Today 40 years of the first Ironman Hawaii are fulfilled

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A 18 February 1978 was held the first edition of the Ironman of Hawaii, the most important triathlon in the world and which also meant the birth of triathlon as a sport as we know it.

The story tells that everything originated as a result of a discussion in which the aim was to prove who was the strongest athlete, swimmers, runners or athletes. In the Seventies there were three tests one of each sport well known in Hawaii:

La Waikiki Roughwater Swim which consisted of 3,8 km of swimming
La Around-Oahu Bike Race, a cycling test of 180 km
El Honolulu Marathon with the 42,195 km of foot race

It was the military John Collins the one that proposed to end that debate joining the three tests in a single competition, where the 3,8 km of swimming would be linked, with the 180 km of cycling and the 42,195 km of the marathon. The winner of this race would be known as "Hombre de Hierro" (iron Man).

Previously some similar competitions had been held linking several sports, at the beginning of the 20th century there were some tests that combined cycling, running and swimming in France. There are also references to a similar test organized in Castro Urdiales in the 60 years known as cycle-cream-cross.

In the 70 years there were also tests in the USA (before Hawaii), highlighting in 1974 when the term triathlon was used in San Diego. But all this had been isolated competitions, the true birth of the triathlon was four years later with the Hawaii Ironman and its characteristic distances that are still valid today.

 Therefore, the 1978 year was running when a brave February 18 15 faced the challenge of completing the Waikiki crossing of 3,8km, the Around-Oahu Bike Race of 180km and the Honolulu marathon. Of those 15 athletes, 12 managed to be "ironmans" and the winner was Gordon Haller who completed the tour in 11: 46: 58. The success and impact of the Ironman from Hawaii was such that in 1979 this challenge was repeated, where there was also female participation in charge of Lyn Lemaire, the only woman in this edition, finisher and winner of the test with a time of 12: 55: 38.

* Photo first Ironman Hawaii classification

In 1981 the competition moved to Kona, where it continues to be celebrated until today. In the 1982 year there were two Hawaii Ironmans, one in February and another in October, date that has been established until today.

 The Ironman of Hawaii has big names of winners and winners, where we could mention 4 athletes as the biggest, in men's category Dave Scott y Mark Allen they are the great dominators with 6 triumphs each, while in the female category Paula Newby-Fraser has 8 titles being the absolute queen of the test and Natascha Badman 6.

As for the Spanish participation Eneko Llanos got the best result of a Spanish in Hawaii, being 2º in 2008. In vitoriano it also has the record with 12 consecutive participations in Kona. For its part Guru Friars has two interests in Kona

Finally, we would like to mention the Spanish in age groups. Two have managed to be world champions in their age groups, Fernando García Aja 1º in 45-49 in 2010 and Pedro Oviedo 1 º in 55-59 in 2012.

By number of participations, 4 triathletes have managed to be finishers 5 times: Albert Comas, Bill Lladó, James Menéndez de Luarca e Ivan Álvarez With regard to women, the best result was that obtained by Mabel Gallant in 2015 when it was 6ª in 35-39.

Regarding participation, there are several triathletes who have been Finishers 2 times, own Mabel Gallardo, Veronica Roldán, Aroa Merino, Patricia Well, Vanesa Larrosa and Carmen Gil.

Photo: weblanzarote.com / Diego Velázquez / Ironman.com