Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events
Quote | Reply
Men - Mike Pigg would have dominated at the 70.3 distance. Swim was OK, he would have left the field in the dust on the bike and then held on during the run.

Women - Karen Smyers - One of the best female triathletes of all time at Olympic and IM, but she would have dominated the 70.3 distance with her bike and run.

Others?

Z
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I remember a few years back working at a Rev3 race in Maine and Smyers dusted everybody at 50-something years old.

Team Zoot 2023
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
tomziebart wrote:
Men - Mike Pigg would have dominated at the 70.3 distance. Swim was OK, he would have left the field in the dust on the bike and then held on during the run.
Z

Are you sure? After drafting was introduced for short course, I think this would have been Spencer Smith's ideal race format.
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [SteveMc] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Spencer would have also done very well at the 70.3 distance. He had some success at the IM distance, but I agree with you that the 70.3 distance would have been his best chance at winning events. He was a fantastic cyclist, had good speed in the water and was a very strong runner!

Simon Lessing also comes to mind when thinking about triathletes that attempted the IM distance with some success. He would also have been better at the 70.3 distance.

Z
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
tomziebart wrote:
Spencer would have also done very well at the 70.3 distance. He had some success at the IM distance, but I agree with you that the 70.3 distance would have been his best chance at winning events. He was a fantastic cyclist, had good speed in the water and was a very strong runner!

Simon Lessing also comes to mind when thinking about triathletes that attempted the IM distance with some success. He would also have been better at the 70.3 distance.

Z

Both had the physiology to excel at 70.3 but Spencer would have had to have gone down that route in 1995, and in recent interviews he mentioned that after his father died in 98 he lost some motivation. Assuming he brought the approach that got his two world champs in the non-drafting era, then he would definitely have been a contender.

Lessing was focused on Sydney, I don't think he cared much for racing long but had to for the dough.

They both would have had lots of wins at 70.3 in that particular time frame, but compared to the lightening we saw from the top three mutants in South Africa I suspect less so if they were competing now.
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [SteveMc] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Another guy that might have had success at the 70.3 distance was Hunter Kemper! He aldehyde said that he would not do an IM, but I think he would have done well at the 70.3 distance. Z
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
tomziebart wrote:
Men - Mike Pigg would have dominated at the 70.3 distance. Swim was OK, he would have left the field in the dust on the bike and then held on during the run.

Women - Karen Smyers - One of the best female triathletes of all time at Olympic and IM, but she would have dominated the 70.3 distance with her bike and run.

you know who i never remember doing much at this distance was scott molina. but he dominated, in certain years, at USTS, and he won IM of course but he's most dominant long distance win was at zofingen. like mark allen, you throw any distance, any format in front of him, he just won. but he was more dominant at distances shorter than IM, so, i think the Half would've been right up his alley.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Dan - I agree with you about Molina - He was dominate at ANY race he attended. 1981 - Penrod's Tinman Triathlon - $5,000 winner take all - He beat Tinley and spent most of the money buying beer for everyone at Penrod's after the race. Z
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
It would have been too hard to appreciate the race with all that great Third Eye Blind and Chumbawumba playing over the PA.

But I’d say Christian Bustos.
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Lance Armstrong
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Cam Widoff

Perhaps Rob Mackel

Luke Bell and Chris Legh don't fit that timing/era but are two pro's that typically did well at that distance.


Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [TMT] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
TMT wrote:

Luke Bell and Chris Legh don't fit that timing/era but are two pro's that typically did well at that distance.


I think it was Brett Sutton who mentioned Chris Legh as being the most talented half ironman racer in the late 90s and early 2000's. He could make up for a marginally slower swim with an excellent bike and very solid run. But again, he was mainly competing against the mega mile diesel ironman (mostly German), and not the shorter course speedsters. There really wasn't much depth in those kind of races back then. Possibly it was Andy Potts who was one of the first to really focus on the 70.3 distance, and target his training around sustained bike and run speed over those kinds of distances.
Last edited by: SteveMc: Apr 5, 19 3:04
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [TMT] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
TMT wrote:
Cam Widoff

Perhaps Rob Mackel

Luke Bell and Chris Legh don't fit that timing/era but are two pro's that typically did well at that distance.


hear hear. people forget that widoff threw down some absolutely stunning runs at wildflower over the years.

in the slightly earlier cohort i'd pick tinley, partly because he was fast and partly because he could race rain or shine, every damn weekend.

on the women's draw, i believe badmann set an early 'world's best' time for the half at blackwater one year. not so much because she was a fasttwitch speedster as she could put 15 minutes in the field on a good bike ride. . .

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
Last edited by: iron_mike: Apr 6, 19 12:29
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Devlin.

-bobo

"What's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded."
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Cam Widoff?

He was pretty dominant at wildflower. Could have owned a bunch more 70.3s imo

Eta: on reading other posts seems I have company in my opinion.
Last edited by: davejustdave: Apr 5, 19 20:39
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Slowman wrote:
tomziebart wrote:
Men - Mike Pigg would have dominated at the 70.3 distance. Swim was OK, he would have left the field in the dust on the bike and then held on during the run.

Women - Karen Smyers - One of the best female triathletes of all time at Olympic and IM, but she would have dominated the 70.3 distance with her bike and run.

you know who i never remember doing much at this distance was scott molina. but he dominated, in certain years, at USTS, and he won IM of course but he's most dominant long distance win was at zofingen. like mark allen, you throw any distance, any format in front of him, he just won. but he was more dominant at distances shorter than IM, so, i think the Half would've been right up his alley.[/quot

A bit younger than those guys, but Peter Reid would have dominated 70.3 if there were more. His first real big win as a pro was wildflower 1996
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
What about a healthy Greg Welch? Don’t think I’ve seen his name yet. Didn’t he keep a lot of short course speed?

Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Lessing took silver at 2006 70.3 worlds
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [MI_Mumps] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I agree - Greg would have loved to race more IM 70.3 races. He is the ONLY man that has won 4 world championships at IM, Olympic and ITU Long Course events and the ITU Duathlon WC. (The Muncie Endurathon was the ITU Long Course Championship back in the late 90's) Z
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [tomziebart] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
tomziebart wrote:
I agree - Greg would have loved to race more IM 70.3 races. He is the ONLY man that has won 4 world championships at IM, Olympic and ITU Long Course events and the ITU Duathlon WC. (The Muncie Endurathon was the ITU Long Course Championship back in the late 90's) Z

spot on.

Greg would have the basic speed to race today.

he's a guy who doesn't get credit for having a totally insane palmares - in addition to what you listed, he won at the ITGP after winning kona!

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
Quote Reply
Re: 80's and early 90's Pro athletes that would have loved more IM 70.3 events [bobo] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Jeff Devlin would have loved more 70.3 races. He was always a factor on tough bike courses. Loved watching him win Powerman back in the early 90’s.
Quote Reply