Editing Ironman Triathlon (section)

==History==
[[File:Aloha Tower, Honolulu, 1959.jpg|thumb|right|alt=concrete tower|[[Aloha Tower]] was the original bike-to-run transition site]]
The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 [[Oʻahu]] Perimeter Relay.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usatriathlon.org/~/media/3022ca3e385a44d4960d8d969ddd9d7e.ashx|publisher=USA Triathlon|title=Triathlon Timeline - USA Triathlon|access-date=October 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123030420/http://www.usatriathlon.org/~/media/3022ca3e385a44d4960d8d969ddd9d7e.ashx|archive-date=November 23, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Among the participants were 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 Belgian cyclist [[Eddy Merckx]] had the highest recorded "[[VO2 max|oxygen uptake]]" of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more fit than anyone. Collins and his wife Judy Collins 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 1975 Optimist Sports Fiesta Triathlon in [[Coronado, California]]. A number of the other military athletes in attendance were also familiar with the San Diego races, so they understood the concept when 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 ({{cvt|2.4|mi|km|disp=or}}), the Around-Oahu Bike Race ({{cvt|115|mi|km|disp=or}}; originally a two-day event) and the [[Honolulu Marathon]] ({{cvt|26.219|mi|km|disp=or}}).<ref name="Founders">{{cite web|url=http://www.coronadonewsca.com/news/coronado_island_news/coronado-residents-john-and-joan-collins-honored-as-ironman-founders/article_4fb34fee-7667-11e4-aff3-db17f392b830.html|title=Coronado Residents John And Joan Collins Honored As Ironman Founders|date=November 27, 2014|access-date=December 1, 2014|last=Axelson|first=David|publisher=Coronado Eagle and Journal}}</ref>

Until that time, no one present had ever done the bike race. Collins figured by shaving {{convert|3|mi|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.

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." Each of the racers had their own support crew to supply water, food and encouragement during the event.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trihistory.com/sites/default/files/original_im_sanction_packet.pdf|title= Sanction permit, entry form and athlete guide first annual Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon 1978 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140619203239/http://trihistory.com/sites/default/files/original_im_sanction_packet.pdf | archive-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref> Of the fifteen men to start off in the early morning on February 18, 1978, twelve completed the race. [[Gordon Haller]], a U.S. 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. The runner-up John Dunbar, a [[U.S. Navy SEAL]], led after the second transition and had a chance to win but ran out of water on the marathon course; his support crew resorted to giving him beer instead.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://ironman.com/holdingcell/2003/january-2003/a-look-back-at-a-look-back-ironmans-first-10-years#ixzz1XGburp4M|title=A Look Back at a Look Back: Ironman's First 10 years|date=January 23, 2003|access-date=September 7, 2011|publisher=World Triathlon Corporation|website=ironman.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914085514/http://ironman.com/holdingcell/2003/january-2003/a-look-back-at-a-look-back-ironmans-first-10-years#ixzz1XGburp4M|archive-date=September 14, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="SI1979">{{cite magazine|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/05/14/ironman-to-earn-that-title-tom-warren-victoriously-swam-24-miles-through-rough-seas-bicycled-112-miles-and-ran-a-marathon-all-in-a-single-day-of-agony|title=Ironman|date=May 14, 1979|access-date=September 7, 2011|magazine=Sports Illustrated|last=McDermott|first=Barry|archive-date=April 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420203942/https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/05/14/ironman-to-earn-that-title-tom-warren-victoriously-swam-24-miles-through-rough-seas-bicycled-112-miles-and-ran-a-marathon-all-in-a-single-day-of-agonyIRONMAN|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.navyseals.com/ironman-competition-co-founded-navy-officer-1978|title=Ironman competition co-founded by Navy officer in 1979|date=October 10, 2008|access-date=September 7, 2011|publisher=NavySeals.com|last=Newell|first=Paul|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320071839/http://www.navyseals.com/ironman-competition-co-founded-navy-officer-1978|archive-date=March 20, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

With no further marketing efforts, the race gathered as many as 50 athletes in 1979. The race, however, was postponed a day because of bad weather conditions. Only fifteen competitors started off the race Sunday morning. San Diego's [[Tom Warren (triathlete)|Tom Warren]] won in 11 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds.<ref name="Founders"/> [[Lyn Lemaire]], a championship cyclist from Boston, placed sixth overall and became the first "Ironwoman". Lemaire<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ling |first1=Micah |title=A Brief History of the Women's Ironman World Championship |url=https://stories.strava.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-womens-ironman-world-championship |website=STRAVA Stories}}</ref> finished her race in 12 hours 55 minutes and 38 seconds, only 1 hour 39 minutes and 42 seconds slower than the winning time for the men's race.  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.<ref name="Founders"/><ref name="SI1979"/> During the following year, hundreds of curious participants contacted Collins. In 1980, 27-year-old Dave Scott broke the then-record by close to 2 hours, completing the race in 9 hours and 24 minutes. For the 1981 event, there were more than triple the entries, at 326.<ref>{{cite web |title=IRONMAN Timeline: The first Decade (1978- 1987) |url=https://www.ironman.com/news_article/show/1257810 |website=Ironman}}</ref>

There have been 19 different ways to qualify for the Ironman. Some of the ways include being a Hawaii Resident who won an event drawing, attaining a win in your age group at a previous Ironman, or even having a "Human Interest Story." Such human interest stories include participants who are cancer survivors and war heroes injured in battle.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Garthe |first1=David |title=19 Ways to Qualify for the Kona Ironman World Championships (2024) |url=https://blog.irace.ai/how-to-qualify-for-kona-ironman-world-championships}}</ref>

[[File:IMG 8473Iron.JPG|thumb|right|Start and finish of the [[Ironman World Championship]] on Ali{{okina}}i Drive in [[Kailua, Hawaii County, Hawaii|Kailua-Kona]] Hawaii]]

===Valerie Silk and WTC===
Around 1979 Collins no longer wanted to direct the Ironman race and approached Nautilus Fitness Center owners Hank Grundman and Valerie Silk about taking over control of the race. Grundman previously had extended his club's facilities to many of the Ironman competitors. Following the couple's divorce in 1981 Silk received ownership of Ironman.<ref name="History40">{{cite web|url=http://www.trihistory.com/features/straight-40-go|title=A Straight 40 To Go|last=Tinley|first=Scott|date=August 10, 2014|access-date=March 4, 2015|publisher=trihidtory.com|archive-date=February 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215080117/http://www.trihistory.com/features/straight-40-go|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Chick">{{cite news|title=Ironwoman|last=Chick|first=Bob|date=October 22, 1983|access-date=March 4, 2015|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19831022&id=IsNaAAAAIBAJ&pg=4782,1593117|newspaper=The Evening Independent|page=1–C}}</ref> That year she moved the competition to the less urbanized [[Hawaii (island)|Hawai{{okina}}i Island]]<ref name="Founders"/> (called the Big Island) 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.

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, moved toward the finish line in first place. As she neared the finish, severe fatigue and dehydration set in, and she fell just yards away from the finish line. Although [[Kathleen McCartney (triathlete)|Kathleen McCartney]] passed her for the women's title, Moss nevertheless crawled to the finish line. Her performance was broadcast worldwide and created the Ironman mantra that just finishing is a victory. By the end of that year, the race had maxed out at 1,000 participants, with a lottery used to fill the field while turning away another 1,000 interested participants.<ref name="Chick"/>

In 1990, with the help of Lew Friedland, Dr. James P. Gills acquired and purchased the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation, owner of the Ironman brand for $3 million from Silk. With the Ironman brand, Gills established the [[World Triathlon Corporation]] with the intention of furthering the sport of triathlon and increasing prize money for triathletes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60032|title=Equity firm buys Ironman parent|last=Williams|first=Pete|date=September 15, 2008|publisher=Street & Smith's Sports Group|access-date=June 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919232504/http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2008/09/20080915/This-Weeks-News/Equity-Firm-Buys-Ironman-Parent.aspx|archive-date=September 19, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/End_of_year_news_roundup_1149.html|title=End of year news roundup|last=Carlson|first=Timothy|date=December 20, 2009|publisher=Slowtwitch.com|access-date=June 24, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Scheppler">{{cite book|last=Scheppler|first=Bill|title=The Ironman Triathlon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ur9_6QMRWAAC&pg=PT12|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3556-7|page=15}}</ref>

A number of non-WTC full distance triathlons have been held since the mid-1990s. The limited number of WTC-sanctioned events, and the limited number of entries available per race, have combined with a growth in the sport that has created demand for these non-trademarked events. Many of them share the {{convert|2.4|mi|km|adj=on}}, {{convert|112|mi|km|adj=on}}, {{convert|26.2|mi|km|adj=on}} format with the Ironman triathlon. Originally, many used the Ironman name. Due to aggressive trademark protection, most of these races no longer use the word "Ironman".