This one is my vote for the Second Greatest Ironman ever...1992, PNF goes 8:55, Allen, Bustos and Kiuru all sub 8:20, all running 2:49 or lower. The top ten, is like another New York Yankees "All Time Allstar team". PNF rides sub 5 and Julieanne White at Donna Peters ride just over 5. Amazing.

Even Wolfgang and Zack who some claim can't run, ran smoking fast. I think this is also the first Ironman when Zack was the first German to T2, blowing by Dittrich, establishing the long honoured tradition of trying to blow the race apart on the bike.

1 MARK ALLEN USA 00:51:27 04:35:23 02:42:18 08:09:08 - 2 CRISTIAN BUSTOS 00:52:35 04:34:16 02:49:38 08:16:29 0:07:21 3 PAULI KIURU 00:51:18 04:36:26 02:49:45 08:17:29 0:08:21 4 WOLFGANG DITTRICH 00:48:35 04:38:17 02:56:27 08:23:19 0:14:11 5 JÜRGEN ZÄCK 00:53:34 04:32:28 02:59:02 08:25:04 0:15:56 6 GREG WELCH 00:49:32 04:37:20 03:00:01 08:26:53 0:17:45 7 N. PAUL HUDDLE 00:51:37 04:41:19 02:54:30 08:27:26 0:18:18 8 JEFF DEVLIN 00:54:35 04:39:06 02:56:47 08:30:28 0:21:20 9 TEEMU VESALA 00:57:30 04:43:51 02:56:08 08:37:29 0:28:21 10 RAY BROWNING 00:51:26 04:41:31 03:07:37 08:40:34 0:31:26 11 BEN VAN ZELST 00:56:03 04:43:38 03:01:10 08:40:51 0:31:43 12 HIDEYA MIYAZUKA 00:59:10 04:43:46 02:58:35 08:41:31 0:32:23 13 SCOTT TINLEY 00:54:41 04:45:16 03:02:42 08:42:39 0:33:31 14 KEN GLAH USA 00:51:35 04:40:25 03:11:45 08:43:45 0:34:37 15 HENRY KIENS 00:51:36 04:46:36 03:06:08 08:44:20 0:35:12
TOP FEMALE ATHLETES PL NAME NAT SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL DIFF. 1 PAULA NEWBY-FRASER USA 00:53:30 04:56:34 03:05:24 08:55:28 - 2 JULIEANNE WHITE 01:02:07 05:02:32 03:17:01 09:21:40 0:26:12 3 THEA SYBESMA 01:00:40 05:08:14 03:18:03 09:26:57 0:31:29 4 TERRY SCHNEIDER 01:00:07 05:04:22 03:24:36 09:29:05 0:33:37 5 KRISTA WHELAN 01:02:24 05:01:54 03:30:43 09:35:43 0:40:15 6 DONNA PETERS 00:59:59 05:03:46 03:34:18 09:38:03 0:42:35 7 FERNANDA KELLER BRA 01:02:34 05:17:07 03:19:21 09:39:02 0:43:34 8 KATINKA WILTENBURG 01:03:07 05:19:24 03:24:15 09:46:46 0:51:18 9 SIAN WILLIAMS 00:56:23 05:00:16 03:53:04 09:49:43 0:54:15 10 JULIANA NIEVERGELT 00:54:28 05:11:46 03:46:22 09:52:36 0:57:08 11 LUANNE PARK 01:06:10 05:16:06 03:35:04 09:57:20 1:01:52 12 HEATHER FUHR CAN 01:03:15 05:35:34 03:20:32 09:59:21 1:03:53 13 CLAUDIA KRETSCHMAN 01:05:20 05:17:21 03:36:58 09:59:39 1:04:11 14 KATHY SLOAN 00:54:49 05:21:33 03:45:35 10:01:57 1:06:29 15 INES ESTEDT 01:06:16 05:21:39 03:34:13 10:02:08 1:06:40



Oh yeah, and this is why Slotwtich is soooo cool cause you can get guys who were in the thick of the action to give you some "pseudo live time capsule commentary".

Duh! Forgot that one. Another great one. I guess there are a lot of "second" bests..:-)

I just remembered '98 Oz because I have the video and watched it a couple of weeks ago.

"Think he (Allen) hasn`t raced since `95..Was asked if he would race for fun he said" racing is not fun, surfing is fun, playing with his son is fun, and golf is fun" he said :)"

That's surprising to me. Sounds like a bad case of burnout if he hasn't raced for ten years. Tinley's burnout was legendary, but he eventually found a way to fit some racing back in his life. And he seems to be enjoying it. Why is Allen so allergic to racing these days?

I guess I just want to see a Big Four Smackdown again, just for old times' sake.

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Here's your commentary on the calssic 1992 race..this is the race where Greg Welch was absolutly screwed at about mile 20 on the run. He was standing at the side of the road, stretching cramps and looking like he would have to pack it in. Along comes Paul Huddle, the nicest guy in the world. Here he is, still racing for a top money spot, and he stops to see if Greg is allright. He gives greg some of his salt tablets and advil, and encourges him to just come and run in with him. Greg can't go, so Huddle takes off. As the salt and advil do there late race magic, Greg begins to run again, slowly picking up his pace, until he is actually running again. He sees Paul in his sights in that last mile, and blows by him for 6th place. That was the most expensive salt and advil Huddle ever bought.What's that saying about nice guys finishing last??? Thing is, he would do it all over again, like I said, nice guy...

This was also the race where Wolfgang was first German, and out ran Jurgen. Jurgen didn't like that too much, since he felt he was a way better runner than Wolfie. Back then he was considered lke Bjorn is today. Great swimmer/biker, but no run. Just like Bjorn, he could always run, it's just a lot tougher when every race you do is a solo time trial. SOmetimes being so fast in the swim/bike is a curse, always leading, until you are not.....

These are the stories, and races that made me want to be a triathlete. For two guys to not care about pacing, and just trying to blast one another for 8+ hours; that is awesome. I love hearing old training stories from the likes of Molina, Pigg, Tinley, Scott, Allen, etc. They had trained like animals, and thats why they could race like that. One of the threads talked about how they raced short course all season while putting in huge weekly volume; I agree that has to be one of the main reasons they could race IM so fast and with little regard for pacing.

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Ruble Triathlon Coaching Average of 30 coached PR's per year
Florida Triathlon Camps Train in North Americas winter training destination
Ruble Racing Events Midwest Triathlon Racing
Ruble Timing Midwest Event Timing

I hope Welch split the diff in the prize money with Huddle. Thanks for that commentary. Funny thing is people claim that guys like Zack, Wolfgang, Bjorn can't run, but Zack has gone sub 2:50 many times in Ironman and I do agree that being the guy sticking your nose in the wind (or water) with zero drafting effect like Wolgang has to take a lot out of you. As efficient at he was in the water, he had to be burning more energy for his 48 min swims than Allen was in the 51 min group. Then he rides solo forever.

At 1993 Ironman Roth, I was in the third wave. To make a long story short, I had 2 flats with one spare and eventually got neutral support and lost way too much time on the bike. I was about to pack it in but decided to keep going. The best decision in my racing years.

In any event, on the 3x60K course, I am lapped in succession by Wolfgang, Zack and Bustos each around 1 min behind the other as I close in on 120k and they go to T2. Each guy is racing like this is a short course race, with no holding back. I never had someone blow by so fast on the bike until Hellriegel lapped me on the bike at the 1995 World Military Games. These guys were racing balls to the walls. Back then there were 2 real "races" where guys came with their A game, Hawaii and Roth. No one could beat the Germans in Roth, but on that day, this little guy from Chile put the Germans in their place. It was classic having front row seat on that bike course. Amazing.

>>> ...when is the last time, TWO guys ran sub 2:42
>> Even better, the run split includes transition time. :)
>>
>> Alex
> Are you sure about that? I thought that the bike
> time included BOTH transitions.

I was not there but, when asked the question, Mark Allen confirmed the fact at one of his guest speaker engagements. So, he really went 2:38 that day.

I guess Mike Plumb or Monty could confirm (or infirm)...

Cheers,
Alex

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First with the head, then with the heart. -- HG

I believe for 89 the transition times were included in the bike split. Allen's marathon time was listed as 2:40 something, but I do remember hearing that he did actually run 2:38 something.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Christian Bustos...I didn't know he had been racing IM for that long, and still is kicking some bootie.....Awesome!

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Ruble Triathlon Coaching Average of 30 coached PR's per year
Florida Triathlon Camps Train in North Americas winter training destination
Ruble Racing Events Midwest Triathlon Racing
Ruble Timing Midwest Event Timing

The race that got me hooked was either 1984 or 85. I was living in Singapore and somebody had a video of the race. It was on NTSC fomat so I found a room with a multiformat vcr the university where we could all pile in and watch it. I remember a guy named Hinshaw (sp?) was in the hunt with Tinley. I think Dave Scott was injured that year (he might have been doing commentary). I remember Tinley looked so calm during the run. He was playing catch with a mini foootball with the camera crew. I also remember that he was having some sort of feud with ABC and would not talk with them after the race. Anybody remember what that was all about?

Is this the race when Tinley was wearing the blue and black "zebra stripe" stuff with those V shaped cowhorns (almost a first gen prototype of the visiontech base bar) along with matching shoe covers ?

I thought this, too. I raced in 1991 and the bike split included both transitions that year.

<< Christian Bustos...I didn't know he had been racing IM for that long, and still is kicking some bootie.....Awesome!


back in the early 90's before Christian had his breakthrough performance at Hawaii, he was living in Baton Rouge, while I was living in Mobile. I went over there one year to do a duathlon. It was my first race after tearing three ligiments in my ankle. All pumped up on some pain killers I passed Christian on the bike and held him off until the final 100 yards of the second run where he finally sprinted by to win by a couple of seconds. Training in Baton Rouge really layed the foundation for him to compete so well in Hawaii in 91 & 92. After that he moved to Boulder, then eventually back home to Chile.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

A couple things about '89 IMH. Not only was it "Ironwar", but there was a great race for third with Welch, Glah and Kiuri seperated by only 26 sec. Also, it was relatively wind free on the bike and there was cloud cover for the run (at least after the first few miles). So, it was a fast day by Hawaii standards.