As someone who wasn't going to be born for another 4 years and therefore totally missed it, this is some incredible insight. Can't wait for the rest of them. Thanks for sharing!

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

You on the cover of Triathlete magazine some 35 years ago is what got me into triathlons

Thank you

That's also why we all wanted to share this. It was a pretty amazing race and many folks today were young, or like you, not even born then. Legacy of the sport coming at you!

This is great!!! I will be looking forward to learning more about this famous race. Thanks very much!!!

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

Great listen on The Move podcast with you, Dave, and Lance talking about this as well! Started it on my 5-miler today and time flew by listening to the three of you.

Hahaha. Glad we could distract you and inspire you at the same time!

Aaaaaahhh.... 1989 was the good old days.

Your battle was epic!

This post was so exciting that I blacked out and fell off of my chair, alarming my wife.

Cannot wait!

Mark, I listened to you & Dave on Lance's podcast

Without giving too much away, it was what I expected and more; a lot of "I didn't know that!" Which is, of course, the point of your project = the UNtold stuff





Slowtwitch even gets a mention [I may have to listen again, but I believe it was something about not being able to find their splits on the Ironman website, but Lance was able to find them here someplace?]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Thanks for doing this. I'm super excited to read the weekly stories.

Will

Someone sticky this post, please.

Thanks to both Dave and Mark for doing this. This was an iconic race during my earliest years in the sport.

No internet, not televised until months afterward. I remember going to a local newspaper shop and scouring the back pages of the sports section to see the results. All I could tell was the places and times of each guy. I didn't know until later how it unfolded but I knew that it must have been an amazing race!!!

I would dispute the 1989 race was something where, "The universe was unalterably changed." An interesting story perhaps and I will read and see how it compares to the "Iron War" book.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Great stuff Mark, I remember my front row seat well to this race. Glad Zag got a hair up to do this, you kind of need a 3rd party that is stoked to get you two old farts to cough up many of these buried memories..

One suggestion though, get a proof reader on board. This could very well be a big historical record for the sport, might even get out to mainstream if I know Scott and his ambitions. So best to have it look as professional as possible..I only notice those things now because that is what my wife does for this site, makes a lot of difference when reading Timothy's and Herbert's before and afters!!!!! (-;

You still getting some surf up there is the cold northern waters of Santa Cruz? I have opted for the non wetsuit, almost constant 70+ of San Onofre. Still can ride my short board, but that 9 footer keeps calling me to be my friend on those 3 to 4ft days at old mans...About the only place you can see a lot of 60+ year old surfers still ripping it, besides our secret Baja spot...(-;

I think I've watched that 1989 race 50 times while gutting out an awful set on an indoor trainer.

"If they can drop to a 6 minute pace and look like that it then I can survive X *$!&ing minutes of this..."

Can't wait to dig into it!

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

Hello Mark!

I have a picture of you and Dave dueling it out in the run posted to the garage fridge as a reminder of my introduction to the sport back in the ‘80s. Ironically, my 14yo daughter asked me about the picture just last night. That was an impressionable time for me, and you certainly made an impression that has stood the test of time.

Thank you for all you’ve done done our sport, and for keeping the memories alive with this series!

Scott

I'm not sure if ABC* used this then, but I can't help but hear this playing in my head







* ABC did the broadcasts back then, didn't they? Like on Wide World of Sports or something? NBC didn't have it yet?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Awesome stuff!! It baffles me how guys like Triathlon Taren get more views than both Dave and Mark combined.

Thats great Mark! I got inspired into triathlon by the ironwar triathlete mags that i got at the runners club garage sale as a young kid in new zealand, then went on to read yours and daves training books. I remember thinking how epic the buildup and duell itself was... It's worthy how the photos, buildup story and race scenario, records of the day exchanging of scepter between the most dominant champions at kona has withstood the test of time.

Both great ambassadors, great to see

Mark,

Thanks for this work. The day after watching this race on ABC my two buddies and I had a great ride from Oceanside to the Del Mar train station and back. Even today there are times when I think back to that race for some needed motivation.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

That is great. Thanks for sharing and I really look forward to... The rest of the story.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

MarkAllenCoach wrote:

Hahaha. Glad we could distract you and inspire you at the same time!

Well Mark since we're talking about you, Lance and Dave on "the Move", I think for those who were not around this video from the 197 Bermuda International Tri when Lance raced you and put the hurt on the "elders" is in required viewing!!!






By the way, if you watch you and Dave running out on Alii drive, you guys are running way slower than most of the guys today who struggle to break 2:50 at the Kona marathon and you ran 2:39+T2 off of that pacing. I bet 30 years later no one breaks your run split this year.

I've been around along time & was fortunate enough to be there in Bermuda in '87 and Kona in '89. It's funny to watch the old videos of Bermuda, now knowing what Lance would do later. Mike Pigg sure looks young in the video too. He & Mark had some great Olympic distance battles. That was the first race where I actually saw the brand new Scott DH bars. I asked around & got the phone # to call Boone Lennon when I got home to order a pair.

I went out to Hawaii in '89 to watch some friends race in Kona & I did the old Kauai Loves You tri the weekend before. Who knew that I would get to see the incredible duel between Mark & Dave. I vividly remember seeing them side by side on Alii Drive heading back into town early in the marathon. No race tracking in those days, so we had to get updates from Mike Plant & I remember him saying mile after mile "they're still together". There have been some other dramatic passes late in the marathon, but so far, no over race in Kona where the top two raced together the entire marathon.

I got my Scott DH bars many months after watching that Bermuda race on TV. I went to my local Scott dealer in Montreal who carried Scott ski equipment and asked them to order them, but of course they had no clue, so the next day I brought a copy of Triathlon magazine with a phtotocopy of the bars in action and told them to mail them to Scott USA in Sun Valley, copy Boone Lennon and ask for them. It took nearly a year, but I was literally the first guy in Montreal with the bars. Paulo Saldhana who was a local pro (and finished 3rd in Nice) had already picked up a pair on a training camp somewhere in California.

At least I got my "triathlete bars" almost 1.5 years before Lemond used them to win the 1989 Tour De France. In any case, back to the thread at hand....1989, these guys were riding sub 4:30 in the tri position the same year that Fignon's head was spinning because Lemond was using the cheater bars. Then they were running 2:42 and 2:39 off that bike (minus T2)....that was 30 years ago.