[Background: Ironman Triathlon is a sport that combines a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bicycle ride and a 26.2 mile run. The Founders made a decision in Honolulu, Hawai’i in February 1977 to put on an around-the-island triathlon in February 1978.
Judy Collins and John Collins called their event The Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon.]
Women and the Ironman
By Judy Collins
Ironman Triathlon began because a woman wanted to introduce long distance triathlon to Hawai’i. Ironman had two Founders, a woman and a man. The early 1980’s publicity about Ironman created an origins legend about the man that survives to this day. The woman’s record of Ironman’s first years is the one that included the history details. Neither Founder would have launched an endurance triathlon without the other. Ironman was a two-person project for the first three years. The two Founders were Judy Collins and John Collins.
Women still faced obstacles to participation in many sports in the 1970’s. But things were looking up in the United States. In 1972 the Title IX Equity in Sports Act was passed in the U.S. Congress. One effect was that women could now compete for college athletic scholarships.
Eight women and early triathlon and Ironman history
I think first of eight women when I think about triathlon and Ironman history. The eight women are Patsy Mink, Flo Squires, Judy Collins, Carin Vanderbush, Valerie Silk, Kristin Galbreaith, Paula Newby-Fraser and Diana Bertsch and her predecessors. These are the women whose names come to my mind when I think of Ironman Triathlon and the sport of triathlon. That is the only connection between the names. I am one of those names. It has been very hard for me to write in the first person about my part in triathlon. My mind has linked more women’s names to my triathlon brain cells since I wrote the list of eight a few years ago.
Patsy Mink (Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink)
In 2002 the Title IX Equity in Sports Act of 1972 was renamed the Patsy T. Mink EqualOpportunity in Education Act. The Congressional Co-sponsor of the legislation had been Congresswoman from Hawai’i Patsy Mink. Scholastic sports were opened to girls because women could now compete for college athletic scholarships.
Squires (Florence Bethea Squires)
Flo Squires was a swim friend in the Coronado Masters (Swimming) Association. Flo joined the San Diego Track Club (SDTC) because she loved to run. Squires was training for and and later completed the Boston Marathon. I remember a headline in the local paper – “Flo Squires loves to sweat.” Sweat! Really? Squires was from the South where women did not even perspire, they glowed. Flo and I talked as she ran beside me in my first non-stop one mile run. It was on the beach in Coronado, California in March 1974. Flo set the pace for John and me when we ran our first 5 miles non-stop. It was high atop Point Loma in San Diego, looking down over Coronado.
Flo Squires invited our family to take part in a San Diego Track Club (SDTC) event one Wednesday evening. Our family were 4 of 47 participants on 25 September 1974. There was one 2-person relay. The Mission Bay “Triathlon” was a 10-12 leg event that included three activities: running, bicycling and swimming. We started out wearing shoes on a 2.8 mile run. Next we bicycled for 5.3 miles. We ended up running again then swimming and running barefoot between the 4-5 run-swim legs. Barefoot! It was fun. We finished the last swim in the dark on a shore that was lit by a bonfire. Our daughter Kristin did butterfly on the first long swim leg “to loosen up” after the running and biking. We had fun thanks to Flo. I began mapping out run-bike-swim courses in my head from that day on. By 1978 Flo Squires had run the Boston Marathon and Judy and John Collins had staged the inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu.
Judy Collins (Judith MacGregor Collins)
I am the woman who fell in love with run-bike-swim events at The Mission Bay Triathlon in San Diego on 25 September 1974. Flo Squires and John and I had skipped our Wednesday evening swim workout to be in the SDTC “triathlon.” On Friday night I gave a multi-part run-bike-swim sales pitch to our swim coach in Coronado. I said it was more fun and time moved faster than in our one hour swim workouts. Stan Antrim mocked the activity. Even when I said that Coronado would be a better place for ”triathlon” than Mission Bay because we could do our swims in the ocean and our runs on the beach. “That is not a sport!” said Stan. Then Coach Stan Antrim surprised us. He added a bike-run-swim-run triathlon to the Coronado Optimist Sports Fiesta on 27 July 1975. Our children Kristin and Michael Collins were in that Coronado Triathlon. In August our family moved to Hawai’i in time for the Waikiki Roughwater Swim on 8 September 1975, Labor Day. The Optimist Club of Coronado Triathlon became the longest running annual triathlon in the world until there was a break because of Covid in 2020.
I wanted to introduce triathlon to Hawai’i 18 months later and had a plan to do it. John and I were fans of endurance events on the mainland, lived on an island, wanted to try something new.
On Mother’s Day, 8 May 1977, I became the first woman to swim island-to-island in Hawai’i. Two swim club friends who swam with me had promoted the idea, Bob Luce and Bob Justman. During that swim from Lanai to Maui I decided that I would rather bicycle and run and swim for many hours than do another long swim. I was looking forward to our proposed triathlon that would link The Waikiki Rough Water Swim and The Honolulu Marathon with a bike leg around the island. John and I would never have planned our long distance triathlon if I had not been determined to do so. In 1977 John and I were captains of our two relay teams. Mine was the Waikiki Swim Club Wahines. John’s was the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Yardbirds. We had made our decision on a Monday night, 14 February 1977, in between the Awards presentations to the 91 teams who had entered The O’ahu Perimeter Relays.
I introduced us when John and I made our first public announcement about our around-the-island triathlon. That was at the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) Annual Banquet on 11 November 1977. On 18 February 1978 John Collins was one of 15 who began The Inaugural Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. I, Judy Collins, was a last minute did-not-start. I had hit the wall that week after a year of best times. I was not a finisher on the O’ahu course until 2003 in Iron man Revisited (IMR).
I was able to save the day on 14 January 1979 after we had cancelled the Second Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon two days in a row for safety reasons. The high winds
prevented our swim course support boats from leaving port. We required a boat to safeguard the swimmers. On top of that the volunteer help from Saturday could not help on Sunday. Our son had entered the triathlon. We told Michael Collins to stay in bed on Sunday morning because we intended to cancel the triathlon again. Why were we able to start the 1979 triathlon after all? WSC swimmer Ian Emberson told me to ask for the use of the power boat at the Outrigger Canoe Club. The OCC clubhouse was not far from the swim start. I ran down to the building. The boat driver said yes to my request for help. I called our son Michael to tell him to get to the swim start by 8am. I ran back to tell John to tell the athletes that we had a boat and a new start time. Another WSC volunteer and I climbed into the OCC boat and went out on the course as lifeguards for the swim. The triathlon was on.
In late 1979 I made the urgent last-chance proposal that saved the1980 Ironman.
All had been well until we had learned that we would be leaving Hawai’i soon. The 1979 Hawaiian Iron Man had led to publicity on the mainland. A turning point happened for Iron Man Triathlon on 14 May 1979. That was the magazine date of an 8 page Sports Illustrated article by Barry McDermott. The story about 3 athletes racing to be the first to finish the triathlon had led to a call from ABC television. We had then given the go-ahead to ABC Wide World of Sports to film the 1980 Iron Man. Now what? Our core volunteers had moved away. No one we asked wanted to be in charge of the Third Annual Iron Man Triathlon. First the swim and run clubs had said no. Many who wanted to do the Iron Man declined a dual role as Race Director. It did not matter that we had planned to put on the triathlon and be in it each year ourselves if we had remained in Hawai’i.
Hank (Grundman) at Nautilus had declined the Race Director task. We had asked him first because Nautilus Fitness Centers had sponsored the athlete who came in first in 1978, Gordon Haller. The next year Nautilus donated the teeshirts that were printed with our screen print of our triathlon logo. In 1978 and 1979 “Every finisher was a winner” of identical “Iron Man” trophies designed and soldered by John. Nautilus had donated two special trophies in 1979, for First Place Woman and First Place Man. I was disappointed by that because the triathlon was not designed to be a race. There were two who did race each other in our finisher event in 1978 and 1979. Our emphasis was that all who started each year had a responsibility to make the triathlon a safe event so we would have approval from the police department to put on another one. All who followed the rules helped to make the triathlon successful. Finish if you can do so safely. All who finished earned the title “Finisher.” We were grateful that all 15 athletes made the Iron Man Triathlon a successful event in both 1978 and 1979.
I had told John of the recent promise of triathlon volunteer help from the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC). If we could name a Race Director for 1980. We had been searching for one since mid-summer, locally and on the mainland. I was the 1979 President of the Swim Club. I would have to cancel the Third Annual Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. I would remove the Iron Man from the 1980 calendar. John and I were in charge of the 1979 WSC Annual Banquet. It was one day away. Our movers would arrive the next morning. The box of Iron Man paperwork would leave town with our household goods.
I was packing on the afternoon of 15 October 1979. John said to me, “What can I do to help?” I replied. Please ask “Nautilus,” again, to be Race Director. Tell “Nautilus” in person about the swimmers’ offer of triathlon help. It might make a difference. John went to Nautilus and back. Hank had said yes! I would not have to cancel the Iron Man at the 1979 WSC Annual Meeting the next night. John would not have to call ABC Sports to cancel the cameras on 12 January 1980. What a relief. Our packing and moving chores seemed easy after that.
Carin Vanderbush (Carin Cone Vanderbush)
Carin Vanderbush was the incoming President of the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) for 1980. Vanderbush was the one who had made the promise to me about the volunteers for Iron Man day. If we could find a person to take charge. Many swimmers in the club were fans of Iron Man and wanted to help out. Some swimmers who planned to enter the 1980 Triathlon were already Iron Man Finishers. No one wanted the triathlon to be cancelled. We had welcomed Carin to Honolulu and the Waikiki Swim Club when she and her husband had moved to town from an Army base in Alaska. The men in our club who had been college swimmers remembered seeing Carin when she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a champion backstroker in the 1956 Olympics in Australia. John and I remember Carin Cone Vanderbush for saving the 1980 Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. That would not have happened without Carin. She had urged us to continue our search for a Race Director until the last minute, on 15 October 1979.
John and I were all smiles on 16 October 1979 when Carin Vanderbush took the helm of the Swim Club. I passed out copies of the draft WSC calendar at the Swim Banquet. It read …“12 January 1980…Iron Man Triathlon, 3rd Annual (Nautilus)” The Triathlon was on the calendar because Carin Vanderbush and the Waikiki Swim Club swimmers had offered their help to the 1980 Race Director.
Valerie Silk
John and I met Valerie Silk when she invited us to Kona to see the Ironman Triathlon in 1983. We were very impressed with what Silk had accomplished with Ironman Triathlon in Kona. We still are. We would learn later that Hank at Nautilus was Silk’s “Ex,” that Silk had become the Race Director for the 1981 Ironman, that Hank’s last name was Grundman. We became friends. Silk told me on the phone in 2001 that her “Ex” had told her that the Triathlon was John’s idea. Silk said she had spread that misinformation and more in IM Press Releases and articles from 1982 on. Anonymously, always. That is why we did not know the source of the Ironman origins myths. Silk was the most trustworthy person in Ironman Triathlon. Silk always believed that what she wrote was true. We remain friends who keep IM in our rear view mirror.
We have enjoyed Val’s sense of humor since we first met in 1983.
We had learned from our swim club newsletter how our swim friends did in the 1980 Triathlon and that the 1981 Triathlon was held in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i. We knew that the Iron Man Triathlon had room to grow on the Big Island. We had no idea who was in charge and were not even curious. We had never discussed the origins of Iron Man with each other until 1983 in Kona when we read an incorrect story in the Athlete Magazine. Each year we had been glad to hear that Iron Man had lasted one more year. We might never have travelled to Kona if Silk had not invited us. We were so glad we did. We learned later that Silk had recruited thousands of volunteers for the aid stations on the Big Island course. That was to replace the athlete support vehicles of the Honolulu Triathlons. A caring local community on the Kona coast supported the annual event. It was Valerie Silk who made that happen.
In Honolulu John and I had designed our Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon to be a low-fee recreational event that relied on athlete self-support and a small group of volunteers. Our goal was to add an annual triathlon to the swim club calendar. The two of us intended to put it on and be in it each year. Our link to Hawaiian heritage was to swim in Waikiki waters made famous by the Kahanamoku brothers and Olympian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, and to run “… in the footsteps of the King’s Runners” in the marathon. In 1979 we passed out the Finisher Awards at Honolulu Harbor, dockside of the replica Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, Hōkūle’a.
The best thing to happen to The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon was that Founders Judy and John Collins left Honolulu on 31 October 1979. That cleared the way for Valerie Silk to become the 1981 Race Director two years later.
Silk and her Assistant Race Director Earl Yamaguchi were the architects of the 140.6 mile Ironman experience on the Big Island. Our Waikiki Swim Club recreational triathlon became a sports business. In Kona Valerie Silk incorporated the Ironman Triathlon as the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation (HTC). A strict budget and hard work kept the business afloat as the field of athletes soared. There was a community of Kona volunteers who supported the Ironman athletes at every stage of their time in Kona. Silk made the two words “Iron Man” into the one-word “Ironman” (IM). The time of year for the triathlon was changed from the winter months to October. That made two events in 1982. Vice President for International Qualifier Events Earl Yamaguchi planned Ironman Qualifier Triathlons away from Hawai’i. Silk introduced prize money in equal amounts for women and men. The Ironman triathlete experience on the spacious island of Hawai’i was very different from the Iron Man triathlon on urban Oah’u. Silk, her small staff and thousands of volunteers created an atmosphere in Kona that made each triathlete feel special. Ironman Kona became synonymous with Hawaiian hospitality, Aloha – love, and Ohana – family. The world of television viewers saw it happen. ABC continued to film the Ironman from 1980 in Honolulu until the sale of the Kona Ironman Triathlon in 1989. Valerie Silk worked hard for ten years to build the sport.
Kristin Galbreaith (Kristin Collins Galbreaith)
Our daughter Kristin Collins was a champion swimmer in Hawai’i. Kristin Collins was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy by Hawai’i’s Senator Daniel Inouye. In 1988 Kristin Collins Galbreaith would be the first in our family to finish the Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawai’i. Kristin was a Navy Flight Instructor at the time. Helicopter pilot and Navy swimmer Kristin Collins Galbreaith trained for the bicycle and run legs in an orderly manner over several months. Paula Newby-Fraser would say later that Ironman was very doable if you put in the time. Kristin Galbreaith put in the time.
Paula Newby-Fraser
Ironman Triathletes, women and men, showed the rest of us what humans can do. I liked learning that Kona Triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser had studied ballet before she took up sport. And that she was a school teacher. Those bits of biography opened my eyes to the strengths that distinguish women in sport. The Queen of Kona – Paula Newby Fraser, still holds the record for the most World Champion Titles at Kona, Hawai’i. That record is eight firsts plus one second and 2 thirds.
Diana Bertsch (Diana Lynn Hoag Bertsch)
and her predecessor Race Directors, Ironman Kona
The Race Director for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawai’i is Diana Lynn Hoag Bertsch. Her title is Vice-President, World Championship Events, IRONMAN. Valerie Silk was the Race Director for Ironman in 1981. Silk began the tradition that women are the Race Directors for the Ironman Triathlon in Kailua-Kona Hawai’i. Early on, overseas, Lynn Van Dove and Jane Patterson became IM Race Directors in Canada and New Zealand. Silk passed on the Race Director role in 1983 to Kay Rhead. Successors were Debbie Baker, Steve Borowski for one year, Sharron Ackles, and now, Diana Bertsch.
Race Director Valerie Silk had recruited volunteers to support the triathlon in 1981. The Ironman Kona volunteers have had a family bond for decades. They have kept the triathlon going through changes in Ironman ownership and changes in Race Directors.
Diana Lynn Hoag Bertsch is a Kona resident who became an Ironman volunteer. She was an Ironman Finisher in 1995. Bertsch became the Event Director for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in 2003. A mark of Bertsch’s leadership has been the ways in which she continues to link Hawaiian Culture and history to the Ironman Triathlon on the Big Island. The triathlete experience in Kona is like no other. The Ironman World Championship welcome to triathletes is now a tradition of long standing – Aloha and Ohana, love and family.
Women and the History of Triathlon
When I think of Ironman and triathlon history it is women who come to my mind first. I think of Patsy Mink, Flo Squires, Judy Collins,Carin Vanderbush, Valerie Silk, Kristin Galbreaith, Paula Newby-Fraser, Diana Bertsch and the women who have been the Ironman Kona Race Directors and volunteers since 1981. Then more women’s names come to mind. When I think of the century-plus history of the sport, I picture a triathlon winner in Marseilles, France in 1921, Lulu Helmut. When I think of Helmut I think of what came before her. Women and men were seen on Safety Bicycles on newly paved roads during the “Bicycle Craze” of the 1880’s. These days I think of the long-time Race Director for the 3-day Ultraman triathlon on the island of Hawai’i, Ultramama Jane Bockus. In 2019 I was cheered by the feat of Melissa Urie. Urie’s Uber triathlon in California began on Catalina Island, continued to Death Valley and ended on Mount Whitney.
Honolulu
I have always remembered the first woman to finish the Iron Man in Honolulu in 1979, bicyclist LynLemaire. And three women in 1980 – Robin Beck and swimmers Eve Anderson and Junie Garnenez of O’ahu and Waikiki Swim Club. I had certainly planned to be in the first Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon in 1978 until I started to run a fever a few days before. Above all I did not want to risk a DNF (Did Not Finish) that would reflect on women’s capacity for endurance. I need not have worried in 1978. Women in triathlon have demonstrated women’s endurance ever since.
Kona
The additional Ironman women I picture now include Fernanda Keller of Brazil who continues to race in Kona after making the transition from Elite Athlete to Age-Group athlete. That lifts my spirits. I think of the smile on the face of Natascha Badmann as she was bicycling and running on the course when she won Ironman Kona in 1998. We had the same bicycle that year, a sleek steed, a blue and gold Kestrel, a bike I still ride 25 years later. The February 1982 women’s Champion in Kona, Kathleen McCartney, is another with a memorable smile. A few years ago she coached a one-time IM finisher to do one more Kona race before he would die of cancer. Their training began with doing an IM in minutes instead of miles – a 2.4 minute swim, 112 minutes of bicycling, a 26.2 minute run. I want to do that every time I think of her.
The PTO
I have become a fan of the women in the Professional Triathletes Organistion PTO) who worked with the men to develop a professional race circuit and the international Collins Cup competitions. When I start watching the PTO races I am hooked by the action. I think I know why. Done as fast as can be or at a keep-going-forever “Iron Man” pace, Triathlon reminds me of the fun of childhood play.
Panamá
Back in 1992 John and I left California on our sailboat. We cruised in Mexico and Costa Rica then arrived in Panamá in 1993 intending to sail on to Europe. Panamá became our part-year second home. We lived on our sailboat from 1987 to 2006. We had two mountain bikes aboard. We had only occasional glimpses of triathlon after 1979. Silk had made our family welcome in Kona in the 1980’s when we became friends. We had glimpses of the sport after we left Hawai’i. We were out of touch with the growth of Ironman and triathlon. We swam, ran and bicycled during the years we lived aboard. Most of the time we were on anchor. No television. No magazine subscriptions. In Panamá we were on the Caribbean side. We swam and we bathed by diving over the side of our boat, Primo. Primo was the name of the company that sponsored the run races in Honolulu, and more. Panamá felt like a Hawai’i we could drive to, from California. And we did. We drove the 1968 Volkswagen camper van that was our Honolulu Iron Man support vehicle in 1978 and 1979. We started an off-road triathlon in Panamá in 1998.
Portobelo, Kailua-Kona
The female star of the Portobelo Panamá Triathlon now is attorney Christina Mata. Mata qualified for Kona the first time when she was carrying her first child. I think of her as Wonder Woman. We have a magazine with a cover photo of her. She is smiling as she holds her baby son while she is wearing her Tri suit. I have a photo, too, of Chelsea Sodaro wearing her Tri suit and holding her baby girl. Sodaro had just crossed the finish line at Kona, the first woman to do so in 2022. The Ironman World Championship in Kona has attracted so many remarkable women with stories that inspire me, age-groupers and elites. Is it doing a triathlon that brings smiles to so many women?
The Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon
The new sport of long distance triathlon was not a man’s idea. It started with a woman, in Hawai’i, a woman who had spent childhood years in Hawai’i, who had learned how to dog-paddle at Waikiki as a toddler. I am glad that the two Founders of the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon are a woman and a man – Judith MacGregor Collins and John Fletcher Collins. I like to think that the last monarch of Hawai’i, Queen Lili’uokalani, would have liked that.
Judith MacGregor Collins, Panamá
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[Getting the History right]