Editing Ironman Triathlon (section)

===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".