Ironwar is a great story, but as you've mentioned there are plenty of other epic stories. Every year has a narrative that is poetic in some way.

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Team Zoot 2023

It's triathlon. Please move on from the Ironman.

I like that better.

I was there and heard the same speech. He was relating the story that inspired him the most. Yes, there have been great battles, close races, but he was simply sharing his favorite. As he said it was an 8 hour, toe to toe battle.
If Macca were giving the talk, I am sure it would have been a different race.

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Team Zoot So Cal

My Moment of the Moments was a couple of years ago when dead declared Andreas Raelert chased Jan Frodeno in the lava desert.
Here the often bad and clumsy tv-coverage of Ironman created an unwanted effect: you saw minutes long Andreas Raelert running without any comment due to transmission trouble. You only heared the flapping sound of his feet on the ground, also because there are not any spectators there.
This gave a very intimate and intense impression, I found as if I was running myself somewhere on my own.

Gomez and Brownlee are coming!

Ironman distance (not brand) is triathlon. Everything else is just a warm up.

It's 2018, please move on from triathlon.

(The rest of the world has).

I agree with the OP. This is why our sport has no reach. Not because of this story, but because the major brand is stuck in some historic loop and unable to connect with the young men and women who might get in the water this summer, if they had a good reason.

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

Chrissie destroying all, with torn intercostals and fractured ribs is a great story from more modern times.

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'to give anything less than the best is to sacrifice the gift'...Pre

It's all about marketing, sport needs drama and contorversy to sell itself to the mass market, the best thing that could happen to Triathlon is for Frodo and Gomez to get into a fight at the Kona press conference viewing figures would double.

Yes....I am not a triathlete any more!!!

I’ll believe it when I see it. It sounds like Brownlee is hurt once again. I’d love that race to happen but for him to be in peak form for an Ironman he can’t get hurt on a rolling 3-6 month basis.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch a triathlon on TV.

Every religion needs to have a founding myth.

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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

Hah! I like this on a couple of levels.

I get that too. I watch full stages of the TdF when I'm on the trainer (like minute-by-minute coverage of a stage). Otherwise I'd rather it follow the "Baseball in 30" idea of condensing a long event down into something shorter.

But if you're filling time on a trainer or something, it's better than watching Band of Brothers for the 37th time (although not by much).

I love watching itu races. I guess I'm also the guy who would actually watch the coverage of a stacked ironman though, at least I'd have it on in the background during the day.

Interesting post. As I was in the sport in those days and still am, I definitely remember those days. That said, I do agree with your point as the interest in both Ironwar and the Julie Moss crawl is lost on the newer athletes. Much like new baseball players have no idea of even Babe Ruth, it is lost on the upcoming generation. I know a few former pros of that generation who still harp on those days and sadly it does not connect with recent or even to a degree older triathletes. They need to find a new hook and show how the individual will benefit in the sport using more recent athletes. Sadly not many of the current crop have the mystique and outgoing personality that those forerunners did.

yes... thank you - i thought i was the only person who thought that.

Why iron war is epic and legendary

Don't get me wrong, I've heard Mark feel like he was launched out of a Canon more times than I can count

You say there's loads of worthy races But tell me one really comparable duel... Ironwar is much more than a cute close race 30 years ago

-Clash of 2 of the sports winningest champions ever!
- 6 wins each, 12 kona titles total!
- That race marked the turning point or handover from one indefeatable generation champ to another.... Sort of if eddy Merckx succeeded to indurain in one race
- Shoulder to shoulder racing all day
The yellow and green kits looked styled... When I saw the magazine cover I thought it had to be setup
There was years of buildup.. Mark was the fastest Olympic and Nice race champ... And couldn't throw dave off his throne... Coming from behind one year, breaking away on the run another year, breaking away on the bike one year... Nothing worked
Super fast times
Racing that put triathlon on nbc and sparked the sport in the public eye, ironman will be forever endebted to get that ball rolling
Dave was one of the original ironman racers and developed his own race knowledge to set records that are still amazing now
Super close finish, decided at the end of the marathon
Dave came back and raced at 42 and got second? Legend
Mark was Olympic distance and long course and ironman specialist... Went on to train for national level running... Epitomised the triathlon makes you for for anything
The guys were exemplary sportsmen, gracious and well spoken... None of the unsportsmanlike media bashing that tarnished a few other generations
Dave maintained his six pack and fat muscle balance into his 50s showing tri can be a sustainable healthy lifestyle and not just a fanatic few years... Hall of fame level role model fitness

So 2 legendary athletes head to head, great times, no sour grapes.... Still flying the flag 30 years later.... Without historical depth the sport is like fixie polo

That's a sad commentary on the mass market, but absolutely true.

The only issue is that it wouldn't do anything for triathlon. That 30s press conference video clip would get X large views because it would become social media fire storm, and then the race the next day would be back to the same 10k views it normally gets, as that wouldn't matter. No one would care for the sport or either of those 2 athletes. They'd just care for the fun beat down one gave and one took and making cute comments when they share it on social media.

ETA: Entertainment value only works if said sport is at basic level somewhat entertaining....Triathlon doesn't have that. So all that type of value would be in the 30s video that would go social media firestorm. It wouldn't actually bring fans to the sport, it would bring them to said video and that's it.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Mostly I agree with you. But perhaps there are people who started playing tennis because they liked to watch John McEnroe go ballistic on TV. Extra eyeballs can't be bad; didn't "he who shall not be named" help increase both TV coverage and actual participation?

He helped numbers. But it’ was still abysmally low. The report I found in 99 was around 66k people registered for USA cycling.

Given that includes adults it’s such a small number that percentage wise he made an impact but raw numbers wise barely moved the scale in popularity.

Totally agree, but my point is more that at a basic level your sport has to be entertaining. Tennis has always had fans, Johnnie Mac just took it to a new level. Same with cycling, it's always been at a basic level way above the value that triathlon has ever had or will have.

So my point more was that until we actually allow the sport to be at a basic level entertaining in and of itself, all that type of press coverage would be is of the entertaining press conference and nothing more.


And the crutch of all of this is that the avenue that can be the only entertaining value the sport has to offer- itu- is the least understood and cared about version of our sport from the AG standpoint. ITU is the only avenue that the sport can consistently put it's best product forward 6 times a years vs long course that is so diluted with pros that it very rarely has a draw of best vs best except what 1 or 2 times a year. That's the funny/odd/reality of triathlon. It's best most easily televised product is the sport that as a whole our own sport cares the least about.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II