Race Reviews Archives - Triathlon Europe

16th March 2020 By Tri Europe

The History of Triathlon – Part 2

The history of Olympic triathlon

No sport has achieved Olympic status in so short a time as triathlon. Providing an invigorating challenge over three disciplines, the sport has been drumming up vastly increasing numbers of participants since the first ever race in 1974.

They say that San Diego is its birthplace. There, on September 25, 1974, the San Diego Mission Bay Track Club held a multisport event which took in a 10km run, 8km cycle and 500m swim: the first ever triathlon. 46 club members participated in the event, which had been dreamed up as an alternative to a track workout.

Fifteen years after this inaugural race, in 1989, triathlon had become one of the fastest growing sports in the world and the International Triathlon Union was founded in Avignon, France. The first official World Championships was held there the same year and the official ‘standard’ distance triathlon was set at a 1,500m swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run.

The sport caught the attention of ultra talented athletes from other disciplines, who took no time in migrating over. Siri Lindley, who played and coached hockey and lacrosse at Princeton, competed in her first triathlon in 1992 and hit the professional ITU scene in 2001, winning six consecutive World Cup races and taking the World Championship title. Fellow American Sheila Taormina was the first woman to qualify for the Olympics in three different sports: swimming, triathlon and modern pentathlon. She came to triathlon after winning the 1996 Olympic gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay, placing 6th in Sydney and 23rd in Athens.

‘Standard’ distance became commonly known as ‘Olympic distance’ in the year 2000, when triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney. Held at the Sydney Opera House, a total of 100 athletes (48 female and 52 male) hit the water and, in a major boost to triathlon credibility, the race was televised. Such international recognition at the beginning of the millennium led to a worldwide boost in participants, supporters and funding for the sport.

Simon Whitfield of Canada won the men’s race in a time of 1:48:24, which remained the fastest triathlon time in an Olympic Games until 2012. Brigitte McMahon of Switzerland took gold in the women’s race in 2:00:40, which remained the fastest female time in an Olympics until 2008. Controversially, McMahon tested positive for EPO in 2005, but maintains that she did not begin doping until well after 2004.

Women’s swim at Sydney 2000 Games (Image credit AAP)

Other Olympic triathlon legends

Hamish Carter, Athens 2004

Having competed in the inaugural Olympic triathlon in Sydney four years earlier, Hamish Carter took gold in Athens. Part of a then new guard of world-leading New Zealand triathletes, Carter won the race less than eight seconds ahead of fellow Kiwi Bevan Doherty. His professional triathlon career spanned 1992 to 2006, during which time he also won 12 ITU world cup races.

Kate Allen, Athens 2004

Originally from Geelong, Australia, Kate Allen gained Austrian citizenship in 2002 and raced under her new nationality in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She exited the water in 44th place in a field of 51 athletes and began picking competitors off bit by bit. Coming off the bike she was in 28th place and flew through the field on the run, overtaking the then leader, Australian athlete Loretta Harrop, less than 150m from the finish to claim gold.

Jan Frodeno, Beijing 2008

Arguably one of the most legendary athletes of all time, Jan Frodeno of Germany is not just an Olympic winner, but the reigning, three-time Ironman World Champion and Kona course record holder. His 2008 Olympic win put him on the map in a shock sprint finish with Olympic veteran Simon Whitfield, with both men beating out the predicted winner, Javier Gomez of Spain.

Emma Snowsill, 2008 Beijing

One of the greatest rivalries in triathlon history is that of Australia’s Emma Snowsill and Portuguese triathlete Vanessa Fernandez. Seemingly neck and neck in the run up to the 2008 Olympics, there was no telling who was going to take the title. Staying with the pack during the swim and bike, Snowsill made her move on the run, stretching to a final lead of one minute and seven seconds over Fernandez in second. She is now married to Frodeno.

Alistair Brownlee, 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro

The only triathlete to win the Olympic gold twice, Alistair Brownlee is the most decorated athlete in the sport. While his 2012 win was impressive, it wasn’t entirely surprising for the man who was dominating the sport at the time. It was returning from major ankle surgery to win in the following Rio Olympics that was his biggest test. While he has been focusing on Ironman distance for the past year, Brownlee recently announced on BBC sport that he intends to return to Olympic distance this year to defend his title in Tokyo.

Nicola Spirig, 2012 London

Six-time European champion, Nicola Spirig of Switzerland rose to the top of her game at the London Olympics. In a nail biting photo finish, she swept gold ahead of Lisa Norden of Sweden. Spirig was one of the most consistent athletes on the international circuit and returned to the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro to claim silver. She is now focusing on long distance triathlon, recently setting the course record at Israman Eilat.

Gwen Jorgensen, 2016 Rio de Janeiro

American athlete Gwen Jorgensen had her breakout year in 2011, just in time to be selected for the London Olympics. Suffering a flat tyre on the course, she finished a disappointing 38th place. 2016 was her year and she ran her way to gold ahead of Spirig and Vicky Holland of Great Britain. Her sights are now set on running, and she has cited one of her goals as winning the marathon in the Tokyo Olympics this year. “Once I got the gold in Rio,” she told Runner’s World, “I felt like I accomplished everything I could in triathlon and was ready for a new chapter.”

4th March 2020 By Tri Europe

The History of Ironman – Part 1

There is something mystical about the idea of Ironman. The longest, toughest distance in triathlon, taking in a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 22.62-mile marathon, it is one of the hardest one-day events in the world. Those who finish earn a new, elevated status.

Competing at the Ironman World Championships, which happens every year in Kona, Hawaii, is the ultimate feather in a triathlete’s cap. With extreme weather conditions ranging from blazing hot temperatures to wild crosswinds, and a sacred history behind it, it’s the big day to end all big days.

The first ever Ironman started in the waters of Waikiki, Oahu, on February 18, 1978 and is now a legendary tale, which is passed down from triathlete to triathlete. The race was the final word in a debate between the swimmers, cyclists and runners in Hawaii – who was the fittest?

US Navy Commander John Collins decided the only way to find out was to combine the state’s three biggest endurance races – 2.4-mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the 115-mile Around-Oahu Cycle Race and the 26.2-mile Honolulu Marathon. Whoever could complete all three in the fastest time would be the Ironman champion.

That day, 15 men started and 12 finished. Gordon Haller became the first ever Ironman champion in 11h 46m 58s. The next year, in 1979, Lyn Lemaire became the first female Ironman champion (and placed 5th overall) in 12h 55m 38s. In 1980, when ABC broadcasted the race to American homes, Ironman’s fate was sealed as legend – and the next year the race was moved to its current location of Kailua, Kona.

The growth of the sport and this event – now the annual World Championships – is staggering. In 2019, around 100 pros and age-group athletes competed in the event, with a cash prize of $120,000 each for the men’s and women’s winner. Jan Frodeno holds the men’s course record, which he set in 2019 in 7h 51m 13s, and Daniela Ryf scooped the women’s record in 2018 in 8h 26m 18s.

But it’s not just about the Pros: 2,000 age-group athletes competed in last year’s championships, for their own age-group world titles. The top five in each age group wins a coveted ‘Umeke’ trophy. In Hawaiian culture the ‘Umeke’ was often used for holding water. Water being a source of life, without water there is no life, particularly in the lava fields of Kona! Each individually carved wooden bowl is a symbol of achieving a goal that demands a tremendous amount of strength, emotion and determination. Coach Fiona won hers for her 3rd place finish in 2016 in her racing comeback four years after life-changing injuries sustained in 2012.

Ironman World Championships Podium 2016 – Coach Fiona Ford

Every year adds to the web of Ironman stories – everyone goes to Kona with their own personal dream. Between 1978 and now, there have been jaw-dropping moments, rattling physiological failures and tooth and nail battles to the line. These are the most iconic among them:

The first Ironman, 1978

Gordon Haller becomes the first Ironman ever. After ‘surviving’ the swim, coming out 20 minutes behind the leaders, he began to make his move on his steel bike and finished the second leg just 12 minutes behind. On the run, the leader John Dunbar’s team ran out of water and started supplying him with beer. When Haller caught him at 21 miles (“he looked so bad,” he told Men’s Journal) he knew he had the race in the bag and brought home the win.

Gordon Haller on the run to his victory at the first ever Iron Man Hawaii in 1978 (image by Aarim Agaoua / CC BY-SA)

The Crawl, 1982

Once you have seen footage of The Crawl, you can never un-see it. Surprise front-runner Julie Moss, a kinesiology student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, collapsed just 15 feet before the finish line in front of ABC cameras and proceeded to rise and fall again and again in a desperate effort to make it to the end. While all this was happening and darkness fell, rival Kathleen McCartney, completely unaware that she was about to overtake crawling Moss, ran into first place and took the victory.

Julie Moss’s Crawl to the Finish Line (click on image for video)

The Iron War, 1989

Every year, Kona supporters watch in the hope of another Iron War – one of the most dramatic stories in the history of sport. The battle of their generation, Mark Allen had come to Kona six times to try and beat legend Dave Scott. The athletes were neck and neck, stride for stride and stroke for stroke for the entire race, finishing less than one minute apart and shattering the course record by 20 minutes. After five losses to six-time champion Scott, Allen finally got his win that day.

The famous Ironwar between Mark Allen and Dave Scott (video linked to image)

Fiona Ford is supporting coach at this Group Evolution Retreat

Paula’s ‘perfect’ race, 1992

Is it possible to have a perfect IRONMAN World Championship race? Most would say it’s not. But one person, Paula Newby-Fraser, proved you could. Paula Newby-Fraser raced her own race from the front, and finished 11th place among all athletes, men and women. Her finish time was 8:55:28. She set a lot of firsts in her career. This one stood for an amazing 17-years until 2009 before someone went faster. And what cemented this accomplishment as one of the greatest in the history of IRONMAN is that her margin of victory was a massive 26-minutes and 12-seconds, the largest in what many would call the modern era of IRONMAN

Paul’s epic win in 1992, setting a World Record that stood until 2009

The Crawl 2.0, 1997

As Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham entered the finish chute in the 1997 World Championships, they both collapsed – Welch due to calorie deprivation and Ingraham because of cramps. Staggering, crawling and clambering their way to the end, they finished fourth and fifth respectively. Greg Welch, Sian’s husband, who raced with Dave Scott and Mark Allen in the early decades of Ironman, is a well recognised commentator at the World Championships as well as many Ironman events globally.

The Crawl to the Finish Line – Sian Welch & Wendy Ingraham (1997) Video linked to image

Part 2 of our history of triathlon series will follow soon, with the 2000 Olympic Games Triathlon in Sydney Australia!

11th May 2015 By Tri Europe

Alpe D’Huez Triathlon

Review

Alpe D’Huez Triathlon, July 30 2020

2.2 km swim, 118 km bike, 20 km run

The race

A long distance course and unique location, the Alpe D’Huez triathlon stands on its own as one of the legendary races in the annual calendar. Top professionals, as well as age-groupers, flock to the mountain to compete every year, with four-time Ironman World Champion Daniela Ryf winning last year in six hours and fifteen minutes.

Set in the middle of the French Alps, it’s as stunning as it is tough. Competitors get off to a mass start swim in Lac du Verney, in the valley of the great mountains, before attacking the famous 21 switchbacks of Alpe d’Huez on the 118 km bike. After 3,200m of ascent, the race finishes off on the run course, which sits at 1,800m altitude – more than enough to take your breath away.

Tour de France fans will remember Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani flying up the Alp in all but 39 minutes during one of the most brutal stages of them all. On the flip side, triathletes’ lasting memory of the race will be the run: tackling the final 20km of the day by foot, straight off what is effectively a Tour de France bike stage, is a feeling you just can’t forget.

This is a true bucket list triathlon. Here are six ways to prepare:

1/ Start training six months before

While the race is in July, to prepare effectively, you’ll need to move through a number of training cycles, focusing on improving endurance, strength and recovery. To compete in the high mountains at altitude requires specific conditioning, strength and skills which are above and beyond a standard triathlon preparation.

2/ Attend an altitude training camp

Getting your body used to training at altitude, particularly if you have never been skiing or hiking in the high mountains, is essential. Every individual handles altitude differently, but generally speaking, effects will include a shortage of breath when exercising and less effective recovery.

By exposing yourself to moderate altitude and training (between 1,000m and 3,000m) that you can gauge how your race day may be affected. Usually it will take athletes a week to start acclimating to altitude, with their body producing a higher count of red blood cells, but top athletes will spend up to a month in the mountains at a time.

Consider joining our June Triathlon Europe Alpe d’Huez training week, which will be situated at altitude and specifically cover key performance areas to perform well at Alpe d’Huez Triathlon. The camp will be coached by Fiona Ford, and you can find more details HERE – June 2020 Alpe D’Huez Training Week

3/ Develop a strong aerobic engine

Effectively employing targeted endurance training will help you immensely on the day. Relying on mostly glycogen driven energy systems might be ok in a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon, but is a category A mistake for this event.

Ensure the majority of your bike training is below threshold with controlled pieces at tempo, in order to shift the lactate curve to the right and allow you to compete in events lasting 4+ hours.

Get ready for the 21 switchbacks by practising sustained climbing to increase functional muscular strength and get used to working with gear tension on the indoor trainer, along with developing efficiency across a range of cadence values. These two strategies for the bike to assist in ascending HC (beyond categorisation) mountains.

As you get closer to race date, gradually increase the amount of work you do at threshold, building up to the duration you’ll need to climb Alpe D’Huez (a well conditioned amateur cyclist would top it in 50+ minutes). Do this more for the short course race but sparingly if preparing for the long-course race, as you will need to be sub-threshold for much of the day over a number of alpine passes.

4) Hone your open water skills

The mass swim start in this triathlon means you’ll need to get comfortable dealing with the lactate of a high pressure start, drafting effectively, working with a range of breathing patterns and integrating sighting.

Identify a good land-based warm-up which you can do before the race begins to raise your core temperature if you are of light build. The hydro-electric dam is incredibly cold, due to its depth – despite the electricity generating turbines being switched off for the day. This body of water is entirely glacial as well as being deep, so ensure you are fully warmed up before zipping into your wetsuit.

5) Running strength is key

Running strength, skill and coordination over undulating and rough ground will make or break your day, as the run off the bike is essentially over ski trails. If you live at sea level, try to include lots of hill training to help deal with the higher workload required when running at 2,000m over undulating hilly terrain.

Schedule in a training block at altitude where you can run at this elevation. This is a crucial element to prepare for, as your body will take time to get used to adapting its pace to match less oxygen intake, adjusted heart rate values and the difference in pacing. Lastly – invest in light, grippy trail shoes

6) Train your gut

Fuelling is an incredibly important part of the day, so you’ll need to be able to take on energy drinks (fluids, electrolytes and carbs) as well as small amounts of fuel (like bite size snacks of choice).

If possible, try and source the products the race provides to save carrying unnecessary weight up those mountains during the race. If you have your own specialised nutrition, you will have to carry all of it! If your body adapts well to race-issue products in training, then you have saved yourself a lot of extra hassle and a much lighter set up for climbing high mountains.

Best for:

Future Ironmen, cycling nuts and Tour de France fans.

Prepare for the event by training at altitude and on the course – book your place on Triathlon Europe French Alps training camp here – June 2020