IRONMAN TRIATHLON
THE SPORT STARTED BY FOUR WOMEN
WITH THREE MEN
Preface by Judy Collins
I was swimming backstroke in the ocean in Coronado California in 2020. It was a peaceful day on the water. My thoughts were about three of us who had swum there in the 1970’s. We often did a beach run before a swim. After bicycling to the beach. John Collins, Judy Collins, Flo Squires. We three were now connected to the modern history of triathlon. The Mission Bay Triathlon in San Diego in 1974, the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu in 1978. By the end of my swim I had come up with a list of 3 women and 2 men who played key roles in the early years of Ironman Triathlon (IM) in Hawai’i. I had swum parallel to the shore far beyond my usual turning point at the Hotel del Coronado. I had a list of names in my head that surprised me. An essay title to describe them might be “Ironman Triathlon -The Sport Started by Women, with two men.” Really! Why had I never realized that? I summed it up. I sent my three women, two men essay to Valerie Silk for her to fact-check my wording. Silk had spent a decade building the swim-bike-run sport of Ironman Triathlon in its second home in Kona Hawai’i. Silk insisted I add a third man to the story and told me why. In 2022 John and I went over that list again. The test. Who did what, when, to start IM Triathlon and to keep it going. We both realized we had to add another woman to the list, a swim friend in Honolulu in the 1970’s. Here it is. The seven persons – 4 women and 3 men – who launched the sport of Ironman Triathlon. From 1974 to 1989. Another observation. Three of the women and the first man on the list were swimmers.
This list is not about the athletes of those years. It is about the sport. Seven people made the connections that built the sport that attracted the athletes…and Sports Illustrated…and ABC Sports…which attracted more athletes…
The Sport of Ironman Triathlon began as the
Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu in 1978.
It was the first triathlon in Hawai’i
and the first long distance triathlon in the world.
Triathlon was a sport that had been around since 1898 in France
with different names and different structures such as 3 or more sections.
In France it involved bicycle, run and water legs – either by boat or swimming.
The triathlon in Honolulu linked the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim
and the 26.2 mile Honolulu Marathon
with a bicycle leg of 112 miles around the island.
The actions of four women started the Sport of Ironman Triathlon. They are Judith MacGregor Collins (Judy), Florence Bethea Squires (Flo), Carin Cone Vanderbush and Valerie Silk.
The contributions of three men shaped Ironman Triathlon history too. They are John Fletcher Collins, Hank Grundman and Earl Yamaguchi.The link to the men’s participation in the new sport was the women.
The first three women and the Co-Founder man were swimmers. The triathlon plan of Judy Collins and John Collins on February 14, 1977 was to be a demonstration event for the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC). If all went well it would become an annual Swim Club event open to the public. The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon was an annual event on the Waikiki Swim Club calendar from 1978 to 1980.
THE WOMEN:
JUDY COLLINS
1977: Judy Collins is the swimmer who fell in love with triathlon in 1974, on Wednesday evening September 25, at the Mission Bay Triathlon in San Diego, California. In February 1977 Judy had a plan to introduce triathlon to Hawai’i on a long-distance course. Judy Collins and John Collins created and put on The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon on O’ahu on 18 February 1978. The two organized the first long distance triathlon in the world by connecting the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim with a 112 mile bike ride and the 26.2 mile Honolulu Marathon. Neither would have put on the triathlon without the other. Judy Collins and John Collins announced their around-the-island triathlon at the 1977 Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) annual meeting on 11 November 1977. By the time they put on the Waikiki Swim Club triathlon they had added extras to the event and a special name.
1978: All went well in the Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (H.I.M.T.) on Saturday 18 February 1978. The athletes followed the rules. It was a safe event. 18 entrants were on the beach. 15 began the swim at Waikiki including Race Director John Collins.
It was critical to Judy and John Collins that all entrants be in good physical condition to finish the triathlon. That is why Judy Collins was a DNS (Did Not Start) in 1978. She had had a fever for days. She would not risk a DNF (Did Not Finish) that would question women’s endurance. Judy was the first woman to swim island-to-island in Hawai’i in 1977. On 15 February 1978 she had “hit the wall” after a year of best times that included sprints in the recent O’ahu Perimeter Relays. Judy Collins was an H.I.M.T. Finisher in 2003 in Iron Man Revisited (IMR), a benefit for The Challenged Athletes Foundation (C.A.F.).
1979: Judy Collins saved the triathlon the next year on 14 January 1979. Judy and John had canceled the Iron Man (IM) 2 days in a row for safety reasons. 38 entrants were on the beach the first day, 16 the next day. High winds both days had kept the lifeguard boats in port. Judy found a boat and driver at the nearby Outrigger Canoe Club and the triathlon was on again. 15 began the swim at Waikiki including 16 year old Michael Collins and the first woman, Lyn Lemaire. The 1979 Iron Man Triathlon was covered in three mainland publications: Swim-Swim, Sports Illustrated, the West Coast Swims Newsletter. First-to-finish Tom Warren appeared on national late night television.
1979: It was later in 1979 that Judy and John learned they must leave Honolulu soon. No one wanted to be the 1980 Race Director. That included Hank at the Nautilus Fitness Center. Nautilus was the sponsor of Gordon Haller, first-to-finish the Iron Man course in 1978. The movers would be at the Collins’ home in the morning. 1979 Waikiki Swim Club President Judy Collins would have to announce the cancellation of the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon at the 1979 WSC annual meeting the next night. Swimmers from the swim club had volunteered to help the 1980 Race Director. Judy Collins made the strong pitch to John Collins to try one more time to find a 1980 Race Director. “Ask Nautilus again.” John did. Hank said yes. It was 15 October 1979. Judy Collins was very happy. She kept the 1980 IM triathlon on the Waikiki Swim Club calendar followed by a parentheses “(Nautilus).”
FLO SQUIRES
1974: Flo Squires was the member of the San Diego Track Club who announced a run-bike-swim event before swim practice one Monday night in Coronado, California.Two nights later Coronado Masters Association (CMA) members Flo Squires, Judy and John Collins and Coronado-Navy (C-NSA) swimmers Kristin and Michael Collins were 5 of the 47 who ran and biked and swam about 10 miles in Mission Bay Park, San Diego. That 10-leg event was named the Mission Bay Triathlon. From that night on Judy Collins was mapping out triathlon courses in her head. All thanks to their swim team friend, Flo, who had joined the San Diego Track Club to train for the Boston Marathon. Squires ran Boston in 1978, the same year that Judy and John Collins put on the first Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon.
CARIN VANDERBUSH
1979: Carin Vanderbush is the woman who promised Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) volunteer help to support the 1980 triathlon. Judy and John Collins had spent 3 months in an unsuccessful search for a 1980 Race Director after they had learned they would leave Hawai’i soon. Vanderbush would be the 1980 Swim Club President. Many members of the swim club wanted to enter the Iron Man. Vanderbush urged Judy and John to spread the word about the swim club volunteers and to continue to search for a Race Director until the last minute. WSC President Judy Collins was scheduled to cancel the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon at the annual swim club meeting on 16 October 1979. It was thanks to Carin Vanderbush, Judy Collins and John Collins that a 1980 Race Director was found on 15 October 1979.
VALERIE SILK
1981: Valerie Silk is the woman who moved the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon from Honolulu, Hawai’i on urban O’ahu to the spacious Big Island. Silk transformed the annual event of the Waikiki Swim Club into a sports business called the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC). Race Director Silk and her Assistant Race Director Earl Yamaguchi were the architects of Ironman Triathlon for the rest of the decade. Silk worked full-time in the 1980’s to nurture the new sport in its new home-town, Kailua-Kona. Iron Man became Ironman (IM) and there was a new logo for the triathlon. Silk did all the hard things. Individual athlete support was replaced with aid stations and thousands of volunteers. There were time limits for the swim, bike and run parts of the triathlon. Silk dealt with television and sponsors and lawsuits and controversies. Ironman introduced prize money in equal amounts for men and women. The big change for athletes was to move the triathlon from the windy, wet months of January and February to the fair days of October each year. Silk, her small staff, her IM Directors and volunteers, welcomed Ironman athletes with the Hawaiian spirit of Aloha and Ohana – love and family. One of Silk’s many thoughtful touches was to greet Ironman athletes with a flower lei at the finish line.
1982: Silk is the fourth woman whose actions launched Ironman Triathlon. Silk did all the writing for the triathlon in the early 1980’s or approved what others wrote. Silk was trustworthy above all. Silk wrote anonymously. She believed what she wrote was true. Silk created an incorrect origins story of the Iron Man Triathlon in 1982. Silk spread the Ironman origins myth in IM press releases and in articles in the Race program for Kona athletes. That began before Silk met the Founders of the Iron Man. Silk invited Judy and John Collins to Kona in 1983.
1983: Silk arranged that only John Collins be interviewed and on stage in Kona. Judy and John assumed that was because John was a 1978 Finisher. John was entertaining and comfortable behind a microphone. Judy and John Collins had no reason to connect the incorrect IM origins words by Kona press to their friend Valerie Silk. Why did writers not ask Judy or John to fact-check their incorrect lead sentences in IM stories? Why did media credit the idea for a long distance triathlon to a military man in a beer setting instead of to a woman and a man in the Waikiki Swim Club? It was a mystery to the Ironman Founders.
1989: The press errors about the origins of the sport did not slow the growth of Ironman Triathlon. The 140.6 mile swim-bike-run race in Hawai’i that was seen on TV continued to attract more athletes and more money. Ironman Triathlon would become a big business sport because Valerie Silk led the way in Kona.
THE MEN:
JOHN COLLINS
1977: John Collins and Judy Collins said to each other on 14 February 1977, “If you do it, I’ll do it.” John had just heard Judy Collins describe her plan for the two of them to put on and be in a long distance triathlon on O’ahu in mid February 1978. The two announced their 140.6 mile swim-bike-run triathlon to the Waikiki Swim Club on 11 November 1977. Theirs was a joint venture like the Wright Brothers. Judy’s idea was simple. Make a triathlon by connecting the Waikiki Rough Water Swim to the Honolulu Marathon with a bike leg. Many in the swim club were like the two of them. They did the long distance swim and the marathon each year and could ride a bike. Athletes would provide their own paddlers for the swim and individual support vehicles on the rest of the course. It was John’s idea to select a very long bike leg for the triathlon that would take athletes around the island. A runner at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard had earned the nickname “Iron Man” because he could run a very long time at a steady pace. That Iron Man name would inspire Judy and John to make a special name for their triathlon. The triathlon was not a race, it was a finisher event like most swim club activities. John designed and constructed individual “Iron Man” trophies for all Finishers because each one would be a winner.
1978: John Collins was in the 1978 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon on Saturday 18 February and was Race Director in the first two years. Shipyard and swim friends and family helped put it on: Clendenin, Collinses, Drum, Felton, Larson, Richardson, Sexton, Walden.18 entrants were on the beach the first year. 15 started the swim. Most of the athletes were strangers because the date of the triathlon had not been in the swim and run club newsletters. The athletes followed the rules. No one was hurt. John passed out finisher trophies on Sunday as athletes came by their house on Pi’ikea Street to pick up their teeshirts. He was out in the carport where he had soldered the trophies. John had silk-screened “Finisher” on 12 of the teeshirts. John placed the word under the screen-printed logo “Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon.”
1979: John and Judy Collins cancelled the triathlon two days in a row in 1979 for safety reasons on the swim course. Then it was on again, on 14 January. Judy Collins had found a boat and driver at the Outrigger Canoe Club. 38 athletes were on the beach on Saturday, 16 returned on Sunday. 15 started the swim, once again. The Collinses set the next year’s date. ABC Wide World of Sports asked to film the third Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon on 12 January 1980. The Collinses said yes. Then they learned they would move from Hawai’i in late October 1979. Their search was on for a 1980 Race Director. No one wanted to do it.
1979: Judy asked John to ask “Nautilus,” again, to be the next Race Director. Hank at Nautilus Fitness Club had already said no to that role. “Tell him there is new information. Swimmer volunteers from the Waikiki Swim Club will help him with the triathlon.” It was the day before Judy would cancel the triathlon at the 1979 Waikiki Swim Club annual meeting. John would make the call to cancel with ABC. John went to Nautilus. Hank said yes. Then Hank asked John a question. John’s answer mentioned two things he would like to see if the event became big. He would like ordinary athletes and members of the Collins family to have a way to take part in future triathlons.
HANK GRUNDMAN
1980: Hank at Nautilus became the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon Race Director. Judy and John left Honolulu on 31 October 1979. They were grateful there would be one more Iron Man. Nautilus had sponsored the athlete who was the first-to-finish the triathlon in 1978, Gordon Haller. Judy and John Collins would not learn Hank’s last name, Grundman, for many years. Judy and John Collins now remember Hank for three things. (1) The Collinses had given permission to ABC Television to film the 1980 Iron Man on 12 January 1980. “Nautilus” staff person Earl Yamaguchi moved the 1980 swim course to a calm lagoon in Ala Moana Park instead of delaying the triathlon one day because of an unsafe swim course at Waikiki. Thus began ABC TV coverage of Iron Man for the next decade. (2) Hank saved the Iron Man Triathlon twice. He agreed to be Race Director In 1980 then found a Race Director for 1981, Valerie Silk. (3) Hank told Silk that the long distance triathlon in Honolulu was the idea of a man, John Collins. That was not true but Hank thought it was. Silk believed that and other hearsay she had read and heard about the origins of Iron Man. Silk spread Hank’s single founder man myth, anonymously, beginning in 1982. That happened before Silk first met the Founders in 1983. Judy Collins asked Silk in a phone call in 2001, “Do you know who in the media first wrote there was a single founder of Ironman?” Silk replied, “It was I. My “ex” said it was John’s idea.”
EARL YAMAGUCHI
1980’s: Earl Yamaguchi became became Valerie Silk’s Assistant Race Director and then Vice President for International Ironman Qualifier Triathlons. Yamaguchi had worked at Nautilus in 1978 when the Fitness Center sponsored athlete Gordon Haller in the first triathlon. Yamaguchi was the details man for the athlete experience on the 140.6 mile course in the 1980’s In Hawai’i. One detail: A large group of athletes from Japan were in Kona in 1988. Their athlete packet was written and their athlete meeting was conducted in the Japanese language. Earl Yamaguchi wrote the detailed instruction manual for staging an Ironman. It was Yamaguchi who oversaw the plans for Ironman Triathlons in Hawai’i and overseas. Earl Yamaguchi was the Ironman ambassador to extend Ironman Qualifier events around the Pacific rim and to Europe: California, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, West Germany, Australia. Athletes in those triathlons could qualify to race in the annual Ironman World Championship in Kona.
1981: Silk and Yamaguchi had identified Kailua-Kona as a good location for the next triathlon. The first Kona triathlon was held on 14 February 1981. The locations for future Ironman Triathlons away from Hawai’i would have Kona-like characteristics. There would be clean water for the swim, a location for the course that was away from a big city, smooth uncrowded roads, an area suitable for point-to-point legs for the triathlon, a local area that would welcome visitors, a community with a source of volunteers who would take pride in hosting the sports event. The Big Island could use some business in 1981. Agriculture on the island of Hawai’i had declined in the 1970’s. The Ironman Triathlon would boost the economy on the Big Island beginning in the 1980’s.
IRONMAN TRIATHLON
1974 – 1989: The triathlon actions of four women led to the contributions by three men to the sport. It would not have worked in reverse. There would be no sport of Ironman Triathlon today without the actions of the four women that led to the participation by the men. All seven women and men were the transfer links that launched the sport of long distance triathlon from 1974 through 1989. The triathlon community included contributions from many more. The two who made Ironman Triathlon visible beyond Hawai’i were Barry McDermott of Sports Illustrated and Bob Iger of ABC Sports. The article by one led to the ABC Wide World of Sports of the other.
[See Also “The Ironman Triathlon Community” <thiswastriathlon.org>]
[See Also “Overview of the early Ironman years 1974 – 1989” <thiswastriathlon.org>]
Judith MacGregor Collins 2023
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