2001. By then versions of the “IM origins media myth” about a military man and beer had been repeated in lead sentences about IM for almost 20 years. Judy and John Collins found Silk’s first version of her Iron Man origins story featuring John Collins in 2018. It was in a 1982 Kona Program for the athletes. They emailed Silk about their long sought find. That is when Silk told them “the rest of the story.” Media mystery solved.
18 October 1986 – Saturday
Ironman World Championship
Prize money was awarded to Ironman top finishers, equal amounts for men and women.
Kona, Hawai’i
IRONMAN TRIATHLONS OVERSEAS
1983 – A U.S. Championship Ironman event – Los Angeles, CA
1985 – Ironman New Zealand, Auckland
1985 – Ironman Japan, Lake Biwa
1986 – Ironman Canada, Penticton B. C.
1988 – Ironman Europe, Roth, West Germany
1989 – Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC) is sold.
HTC becomes World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).
* The key women and men in the early years of long distance triathlon:
Flo Squires, Judy Collins, Carin Vanderbush, Valerie Silk; John Collins, Hank Grundman, Earl Yamaguchi
**Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1978:
Archie Hapai, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Sterling Lewis, Harold Irving, Ralph Yawata, Dave Orlowski, Gordon Haller, John Collins, Dan Hendrickson, Henry Forrest, John Lloyd, Frank Day, John King, Tom Knoll, in Swim List order [15 finished swim, 14 finished bike, 12 finished run]
***Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1979
Tom Warren, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Gordon Haller, Lyn Lemaire, Ron Seiple, Henry Forrest, Kenneth Shirk, Weil, Buck Swannick, Cassell, Michael Collins; Dave Heffernan, Dennis Cahill, Frank Day, in Finish List order [15 finished swim, 15 finished bike, 12 finished run]
****Athletes in the Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon 1980:
There was a flat swim in Ala Moana Lagoon, not on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course. Waikiki was too rough that day. There is no Swim list. 108 started the swim, including 3 women. 95 finished the triathlon. [If you know the names of the athletes who started the swim, please send the 13 names to <[email protected]> to complete the Athlete list of the Honolulu Triathlons.]
1980 Athletes in order of finish, #1 to #95
Dave Scott, Chuck Neumann, John Howard, Tom Warren, Thomas Boughey, Gordon Haller, Kurt Madden, Laddie Shaw, James Mensching, Samuel Barloon, Bill McKean, Robin Beck (1st woman), David Carlson, David McGillivray, Dennis Hearst, Del Scharffenberg, Hal Gabriel, George Munro, “Born Again Smitty,” Martin Giles, Joseph Mensching, Kent Davenport, Edmund Overend, Matthew Bernstein, Michael Williams, Steve Sokol, Tim Dougherty, Eric Binker, R.K. Smith, Merlyn Midstoke, Dean Metcalf, Paul Sullivan, Ian Emberson, Denis Carruthers, Tim Carpenter, Henry Forrest, Matt Miller, David Heffernan, Robert Owens, Ron Seiple, Cowman, Sixto Linares, Robert Ueltzen, Mark Crawford, Ira Miller Jr., Richard Merritt, Dan Slossberg, Joseph Maher, Charles Wilson, Gary Peterson, Blake Mars, Henry Chinnery, Richard Brown, Rick Kozlowski, Dillon Gillies, Joseph Lacy Jr., Ben Solomon, Don Mann, Bob Babbitt, Steve Clark, Michael Moffatt, Thomas Chew, William Burgess, Jim Garcia, Ron Kovacs, Peter Mattei, Dennis Burkett, Lloyd Peters Jr., Wendell Floyd, Gordon Bright Jr., Guy McFarland, Craig Bartlett, Gary Taylor, Richard Gibson, John Emery, Eve Anderson (1st O’ahu woman), Paul Sebesta, Joe Oakes, Ray Chapa Jr., Jeffrey Akaka, Harold Irving Jr., George Salazar, Joseph Stella, Walter Sulits, Dennis Cahill, Robert Abbott, Robert Bishop, Felix Gocong, Junie Garnenez (2nd O’ahu woman), Colin Davis, Terrence Finnegan, Robert Deuriarte, Michael Declerck, John Bales, John Huckaby
[The 1980 Race packet information is courtesy of Dave Carlson, IM Finisher: 1980,’81, ’82, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, 91, ’92, 2003]
© <ThisWasTriathlon.org> JMC 2023 Judith MacGregor Collins, Panamá
[ “1974- 1989” Dates, Names, Honolulu Iron Man Triathlon Athlete Names]
11 November 1977 – Friday
Judy and John Collins made the first public announcement of the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) triathlon. The 140.6 miles joined the annual events of the swim, bike and run clubs – a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles of the 115 mile bike ride and the 26.2 mile marathon to make one course.
The 1977 WSC Annual Meeting, The Ranch House
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
December 1977 – January 1978
Judy and John Collins added extras to their triathlon including a special name.
The “Iron Man” name meant a long distance pace. A runner at the Naval Shipyard who could keep going for hours had earned the nickname “Iron Man.”
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 February 1978 – Wednesday
Pre-triathlon meeting for athletes and support crew: There were detailed rules and a special entry form and explanations about that. All was designed to make the triathlon a safe event so there would be Police Department approval for a second event the next year. Each athlete was required to have a support vehicle in the first three Honolulu triathlons. That was done each year in the O’ahu Perimeter Relays. In 1978 and 1979 the Collinses provided the powder for the athletes to mix an electrolyte drink for hydration, “Gookinaid.” The runners’ drink was the invention of Bill Gookin of the San Diego Track Club. The entry fee was $5 to cover the screen-printing screen and paint, the hardware store purchases for the trophies and the cost of the Gookinaid. Athletes provided their own shirts, new or used, for Judy and John Collins to screen-print with the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon logo. The scent of the screen-printed shirts as they dried still permeated the Collinses home on Saturday morning, 18 February.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
[18 February 1978 – and 6 June 1998]
NOTE: Judy Collins and John Collins planned a long distance triathlon for Honolulu, Hawai’i for February 1978 and 20 years later, an off-road triathlon in Portobelo Panamá for 6 June 1998. The triathlons that Judy and John put on in Hawai’i and Panamá continue to this day, 23 April 2023.
Portobelo Extremo Triathlon
La Guaira, Portobelo National Park, Panamá
18 February 1978 – Saturday ** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
18 on the beach, 15 started, including Race Director John Collins. First finisher was Gordon Haller.
On Sunday The Honolulu Advertiser Sports headline read “Iron-Man Triathlon: Haller Leads 15.”
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
19 February 1978 – Sunday – the Awards pick-up, all day
John Collins presented handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies of his design when athletes stopped by the Collins’ house to pick up their shirts. John was outside in the carport in the morning to screen-print the word “Finisher” on the shirts of 12 of the athletes and to finnish welding the trophies with help from Kristin Collins.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 January 1979 – Sunday *** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Second Annual Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
38 on the beach Saturday, 16 on Sunday. Twice cancelled, high winds, then on, thanks to a boat and driver from the nearby Outrigger Canoe Club, to carry the lifeguards. 15 started including the first woman, Lyn Lemaire, and 16 year old Michael Collins. First finisher was Tom Warren.
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 January 1979 – Monday evening – the Awards presentations
John Collins presented his handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies and the First Woman, First Man trophies that had been donated by Nautilus Fitness Club. The awards ceremony was at Honolulu Harbor dockside of the replica Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hokūlēa.
Honolulu Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
Spring and Summer 1979
There was mainland publicity in 3 publications from April to July – In Swim-Swim magazine, the West Coast Swims Newsletter, and an 8 page article by Barry McDermott in the 14 May Sports Illustrated. Tom Warren, first-to-finish in 1979, made an appearance on the Tonight Show. The Collinses said yes when ABC Wide World of Sports asked to film the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon on 12 January. The family then learned they would leave Honolulu (on 31 October 1979). They began a search for a 1980 Race Director.
Fall 1979
Phillip “Moki” Martin and friends planned and did a 1/2 distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in and around Coronado California. They called it “SUPERFROG.” Moki, a Navy Seal, is a native of the island of Maui, Hawai’i. Moki Martin’s SUPERFROG was the original 70.3 mile triathlon. News of the half-distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Coronado, California boosted the spirits of the Iron Man Founders, Judy Collins and John Collins.
15 October 1979 – Monday
“Hank” at Nautilus saved the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon by agreeing to be the Race Director after he had said no to that earlier. Nautilus had sponsored Gordon Haller, the first-to-finish the triathlon in 1978 and had then donated teeshirt blanks in 1979. It was the afternoon before Judy Collins must cancel the Iron Man at the 1979 Annual Banquet Meeting of the Waikiki Swim Club. John Collins would make the call to cancel the ABC filming of the Iron Man on 12 January 1980.
Judy Collins asked John Collins to go to Nautilus Fitness Club – with the mail from athletes requesting entries – to tell Hank about the offer from Carin Vanderbush to organize volunteers from the Waikiki Swim Club to help the 1980 Race Director.
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
16 October 1979 – Tuesday
Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) President Judy Collins announced the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (Nautilus) was back on the calendar. Incoming Waikiki Swim Club President Carin Vanderbush is the one who had lined up swim club volunteers to help the Race Director on 12 January.
The 1979 WSC Annual Banquet and Business Meeting
Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
12 January 1980 – Saturday **** See the list of 95 names below
Race Director Hank Grundman
The Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon
The swim leg was moved to shallow, still water because the water was too rough on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course that day. ABC would not be able to film the triathlon on Sunday.
108 athletes started including three women – Robin Beck and two from O’ahu, Eve Anderson, Junie Garnenez. The First finisher was Dave Scott, a past winner of The Waikiki Rough Water Swim.
The lagoon at Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 February 1981 – Saturday
Race Director Valerie Silk
Assistant Race Director Earl Yamaguchi
The International Triathalon (sic)
Volunteers wearing triathlon teeshirts supported the athletes at Aid Stations on the long triathlon course on the Big Island. The volunteers took the place of the athlete support vehicle requirement in the Honolulu Triathlons.
Records show 325 athletes.
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, Hawai’i
1981 to 1989 on The Big Island, Hawai’i
Valerie Silk and Earl Yamaguchi were the architects of the Kona Ironman Triathlons in the Kona years. They relied on a small staff, a community of loyal helpers and thousands of volunteers each year. Silk wrote or oversaw all the publicity about the Kona Triathlons. Silk converted a recreational swim club endurance triathlon event into a corporate business, the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC). Silk copyrighted a new one-word name, Ironman, instead of Iron Man, and created a new race logo, the “M dot.” Earl Yamaguchi became Vice President for Ironman Qualifying Events and organized Ironman events beyond Hawai’i. Silk published a magazine for the athletes in 1982. There had been an Ironman Triathlon in February 1982. The ABC cameras had filmed a dramatic moment when the the first two women were near the finish line. Silk and Yamaguchi made the decision to hold a second triathlon that year so that the annual Triathlon was in a month with good weather that followed a season suitable for athletes to train. The Kona Ironman World Championship has been held in October since 1982. In the fall of 1982 there was a beer sponsor in the Ironman Triathlon name.
09 October 1982 – Saturday
Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship
Kona, Hawai
Something else happened in 1982 which is a little known fact: Silk wrote an anonymous story for the athlete magazine in 1982 that she believed to be true. It was not. Silk had been credited for the Triathlon idea. That is why she wrote a story in a hurry that sounded like what had been written in a humorous sports column before the first Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu. That 1978 column discussed the origins of the Iron Man Triathlon on O’ahu based on conversation with an unidentified runner who had called it in. That person told the editor to call John Collins too. There were many errors in the column but it was an amusing read accompanied by a silly cartoon. In June of 2001 Judy Collins asked Silk a question in a phone call. “Do you know who in the media first wrote there was a single founder of Iron Man?” Silk’s answer, “It was I. My “ex” told me the triathlon was John’s idea.” Judy and John learned then that Silk’s “ex” was the person the Collinses knew as “Hank” at Nautilus. That is when Judy and John learned from Silk that Hank’s last name was Grundman.
Silk’s “ex” had been the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon Race Director. Silk told Judy and John Collins in 2018 that she wrote or oversaw the writing of all the articles and press releases for Ironman in those years. Anonymously. Silk and the Founders met in Kona in 1983 when Silk invited them to see the triathlon. It was a wonderful event and Silk was a gracious host. By then the “Ironman origins myth” had been circulating for over a year unknown to Founders Judy Collins and John Collins.
Judy and John thought Silk featured John in Kona because he had been in the 1978 Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu and he was comfortable behind a microphone. Reporters asked odd questions of John and wrote odd stories. The Kona community and athletes seemed to be following a script that was unknown to Judy and John. The Collinses had no reason to mention all the years of incorrect media stories to Silk until 2001. By then versions of the “IM origins media myth” about a military man and beer had been repeated in lead sentences about IM for almost 20 years. Judy and John Collins found Silk’s first version of her Iron Man origins story featuring John Collins in 2018. It was in a 1982 Kona Program for the athletes. They emailed Silk about their long sought find. That is when Silk told them “the rest of the story.” Media mystery solved.
18 October 1986 – Saturday
Ironman World Championship
Prize money was awarded to Ironman top finishers, equal amounts for men and women.
Kona, Hawai’i
IRONMAN TRIATHLONS OVERSEAS
1983 – A U.S. Championship Ironman event – Los Angeles, CA
1985 – Ironman New Zealand, Auckland
1985 – Ironman Japan, Lake Biwa
1986 – Ironman Canada, Penticton B. C.
1988 – Ironman Europe, Roth, West Germany
1989 – Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC) is sold.
HTC becomes World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).
* The key women and men in the early years of long distance triathlon:
Flo Squires, Judy Collins, Carin Vanderbush, Valerie Silk; John Collins, Hank Grundman, Earl Yamaguchi
**Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1978:
Archie Hapai, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Sterling Lewis, Harold Irving, Ralph Yawata, Dave Orlowski, Gordon Haller, John Collins, Dan Hendrickson, Henry Forrest, John Lloyd, Frank Day, John King, Tom Knoll, in Swim List order [15 finished swim, 14 finished bike, 12 finished run]
***Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1979
Tom Warren, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Gordon Haller, Lyn Lemaire, Ron Seiple, Henry Forrest, Kenneth Shirk, Weil, Buck Swannick, Cassell, Michael Collins; Dave Heffernan, Dennis Cahill, Frank Day, in Finish List order [15 finished swim, 15 finished bike, 12 finished run]
****Athletes in the Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon 1980:
There was a flat swim in Ala Moana Lagoon, not on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course. Waikiki was too rough that day. There is no Swim list. 108 started the swim, including 3 women. 95 finished the triathlon. [If you know the names of the athletes who started the swim, please send the 13 names to <[email protected]> to complete the Athlete list of the Honolulu Triathlons.]
1980 Athletes in order of finish, #1 to #95
Dave Scott, Chuck Neumann, John Howard, Tom Warren, Thomas Boughey, Gordon Haller, Kurt Madden, Laddie Shaw, James Mensching, Samuel Barloon, Bill McKean, Robin Beck (1st woman), David Carlson, David McGillivray, Dennis Hearst, Del Scharffenberg, Hal Gabriel, George Munro, “Born Again Smitty,” Martin Giles, Joseph Mensching, Kent Davenport, Edmund Overend, Matthew Bernstein, Michael Williams, Steve Sokol, Tim Dougherty, Eric Binker, R.K. Smith, Merlyn Midstoke, Dean Metcalf, Paul Sullivan, Ian Emberson, Denis Carruthers, Tim Carpenter, Henry Forrest, Matt Miller, David Heffernan, Robert Owens, Ron Seiple, Cowman, Sixto Linares, Robert Ueltzen, Mark Crawford, Ira Miller Jr., Richard Merritt, Dan Slossberg, Joseph Maher, Charles Wilson, Gary Peterson, Blake Mars, Henry Chinnery, Richard Brown, Rick Kozlowski, Dillon Gillies, Joseph Lacy Jr., Ben Solomon, Don Mann, Bob Babbitt, Steve Clark, Michael Moffatt, Thomas Chew, William Burgess, Jim Garcia, Ron Kovacs, Peter Mattei, Dennis Burkett, Lloyd Peters Jr., Wendell Floyd, Gordon Bright Jr., Guy McFarland, Craig Bartlett, Gary Taylor, Richard Gibson, John Emery, Eve Anderson (1st O’ahu woman), Paul Sebesta, Joe Oakes, Ray Chapa Jr., Jeffrey Akaka, Harold Irving Jr., George Salazar, Joseph Stella, Walter Sulits, Dennis Cahill, Robert Abbott, Robert Bishop, Felix Gocong, Junie Garnenez (2nd O’ahu woman), Colin Davis, Terrence Finnegan, Robert Deuriarte, Michael Declerck, John Bales, John Huckaby
[The 1980 Race packet information is courtesy of Dave Carlson, IM Finisher: 1980,’81, ’82, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, 91, ’92, 2003]
© <ThisWasTriathlon.org> JMC 2023 Judith MacGregor Collins, Panamá
[ “1974- 1989” Dates, Names, Honolulu Iron Man Triathlon Athlete Names]
IRONMAN TRIATHLON OVERSEAS
1983 Earl Yamaguchi, Valerie Silk – An IM event in U.S., CA
1985 Earl Yamaguchi, Valerie Silk – IM New Zealand, Auckland
1985 Eark Yamaguchi, Valerie Silk – IM Japan, Lake Biwa
1986 Earl Yamaguchi, Valerie Silk – IM Canada, Penticton
1988 Earl Yamaguchi, Valerie Silk – IM Europe, Roth
1989 Valerie Silk, Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC) sell Ironman
SOME TRIATHLON AND IRON MAN ORIGINS HISTORY +
ATHLETE NAMES IN HONOLULU TRIATHLONS **1978, ***1979, ****1980(partial list)
25 September 1974 – Wednesday 6PM. The Mission Bay Triathlon (MBT) of the San Diego Track Club (SDTC). The 47 participants included one 2-person relay. That “triathlon” was a run-bike-4/5 runs/swims event that had 10 – 12 legs and covered about 10 miles. Coronado swimmers John, Judy, Kristin and Michael Collins and SDTC member and Coronado swimmer Flo Squires took part. Judy Collins started planning triathlons from that night on.
San Diego California
27 September 1974 – Friday 6PM. Judy Collins told Stan Amtrim, their Coronado Masters (Swim) Association (CMA) Swim Coach about the fun of the MBT and that a triathlon would be even better in Coronado with swims in the ocean and runs on the beach. Antrim mocked the idea.
Coronado California
27 July 1975 – Sunday 7AM. Optimist Club members Stan Antrim and Bob Weaver added a short triathlon to the annual Sports Fiesta in Coronado – that still goes on (until Covid, stay tuned). It was a bike, run, swim, run, 5 1/4 miles total. Kristin and Michael Collins were in that 1975 Optimist Club of Coronado Triathlon.
Coronado California
14 February 1977 – Monday
The night that Judy Collins and John Collins made the decision to put on an around-the-island triathlon in February 1978. “If you do it, I’ll do it.” Their triathlon would connect three annual island distance events to be done one after another.
Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
[Note to Researchers: The U.S. Veteran’s Day holiday in 1977 was on 24 October, not on the traditional 11 November. That led to confusion about the date of the first public announcement of the Collinses triathlon. The Collinses made a “Veterans Day”mistake on the Iron Man timeline many years later.]
11 November 1977 – Friday
Judy and John Collins made the first public announcement of the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) triathlon. The 140.6 miles joined the annual events of the swim, bike and run clubs – a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles of the 115 mile bike ride and the 26.2 mile marathon to make one course.
The 1977 WSC Annual Meeting, The Ranch House
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
December 1977 – January 1978
Judy and John Collins added extras to their triathlon including a special name.
The “Iron Man” name meant a long distance pace. A runner at the Naval Shipyard who could keep going for hours had earned the nickname “Iron Man.”
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 February 1978 – Wednesday
Pre-triathlon meeting for athletes and support crew: There were detailed rules and a special entry form and explanations about that. All was designed to make the triathlon a safe event so there would be Police Department approval for a second event the next year. Each athlete was required to have a support vehicle in the first three Honolulu triathlons. That was done each year in the O’ahu Perimeter Relays. In 1978 and 1979 the Collinses provided the powder for the athletes to mix an electrolyte drink for hydration, “Gookinaid.” The runners’ drink was the invention of Bill Gookin of the San Diego Track Club. The entry fee was $5 to cover the screen-printing screen and paint, the hardware store purchases for the trophies and the cost of the Gookinaid. Athletes provided their own shirts, new or used, for Judy and John Collins to screen-print with the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon logo. The scent of the screen-printed shirts as they dried still permeated the Collinses home on Saturday morning, 18 February.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
[18 February 1978 – and 6 June 1998]
NOTE: Judy Collins and John Collins planned a long distance triathlon for Honolulu, Hawai’i for February 1978 and 20 years later, an off-road triathlon in Portobelo Panamá for 6 June 1998. The triathlons that Judy and John put on in Hawai’i and Panamá continue to this day, 23 April 2023.
Portobelo Extremo Triathlon
La Guaira, Portobelo National Park, Panamá
18 February 1978 – Saturday ** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
18 on the beach, 15 started, including Race Director John Collins. First finisher was Gordon Haller.
On Sunday The Honolulu Advertiser Sports headline read “Iron-Man Triathlon: Haller Leads 15.”
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
19 February 1978 – Sunday – the Awards pick-up, all day
John Collins presented handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies of his design when athletes stopped by the Collins’ house to pick up their shirts. John was outside in the carport in the morning to screen-print the word “Finisher” on the shirts of 12 of the athletes and to finnish welding the trophies with help from Kristin Collins.
Pi’ikea Street, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 January 1979 – Sunday *** See the list of 15 names below
Race Director John Collins
The Second Annual Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
38 on the beach Saturday, 16 on Sunday. Twice cancelled, high winds, then on, thanks to a boat and driver from the nearby Outrigger Canoe Club, to carry the lifeguards. 15 started including the first woman, Lyn Lemaire, and 16 year old Michael Collins. First finisher was Tom Warren.
Sans Souci Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
15 January 1979 – Monday evening – the Awards presentations
John Collins presented his handmade “Iron Man” Finisher Trophies and the First Woman, First Man trophies that had been donated by Nautilus Fitness Club. The awards ceremony was at Honolulu Harbor dockside of the replica Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hokūlēa.
Honolulu Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
Spring and Summer 1979
There was mainland publicity in 3 publications from April to July – In Swim-Swim magazine, the West Coast Swims Newsletter, and an 8 page article by Barry McDermott in the 14 May Sports Illustrated. Tom Warren, first-to-finish in 1979, made an appearance on the Tonight Show. The Collinses said yes when ABC Wide World of Sports asked to film the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon on 12 January. The family then learned they would leave Honolulu (on 31 October 1979). They began a search for a 1980 Race Director.
Fall 1979
Phillip “Moki” Martin and friends planned and did a 1/2 distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in and around Coronado California. They called it “SUPERFROG.” Moki, a Navy Seal, is a native of the island of Maui, Hawai’i. Moki Martin’s SUPERFROG was the original 70.3 mile triathlon. News of the half-distance Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Coronado, California boosted the spirits of the Iron Man Founders, Judy Collins and John Collins.
15 October 1979 – Monday
“Hank” at Nautilus saved the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon by agreeing to be the Race Director after he had said no to that earlier. Nautilus had sponsored Gordon Haller, the first-to-finish the triathlon in 1978 and had then donated teeshirt blanks in 1979. It was the afternoon before Judy Collins must cancel the Iron Man at the 1979 Annual Banquet Meeting of the Waikiki Swim Club. John Collins would make the call to cancel the ABC filming of the Iron Man on 12 January 1980.
Judy Collins asked John Collins to go to Nautilus Fitness Club – with the mail from athletes requesting entries – to tell Hank about the offer from Carin Vanderbush to organize volunteers from the Waikiki Swim Club to help the 1980 Race Director.
Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
16 October 1979 – Tuesday
Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) President Judy Collins announced the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (Nautilus) was back on the calendar. Incoming Waikiki Swim Club President Carin Vanderbush is the one who had lined up swim club volunteers to help the Race Director on 12 January.
The 1979 WSC Annual Banquet and Business Meeting
Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawai’i
12 January 1980 – Saturday **** See the list of 95 names below
Race Director Hank Grundman
The Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon
The swim leg was moved to shallow, still water because the water was too rough on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course that day. ABC would not be able to film the triathlon on Sunday.
108 athletes started including three women – Robin Beck and two from O’ahu, Eve Anderson, Junie Garnenez. The First finisher was Dave Scott, a past winner of The Waikiki Rough Water Swim.
The lagoon at Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i
14 February 1981 – Saturday
Race Director Valerie Silk
Assistant Race Director Earl Yamaguchi
The International Triathalon (sic)
Volunteers wearing triathlon teeshirts supported the athletes at Aid Stations on the long triathlon course on the Big Island. The volunteers took the place of the athlete support vehicle requirement in the Honolulu Triathlons.
Records show 325 athletes.
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, Hawai’i
1981 to 1989 on The Big Island, Hawai’i
Valerie Silk and Earl Yamaguchi were the architects of the Kona Ironman Triathlons in the Kona years. They relied on a small staff, a community of loyal helpers and thousands of volunteers each year. Silk wrote or oversaw all the publicity about the Kona Triathlons. Silk converted a recreational swim club endurance triathlon event into a corporate business, the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC). Silk copyrighted a new one-word name, Ironman, instead of Iron Man, and created a new race logo, the “M dot.” Earl Yamaguchi became Vice President for Ironman Qualifying Events and organized Ironman events beyond Hawai’i. Silk published a magazine for the athletes in 1982. There had been an Ironman Triathlon in February 1982. The ABC cameras had filmed a dramatic moment when the the first two women were near the finish line. Silk and Yamaguchi made the decision to hold a second triathlon that year so that the annual Triathlon was in a month with good weather that followed a season suitable for athletes to train. The Kona Ironman World Championship has been held in October since 1982. In the fall of 1982 there was a beer sponsor in the Ironman Triathlon name.
09 October 1982 – Saturday
Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship
Kona, Hawai
Something else happened in 1982 which is a little known fact: Silk wrote an anonymous story for the athlete magazine in 1982 that she believed to be true. It was not. Silk had been credited for the Triathlon idea. That is why she wrote a story in a hurry that sounded like what had been written in a humorous sports column before the first Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu. That 1978 column discussed the origins of the Iron Man Triathlon on O’ahu based on conversation with an unidentified runner who had called it in. That person told the editor to call John Collins too. There were many errors in the column but it was an amusing read accompanied by a silly cartoon. In June of 2001 Judy Collins asked Silk a question in a phone call. “Do you know who in the media first wrote there was a single founder of Iron Man?” Silk’s answer, “It was I. My “ex” told me the triathlon was John’s idea.” Judy and John learned then that Silk’s “ex” was the person the Collinses knew as “Hank” at Nautilus. That is when Judy and John learned from Silk that Hank’s last name was Grundman.
Silk’s “ex” had been the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon Race Director. Silk told Judy and John Collins in 2018 that she wrote or oversaw the writing of all the articles and press releases for Ironman in those years. Anonymously. Silk and the Founders met in Kona in 1983 when Silk invited them to see the triathlon. It was a wonderful event and Silk was a gracious host. By then the “Ironman origins myth” had been circulating for over a year unknown to Founders Judy Collins and John Collins.
Judy and John thought Silk featured John in Kona because he had been in the 1978 Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu and he was comfortable behind a microphone. Reporters asked odd questions of John and wrote odd stories. The Kona community and athletes seemed to be following a script that was unknown to Judy and John. The Collinses had no reason to mention all the years of incorrect media stories to Silk until 2001. By then versions of the “IM origins media myth” about a military man and beer had been repeated in lead sentences about IM for almost 20 years. Judy and John Collins found Silk’s first version of her Iron Man origins story featuring John Collins in 2018. It was in a 1982 Kona Program for the athletes. They emailed Silk about their long sought find. That is when Silk told them “the rest of the story.” Media mystery solved.
18 October 1986 – Saturday
Ironman World Championship
Prize money was awarded to Ironman top finishers, equal amounts for men and women.
Kona, Hawai’i
IRONMAN TRIATHLONS OVERSEAS
1983 – A U.S. Championship Ironman event – Los Angeles, CA
1985 – Ironman New Zealand, Auckland
1985 – Ironman Japan, Lake Biwa
1986 – Ironman Canada, Penticton B. C.
1988 – Ironman Europe, Roth, West Germany
1989 – Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC) is sold.
HTC becomes World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).
* The key women and men in the early years of long distance triathlon:
Flo Squires, Judy Collins, Carin Vanderbush, Valerie Silk; John Collins, Hank Grundman, Earl Yamaguchi
**Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1978:
Archie Hapai, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Sterling Lewis, Harold Irving, Ralph Yawata, Dave Orlowski, Gordon Haller, John Collins, Dan Hendrickson, Henry Forrest, John Lloyd, Frank Day, John King, Tom Knoll, in Swim List order [15 finished swim, 14 finished bike, 12 finished run]
***Athletes in the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1979
Tom Warren, John Dunbar, Ian Emberson, Gordon Haller, Lyn Lemaire, Ron Seiple, Henry Forrest, Kenneth Shirk, Weil, Buck Swannick, Cassell, Michael Collins; Dave Heffernan, Dennis Cahill, Frank Day, in Finish List order [15 finished swim, 15 finished bike, 12 finished run]
****Athletes in the Nautilus Iron Man Triathlon 1980:
There was a flat swim in Ala Moana Lagoon, not on the Waikiki Rough Water Swim course. Waikiki was too rough that day. There is no Swim list. 108 started the swim, including 3 women. 95 finished the triathlon. [If you know the names of the athletes who started the swim, please send the 13 names to <[email protected]> to complete the Athlete list of the Honolulu Triathlons.]
1980 Athletes in order of finish, #1 to #95
Dave Scott, Chuck Neumann, John Howard, Tom Warren, Thomas Boughey, Gordon Haller, Kurt Madden, Laddie Shaw, James Mensching, Samuel Barloon, Bill McKean, Robin Beck (1st woman), David Carlson, David McGillivray, Dennis Hearst, Del Scharffenberg, Hal Gabriel, George Munro, “Born Again Smitty,” Martin Giles, Joseph Mensching, Kent Davenport, Edmund Overend, Matthew Bernstein, Michael Williams, Steve Sokol, Tim Dougherty, Eric Binker, R.K. Smith, Merlyn Midstoke, Dean Metcalf, Paul Sullivan, Ian Emberson, Denis Carruthers, Tim Carpenter, Henry Forrest, Matt Miller, David Heffernan, Robert Owens, Ron Seiple, Cowman, Sixto Linares, Robert Ueltzen, Mark Crawford, Ira Miller Jr., Richard Merritt, Dan Slossberg, Joseph Maher, Charles Wilson, Gary Peterson, Blake Mars, Henry Chinnery, Richard Brown, Rick Kozlowski, Dillon Gillies, Joseph Lacy Jr., Ben Solomon, Don Mann, Bob Babbitt, Steve Clark, Michael Moffatt, Thomas Chew, William Burgess, Jim Garcia, Ron Kovacs, Peter Mattei, Dennis Burkett, Lloyd Peters Jr., Wendell Floyd, Gordon Bright Jr., Guy McFarland, Craig Bartlett, Gary Taylor, Richard Gibson, John Emery, Eve Anderson (1st O’ahu woman), Paul Sebesta, Joe Oakes, Ray Chapa Jr., Jeffrey Akaka, Harold Irving Jr., George Salazar, Joseph Stella, Walter Sulits, Dennis Cahill, Robert Abbott, Robert Bishop, Felix Gocong, Junie Garnenez (2nd O’ahu woman), Colin Davis, Terrence Finnegan, Robert Deuriarte, Michael Declerck, John Bales, John Huckaby
[The 1980 Race packet information is courtesy of Dave Carlson, IM Finisher: 1980,’81, ’82, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, 91, ’92, 2003]
© <ThisWasTriathlon.org> JMC 2023 Judith MacGregor Collins, Panamá
[ “1974- 1989” Dates, Names, Honolulu Iron Man Triathlon Athlete Names]