Thanks for sharing! I really enjoy reading any bits of triathlon history I come across as a younger athlete in this sport

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Dominic Pollizzi

I thought it was a good read. Tinley writes well, if a bit long winded, but its all good. Not quite in the same league but we had around our area the:

Tuesday Hour of Power where the ride was as suggests a rolling pace line shelling people until a final hill climb. Welcome to HR that you never thought possible. Would and still get local pros, odd international pro to keep you honest.

Sunday run in the forest a bit like the one above where you could easily get lost so best hang on, combinations of everything from pro tris to WC marathoners.

Think we have lost a bit of that spirit

Suppose I would be considered one of the early trail bosses, although I was content to let others lead and set pace. Read that story a long time ago, and it still holds up as a great description of that weekly "race" on my calendar. And it was always a race, unless you just refused to take part in what was going up front, and the front of all the minor groups that would form.

After the Germans forced their will onto the course, it really became a race. Fun to see PNF and a few other women like Heather Fuhr or Michelle Jones take charge of the 2nd group. If you were not up front, it then became a badge of honor to stick with the chicks. It kept the AG men in the places, and also gave them some great motivation. Had to me dozens over the years do one run and never come back. Didn't see any mention of the Buckingham pantsing parades either. Foreigners and visitors would always want a group shot after the run, and the Buckinghams would be right there, eager for their photo bomb. I have often wondered how many folks have these great group shots up on their walls, and have no idea of the one eyed trouser snakes that were let loose at cheese time.

And before the runs, the regulars knew to tie their shorts as tight as possible, because it is no fun when you are talking to your favorite world class Tri chick, and suddenly your shorts are on the ground with someones foot standing on them. Guess they would put you in jail for that now, but somehow we all survived it and now get to be part of the original history..

Thanks for chiming in, you are in some more of his articles as well. I can't say we ever got pantsed but there was a time that after trash talking the guy ranked number 3 in 1500 metre swimming in Australia about how he could beat him over 50 meters that one of our squad had to swim naked back stroke, which he did.

There is something in the spirit of the run in California and ours in the forest that made the sport richer.

How hard did the Germans go?

How hard did the Germans go?//

I know it can be a stereotype, but the German people are really a very organized, deliberate, and unwavering group of humans. When you think about that tiny little country in the world, and how they almost took over the world, two times!! There has to be something to it.


Anyway their influence was to take it from a super hard fartlek run, to an all out best time on course run. As Scott pointed out, the warm up went from a mile to one minute, and the warm down to, well nothing really. So not so much how hard they ran, but how fast and steady. It kind of sucked the fun out of a portion of it, but of course we all had the "pro" gene, so most slid in quite easily to a weekly all out race for training. It was something we just didn't notice at the time that much, but on reflection, it is obvious the turn the run took in the late 80's when they all showed up.

The fun thing for me was talking with some of the pure runners who would show up, and we would give them our best. Often afterwards were comments of "Do you guys train this hard all the time?" I suppose the pure runners were more laid back, and a run like we did would be a once every couple week sort of thing. I suppose we always made sure that they got their monies worth as we liked to put it.. (-;