some of my folks will remember this better than i (slowtwitch concierge, for example, on the forum here). he worked for us back in the quintana roo days.

just, remember that there was no OFFICIAL age group WC in those days according to the ITU. the first ITU recognized championships was in 1989 i'm pretty sure, in avignon. there were some fairly generally accepted precursors, in kelowna, BC, in 1988? i'm pretty sure i raced that race in my AG (30-34), and got 2nd or 3rd.

for example, Rick Wells won (I believe it was) the 1987 WC in triathlon at the Olympic Distance and we all absolutely recognized that win. but danged if i can tell you where that was and you won't see it in the ITU records because they don't consider anything before 89 legit.

so, unless you see the results of those races in 87 and 88 and see that michael's name is NOT in there, i wouldn't jump to any conclusions.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

He's in the results for the 1986 Santa Barbara Triathlon...he would have had to improve a lot from age 22 to age 23.

http://results.santabarbaratriathlon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Santa-Barbra-Triathlon-1986.pdf

It could also have been races like Bass Lake or Hilton Head. Back in the day they were called world champs by many athletes, and for sure Hilton head had a very international pro field, not sure about the AG'ers. Since there were just no big races that encompassed a wide range of people other than the USTS champs, it was kind of like the NFL or NBA or World Series of baseball crowning world champions.

I knew Mike very well back in the day, he was one of my Baja surfing buddies and he was pretty high up in the surfing magazine business for sometime. I remember his as a great athlete but do not recall his results, but would not surprise me if he had one of the titles I mentioned above. Hell I was US champion in my AG in off road triathlon and I could barley ride a mountain bike. It was at Tinleys toughest, think he crashed and I was just next in line. There are/were a lot of races that got big designations without the accompanying fields to really cement those titles. But they gave out the awards, just like Kona used to do to all those world champions just because they said so...

On another note but could be related, does anyone have those old Hilton head results from I think 86/87/88??

not sure about triathlon (but certainly wouldn't be surprising given his surfing background) but knew he was a pro duathlete who roomed and toured the circuit with Souza.

certainly do not challenge MMX in a beer mile - he was legendary in that, now highly esteemed, discipline!

i raced bikes with him when i lived in san diego five years ago when i was racing as a Cat 1. he was tough as nails and people cursed under their breath when he showed up for the ride. you knew it would be a hot pace.

last and certainly not least, he is the creator and master storyteller behind The Belgian Waffle Ride, the premier gravel ride in the country.

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Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

I can vouch for this. Even in his 50's now, he's legitimately fast. Faster than anyone except dedicated, actively racing roadies. And I could see him being a former triathlete because he rides in groups like a triathlete. No sense of cooperation or decorum. Go to the front and go as hard as possible with zero awareness of the chaos it causes to everyone else. :)

Mike was a fixture in SOCAL during the late 80's when I first started racing while stationed with the Marine Corps at MCAS Tustin, CA. He was a UC Irvine Grad and high quality athlete who could do all three sports fairly balanced. Since we are near the same age I raced and trained often with him and a popular triathlon group called "Your Name Here" in regards to real estate signs. Dan was often part of the group and his QR Shop (industrial warehouse) was across the street from the base.

That said, I can only think Mike is referring to the Desert Princess Duathlon World Champions. The race was competed at the 10K 62k10k distance. It was really a big deal each winter for a number of years with good prize money and many of the top triathlon stars going head to head with the worlds best duathletes. Since the ITU did not exist at the time they did have self proclaimed professional and age group world titles. Dan was a fixture at the 3 race series as well as many other early entrepreneurs showed up with their wares.

This type of event is missing in the US today. I'm sure if the IM Brand decided to give some Kona spots for a long course Duathlon to bring more people into the sport, they could sell it out. In fact back in the early 90's Kona slots were given to age group athletes at the IM Orange County Duathlon. Distance was 5k 30k 5k. Imagine that!

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Doug Marocco USAT #1039 I have been doing this sport for a while!

I forgot about that desert princess duathlon, yes that was a world champs back in the day, and it actually deserved that designation for several of its years in the pro ranks at least. A lot of world class triathletes would pitch up with the worlds best duathletes and duke it out. Kind of like Zofingen was back in the day for a few years too. Suppose that one would have been the long distance duathlon world champs..

I loved that race too, you had enough time on the bike to motor back up to some skinny runners, and the 2nd run was more a strength run that suited the good bikers. Had to be all round to win it though, that was Kenny Souza...

And one more about Mike, probably had one of the 5 best surfing days of my life with just him and me in Baja. 6' to 8ft all day long with black oil glassy water, on a right point where there were lefts barreling into the point. Never forget that day...

And finally watched that TED talk he did, don't really buy into the whole someone predicting my future thing, but can understand how some people in that business are so good at it and reading people, that many buy into the I know what your life is going to be. But at least it led to a good point to not just follow your dreams, plan on how to follow them..

I got the HH '86 results. I did so bad, it's like I wasn't even in the race.

I'm the same guy who had the Monterey Bay '89 results you were wondering about a few years ago.

I should get a life. I guess, getting fast would be a consolation prize :-|

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

Desert Princess was a blast back in the day-10K 62K 10K.

I fondly remember racing one year and seeing Mike Pigg getting interviewed by TV in transition, he had already won the race, had a shower and probably lunch. I was putting on my running shoes and still had my last 10K to run.

Fun times!

CJ
Slow, old guy

wow winner of my AG (45-49) - 6.11

That's my dad's generation - 1936-1941. Fitness wasn't much of a thing for that generation. They had other things to worry about when they grew up.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

I have results from Hilton Head 1989. I think it's 1989, it's the year the top 5 (including Lance and Jimmy R) got DQ'd for violations on the bike. Louis Murphy Jr won. It's a huge book, probably 20-30 pages for all the results, not sure what a reasonable way to post it would be.

Ideas?

Funny you should mention it. I had a work meeting with a guy yesterday who just ripped some .pdfs of old marathon results into a BI tool. Pretty sure your results book could be scanned as a pdf then converted to an Excel, Google Sheet, or .csv file. Who would store it? That I don't know. I could see writing up a blog post with some stat analysis of the results, might even get a dozen hits!

I've kept all my old results "booklets." 'cause I know they'll be worth millions, kinda like comic books or bitcoins

And then, I woke up :-(

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

I remember that fateful day.

Led the bike (alone) from mile 4 to the finish at 25 miles. Started the run with a ~20 second head start and finished second to Miles Stewart, but was eventually disqualified.

Many in the large group I passed at mile 4 were disqualified for drafting. I was disqualified for crossing the center line when passing the large group at mile 4 (guilty as charged).

The lessons learned by me that day, and not the fame, fortune and adulation of hundreds of people, are the primary reason why I am involved in officiating today.

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Jimmy
http://www.Riccitello.com

He wasn't at Hilton Head in '87, which was the only year i did that race.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I remember that day too! Massive blow to a young dude who's whole season's pay check dis-appeared in the blink of an eye passing a whole bunch of weak wheel-suckers!!! You've taken that blow on the chin like a champ to go onto bigger and better things! Thanks for hanging' in there dude and not turning your back on the sport due to bitterness. No one would have blamed Ya! Cheers from NZ, Skid.

Never heard of him! :-) And I think I did just about every significant race in the USA in those days ...... Cheers from NZ, Skid