Iron Memories

print email

Thirty years. Some 34,764 finishers. Multiply that by 140.6 and it gives you 4,887,818 miles covered during triathlon’s most famous race. No wonder these people bonk. For the Ford Ironman World Championship’s 30th anniversary, we caught up with some athletes who helped create the event’s history and asked them to share their most memorable moments.

Scott Tinley

The two-time champion doesn't recall the year. It might have been 1982 or 1985. It doesn't matter. He does remember crossing the finish line and immediately taking off his shoes to relieve the blisters. When the scorching pavement began burning Tinley's feet, Kona's mayor took off his flip-flops and handed them to Tinley. "Aren't your feet gonna get hot?" Tinley asked. "No," said the mayor. "I've got Hawaiian feet. You've got Haole feet." Says Tinley, "These people exude the Aloha spirit, and it's still there." Photo of Scott (left) and his brother Jeff (right) by Mike Plant

Chris "Macca" McCormack

Slumped in the back seat of a sponsor's car near the Energy Lab after bonking and quitting on the run in 2004, Macca was forlorn. "I can't do this Ironman (Hawaii) stuff anymore," he said to his mentor, Mark Allen. About then, McCormack looked out the car and saw age-grouper Christian Sadowski, bloodied after a crash, carrying his broken bike over his shoulders and walking back to town in socks. "He had no skin over half his body and was dripping blood," recalls McCormack. "People asked him, ‘You want a lift?' But he refused. ‘I want to get to that finish line,' he'd say. Then I realized that I had been so caught up in winning that I lost the soul of what this event is. My internal racing clock changed after that." Photo by Rich Cruse

Dick and Rick Hoyt

The legendary father-son team have inspired millions. But Rick's most vivid memory of Kona has nothing to do with cruising down Ali'i Drive, spectators filling his ears with applause. Instead, he remembers his father feeding him Gatorade during a race just as a helicopter hovered overhead, the wind blowing the Gatorade all over his face. Says Dick, "Rick just thinks that was hilarious." Photo by Lois Schwartz

Gordon Haller

Running over the hills on Diamond Head in 1978 (before the race was moved to the Big Island), Haller looked off into the distance and could see lights near the finish line. With a comfortable lead, he was barely three miles from winning Ironman's first-ever race. The victory was his. "I guess it was a feeling of power," says Haller, now 58 and a computer programmer in Colorado. "There wasn't the pain that you normally feel at an Ironman." Photo by Peter Read Miller

Dave Scott

Forget his six Ironman World Championship titles. Scott offers a vivid recollection of Greg Welch's 1994 victory. Scott had turned 40 and was racing for the first time in five years. Heading into the Energy Lab, Scott, then in second place, dug deep, trying to close Welch's lead. "But I was always distracted because Greg was wearing these orange swim togs," says Scott. "They were so ill-fitting. He's a slight guy, and it looked like he was wearing a 42-inch-waist diaper. I'm closing the gap and thinking, ‘I wish he'd change those shorts.' Then he opened up this large gap and they were out of my visual line." Photo by John Segesta

Mark Allen

Allen's Big Island history dates back prior to his racing days, to when he vacationed there with family as a teenager. "I had this strange experience there," says Allen, "like a combination of total ecstasy and total terror-like fear. At night, I'd go to bed and feel like I was surrounded by spirits or energy. Something that was indefinable but that was so clearly there. Somehow I was so attracted to that island, but at the same time I felt an unease. It was like a foreshadowing of what would come." Allen matched Dave Scott's six victories, but he suffered along the way. It took him seven tries to notch his first win. Photo by Lois Schwartz

Ryan Sutter

The man who won Trista Rehn's hand on The Bachelorette scored on the Big Island, too, finishing the 2004 race in 11 hours, 38 minutes. Most of all, he recalls the late-night finish-line scene: the Hawaiian drummers, the dancers, the music, the schwag and the spectators who were whipped into a frenzy, serving as a magnet that pulled the final finishers home. "Staying up until midnight and watching everyone else's dreams realized, especially those on the bubble... it's such an inspiration," says Sutter. The couple, who have a 1-year-old son, Max, will celebrate their fifth anniversary in December. Photo courtesy of Ryan Sutter

Paula Newby-Fraser

On her first trip to the Big Island in 1985, Newby-Fraser was told the run turnaround was just past the airport turnoff. "Come race day, I was running out, looking for the turnaround as I approached the airport turnoff," she says. "I couldn't see anything, so I kept running and running and running. Just past the airport was actually about 1½-2 miles past the turnoff. Lesson learned: Know the course exactly." Photo by Lois Schwartz

Sister Madonna Buder

Now 77 years young, the nun from Spokane, Washington, has been making Kona a habit since 1985. In 1991, about five miles into the marathon, a walking Buder took aim on a woman in front of her. When she caught up with the German, Buder saw she was in trouble. "Her forehead was just blazing," says Buder. Suppressing the temptation to power on in her quest to set an age-group record, Buder stayed with the woman, gave her an aspirin and got her some fluids. Later, Buder felt guilty that she ever thought of passing the woman. "Wait a minute," Buder says she told herself. "You are traveling with fellow pilgrims. We're meant to be of service to one another." Buder still went on to set a record in the 60-64 age group that day, finishing in 13:39. Photo by Rich Cruse

Normann Stadler

With a third place in 2000, a fourth place in 2001 and another fourth in 2003, Stadler had knocked on the door. Finally, in 2004, he pounded the thing down and won his first championship title in 8 hours and 33 minutes. A couple miles into the run on Ali'i Drive, he was told that his lead was 15 minutes on the runner-up and 22 minutes on third place. The German was filled with satisfaction and wonder. "I thought I was doing a short course," says Stadler. "That I must have missed a turn." Stadler went on to win his second title in 2006, bettering his time with an 8:11:56. Photo by Rich Cruse

John Duke

Figuring too many would claim the Allen-Scott 1989 Iron War as one of the best Ironman moments, Triathlete Magazine publisher John Duke leaned toward Greg Welch's 1994 victory, punctuated by the Aussie clicking his heels at the finish line. "The entire day he was having a ball," recalls Duke. "On the run in the lava beds he took a drink at an aid station and spit it at me with a laugh. His finish-line photo summarizes the unmitigated joy he experienced that day." Photo of Greg Welch by Lois Schwartz

Comments & Feedback

Leave a Comment

Name: Email:  do not notifynotify Title: Comment: Code: Please input the code from the image above (case sensitive). Click image to generate new code.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."