In honour of our good friend, Cory Cook, who is an Ironwoman, having just completed the qualifier in Lanzarote! And to coincide with the qualifier in Raleigh,  North Carolina  today .

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlons organized by the  WTC (World Triathlon Corporation), which consists of a 2.4m mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) marathon run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race. If the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all competitors need to complete their marathon by midnight.

The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 O’ahu Perimeter Relay (a running race for teams of 5). Among the participants were people who had long been debating which athletes were more fit, runners or swimmers. One competitor, US Naval Commander John Collins suggested that the debate should be settled through a race combining the three existing long-distance competitions already on the island: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles/3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles/185.07 km; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.219 miles/42.195 km).

Until that point, no one present had ever done the bike race. Collins calculated that by shaving 3 miles (4.8 km) off the course and riding counter-clockwise around the island, the bike leg could start at the finish of the Waikiki Rough Water and end at the Aloha Tower, the traditional start of the Honolulu Marathon. Prior to racing, each athlete received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Handwritten on the last page was this exhortation: “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life“, now a registered trademark.

Collins said, “Whoever finishes first, we’ll call him the Iron Man” and so the legend began. Of the fifteen men to start off in the early morning on February 18, 1978, twelve completed the race. Gordon Haller, a US Navy Communications Specialist, was the first to earn the title Ironman by completing the course with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, 58 seconds. With no further marketing efforts, the race gathered as many as 50 athletes in 1979. Only fifteen competitors started off the race Sunday morning. San Diego’s Tom Warren won in 11 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds. Lyn Lemaire, a championship cyclist from Boston, placed sixth overall and became the first “Ironwoman”.

In 1981 organizer Valerie Silk moved the competition to the less urbanized Hawaii  and in 1982 moved the race date from February to October; as a result of this change there were two Ironman Triathlon events in 1982. The Ironman format remains unchanged, and the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as an honored and prestigious triathlon event to win worldwide. There are 28 Ironman Triathlon races throughout the world that enable qualification for the 2013 Ironman World Championships. Professional athletes qualify for the championship through a point ranking system, where points are earned based on their final placement in Ironman events. The top 50 male and top 35 female professionals in points qualify for the championship. Amateur athletes qualify for the championship by receiving slots allocated to each age group’s top finishers in a qualifying event.

Ironman has thrown up many colourful characters and heroes.The runner-up in the first Ironman, John Dunbar, a US Navy Seal, led after the second transition and had a chance to win but ran out of water on the marathon course and so  his support crew had to give him beer instead! Craig Alexander (Crowie) holds the Hawaiian course record in a time of 8 hours, 3 minutes and 56 seconds, set in 2011. Mark Allen (The Grip) has won the Hawaiian Iron Man 6 times, 5 of them consecutively. Jon Blais (Blazeman) was the first person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), a terminal muscle-wasting illness, to enter and complete the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. He completed the October 15, 2005, race in 16 hours and 29 minutes. He died on May 27, 2007.

Around age 65, the extraordinary Dick Hoyt completed the Ironman Triathlon with disabled son Rick, who cannot walk or talk. Dick pulled Rick in a boat through the swim, rode with him on a specially outfitted bike through the 112 mile (180 km) ride, and pushed him in a wheelchair through the run. Lisa Bentley, an 11 time Ironman winner, has cystic fibrosis. Kelly Bruno holds the Hawaiian Ironman record for a female amputee and Sarah Reinertsen was the first woman to complete the Hawaiian Ironman on a prosthetic leg. But perhaps, most famous of all is Julie Moss, who collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion yards from the finish line when winning, and was passed by Kathleen McCartney, who won the title, yet nevertheless Moss half crawled, half dragged herself to the finish line. Her performance was broadcast worldwide and created the Ironman mantra that just finishing is a victory. So hats off to our good friend Cory Cook who runs these triathlons regularly….OOF!