OVERVIEW OF THE EARLY IRONMAN YEARS 1974 – 1989
From a swim club recreational sport to a commercial sport empire
The Ironman origin years were from 1977 to 1989. What began as a low fee, low profile, amateur swim club Finisher event with a small number of athletes became a high fee, high profile, commercial Race that included prize money, international prestige and large numbers of athletes.
From the Boston Marathon to the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
Flo Squires was a swim friend of Judy and John Collins after they moved to Coronado, California in 1973. Squires joined the San Diego Track Club to train for the Boston Marathon. That led the Collins family to enter a Track Club 10-leg “triathlon“ on 25 September 1974 before their move to Hawai’i in 1975. Within four years of the Mission Bay Triathlon their friend had qualified and run Boston and Judy Collins had planned a long distance swim/bicycle/run-a-marathon event in Honolulu. Judy and John Collins named their around-the-island triathlon the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. The triathlon experience that led Judy Collins to plan a long distance triathlon had come about because Flo Squires wanted to run The Boston Marathon.
The birth of Ironman:
The decade, the location, television, the profit motive
THE DECADE
LONG SLOW DISTANCE EVENTS and ISLANDS
The idea of long distance triathlon was conceived in the decade of long, slow, distance adventures, the 1970’s. Judy and John Collins were fans of the long distance events on the mainland. The family moved to Honolulu in 1975 before the Waikiki Rough Water Swim on Labor Day. Soon they were among the athletes who lived in Honolulu who looked forward to a long distance event that did not require expensive airfare. Athletes on islands had to do their part in organizing events on the sports calendar. Recreational athletes could become long distance athletes in Honolulu. It was easy to swim long distances in tropical waters and to run every day of the week. The Founders of the Iron Man Triathlon were at their most fit during their years in Honolulu from 1975 through 1979. There were three annual distance events on the island that were put on by the swim, the run and the bicycle clubs. Judy Collins wanted to introduce triathlon to Hawai’i as a long distance event. The way for Judy and John Collins to do it was to connect those three annual events to make a triathlon. The two would not have started a long distance triathlon in California. There were triathlons in California already and the California ocean was cold.
FROM A SMALL URBAN ISLAND TO THE BIG ISLAND
Iron Man Triathlon Founders Judy Collins and John Collins think the two island locations of the Iron Man Triathlon were the key to the growth of the sport. The Iron Man Founders lived in Honolulu on the urban island of O’ahu. They intended their triathlon to be an annual local event. The crowded roads alone would have limited the field of athletes in a few years. The best thing to happen to the sport was that the Founders left Hawai’i. Two years and two Race Directors later the Ironman Triathlon would be located on the spacious and uncrowded Big Island of Hawai’i. The Big Island had room to host thousands of athletes during Ironman week in Kailua-Kona.
ABOUT THE LOCATION
Judy Collins also credits “Uncle Sam” (the U.S. Government) and Madame Pele (the goddess of fire and volcanoes) for the birth of The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. It was the U.S. Navy that moved the Collins family to and from Honolulu, Hawai’i. Madame Pele’s scenic and isolated volcanic islands in warm tropical waters had a great influence on the Founders. The tropical waters led many in Hawai’i to swim long distances, including between islands, and to run marathons and more. On O’ahu a recreational athlete could swim a long way without getting cold, could run a long way in the cool of the evening breeze, could bicycle along the coast any day of the year. Living on a tropical island made a person want to be outside. On another Hawai’i island, not far away, thousands of athletes would be able to swim and bike and run together for 140.6 miles.
TELEVISION, NATIONAL PUBLICITY, THE PROFIT MOTIVE
In 1979 the Collinses said yes when ABC Wide-World of sports asked to film the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. The Honolulu location made the around-the-island triathlon a scenic event that would attract television viewers. The 1980’s decade of ABC broadcasts ignited the rapid growth of Ironman. Television viewers continued to follow the sport from then on.
MEDIA
Television liked to broadcast from Hawai’i, magazines liked to write about Hawai’i, viewers and readers liked to watch and read about the islands. The Honolulu newspapers wrote about The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon (H.I.M.T.) in 1978, 1979 and 1980. The 1979 H.I.M.T was covered by Swim-Swim Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The West Coast Swims Newsletter, and the Johnny Carson Show. The publicity on the mainland led ABC television to ask to film the 1980 Iron Man Triathlon on 12 January 1980. ABC would leave their cameras in Honolulu after filming the Hula Bowl. That kind of media response would not have happened in other locations. Hawai’i was a good birthplace for a new sports event.
THE BUSINESS OF SPORT
Valerie Silk made Ironman Triathlon a business. That created an ever present incentive to add more races and to include more athletes. Many athletes who could already swim or bike or run were ready for something new. Four swimmers had led the way. Athletes and volunteers have fueled the growth of the triathlon since 1978.
Four swimmers who started a new sport
The athletes who started the sport of Ironman Triathlon were swimmers, 3 women and one man. From 1974 to 1980. From Judy Collins and John Collins and Flo Squires in the Coronado Masters (Swim) Association (CMA) in Coronado, California to Judy Collins and John Collins and Carin Vanderbush in the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
“Made in Hawai’i”
The new sport in Hawai’i grew rapidly from 1980 to 1989 because of two men and one woman – Hank Grundman, Earl Yamaguchi and Valerie Silk. Race Director Grundman kept the triathlon going in 1980 and found a Race Director for 1981. Silk and Yamaguchi moved the long distance triathlon from the island of O’ahu to the Big Island. Yamaguchi extended Ironman beyond Hawai’i. Honolulu, Hawai’i was the birthplace of the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in 1978. Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i became the new hometown of Ironman Triathlon in 1981. Silk’s Ironman legacy remained in Kona after Ironman was sold in December 1989. Triathletes around the world know “Kona” is the place to be in October for the Ironman World Championship.
Judith MacGregor Collins, Panamá
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