The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay (a running race for 5-person teams). Among the participants were numerous representatives of both the Mid-Pacific Road Runners and the Waikiki Swim Club, whose members had long been debating which athletes were more fit, runners or swimmers.
On this occasion, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins pointed out that a recent article in Sports Illustrated magazine had declared that Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded "oxygen uptake" of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more fit than anyone. Cdr. Collins and his wife, Judy, had taken part in the triathlons staged in 1974 and 1975 by the San Diego Track Club in and around Mission Bay, California, as well as the Optimist Sports Fiesta Triathlon in Coronado, California, in 1975. A number of the other military athletes in attendance were also familiar with the San Diego races, so they understood the concept when Cdr. 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 mi./3.85 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 mi./42.195 km).
It is worth noting that no one present had ever done the bike race; Cdr. Collins calculated that, by shaving 3 miles 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.
With a nod to a local runner who was notorious for his demanding workouts, Collins said, "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Of the fifteen men to start off the in early morning on February 18th, 1978, twelve completed the race and the world's first Ironman, Gordon Haller, completed in 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds.
With no further marketing efforts, the race gathered as many as 50 athletes the following year. The race, however, was postponed a day because of bad weather conditions and only fifteen competitors started off the race Sunday morning. San Diego's Tom Warren, age 35, won in 11 hours, 15 minutes, and 56 seconds. Lyn Lemaire, a championship cyclist from Boston, placed sixth overall and became the first "Ironwoman".
Collins planned on changing the race into a relay event to draw more participants, but Sports Illustrated's journalist Barry McDermott, in the area to cover a golf tournament, discovered the race and wrote a ten page account of it. During the following year, hundreds of curious participants contacted Collins.
A milestone in the marketing of the legend and history of the race happened in february 1982. Julie Moss, a college student competing to gather research for her exercise physiology thesis, moves toward the finish line in first place. As she comes nearer it is obvious to everyone that she is becoming severely fatigued and dehydrated. In the homestretch, she staggers like a punch-drunk boxer. Just yards away from the finish line, she falls to the ground. Passed by Kathleen McCartney for the women’s title, Moss nevertheless crawls to the finish line. Her courage and determination inspires millions and creates the Ironman mantra that just finishing is a victory.
The Ironman Triathlon inspired the addition of the triathlon sport (though over shorter distances) at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
The original Ironman is held in conditions which are not uniquely suited to endurance racing: the Hawaii water is sufficiently warm that the helpfully buoyant wetsuits used in cooler triathlons are not allowed; though the cycling consists of long hills with only moderate gradients, strong and gusting cross-winds are normally found on the course; and the marathon leg of the race is usually strikingly hot. Other races under the WTC aegis have their own difficulties, characteristic of their setting and season. Anyone completing one of these races within the time limit, so long as it is the prescribed distance, is entitled to call him/herself an Ironman (the term being apparently gender-neutral). At one time there was no cut-off time, then a 15 hour time limit - for these events the normal time limit is now 17 hours. Some iron distance races (not sanctioned by the WTC corporation, but using the same standard distances) have different cut-off times.
The Ironman format remains unchanged, and the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as the most honored and prestigious triathlon event to win worldwide. Many consider this to be the most difficult sport in the history of the world. For the 25th anniversary on October 18, 2003, nearly 1500 athletes were enlisted, most of which had to go through qualification competitions (although some were admitted through the lottery).
The Ironman Triathlon is a grueling event that pushes its participants to the limits of endurance. Some, however, find the prescribed distances fall short of these limits. Hence, events such as the double iron triathlon have come about. More extreme formats have evolved; there are in fact triple, quadruple, quintuple, deca, and 15× events that are multiples of the original Ironman distance triathlon. The world records in the quintuple and deca iron races are held by a woman, Astrid Benöhr.
By 2007 there were twenty-one Ironman Triathlon qualifying races throughout the world, six of which take place in the USA:
American Ironmans:
Ironman Arizona in Tempe, Arizona; added in 2005
Ironman Coeur d'Alene in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA; added in 2003
Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach, Florida; added in 1999
Ironman Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky; added in 2007
Ironman USA in Lake Placid, New York; added in 1999
Ironman Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; added in 2002
European Ironmans:
Ironman France in Nice, France
Ironman Germany in Frankfurt, Germany
Ironman Switzerland, in Zürich, Switzerland
Ironman UK in Sherborne, United Kingdom; added in 2005; transition is in the grounds of Sherborne Castle
Ironman Lanzarote in the Canary Islands
Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt, Austria
Australian Ironmans:
Ironman Australia in Port Macquarie, Australia
Ironman Western Australia in Busselton, Australia
Other Ironmans:
Ironman Brazil on Florianopolis Island, Brazil
Ironman Canada in Penticton, Canada
Ironman Japan in Goto, Japan
Ironman Korea in Seogwipo, South Korea
Ironman Malaysia in Langkawi, Malaysia
Ironman New Zealand in Taupo, New Zealand
Ironman South Africa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Another way of qualifying is the Ironman lottery. 200 spots are reserved for athletes that enter the lottery, 50 of them being international spots, the other 150 being US spots. The lottery entries are then drawn out of a pool of about 3,000 entries.
Paula Newby-Fraser
8-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (overall record)
6 consecutive victories in Hawaii (overall record)
24 Ironman victories overall (overall record)
Nickname is "The Queen of Kona"
Natascha Badmann
6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii
Dave Scott
6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (men's record)
Nickname is "The Man"
Mark Allen
6-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii (men's record)
5 consecutive victories in Hawaii
Nickname is "The Grip"
Greg Welch
First international winner of Ironman Hawaii
Won the Grand Slam of races during his career
Joey Kelly
First athlete to complete all eight Ironman Triathlons in a single year.