Thanks, Andres! It was a pretty fun and challenging/hilly course.
It was 3 quick triangular swim laps around Lake Anza with a short beach run. Something roughly like this: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42944446
I would be pretty surprised if the three laps even amounted to 1 mi total honestly. Back in the early 1980s, Lake Anza was quite full like it is this year. But the past three super drought years, it was a small, shallow swamp filled with green toxic algae bloom (cyanobacteria) and was closed to swimming for multiple years.
I am 99% sure this was the exact bike course: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42944391
The 21 mi/2,250 ft seems more plausible than an actual 40k. I remember my bike split as being around 1h5m which would be 19.4 avg which is possibly believable given the climbing and the equipment of the time.
I mapped out the run course on the Nimitz Way to an o/b turnaround as if it was actually 10km but I strongly recall that the turnaround point was much earlier than the mapped point here.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42944431
In the unlikely event that the full results ever turn up, based on the fastest times we might be able to better guesstimate the actual run course distance (bike and swim).
If you were around in those days, you’ll recall that the distances were much more approximate than today, especially on the swim and run portions (particularly if the run was on trails). In the 1982 Sierra Nevada Triathlon in Folsom Lake, the swim felt interminable and was likely way longer than 2 mi.
Spent some time looking at the San Jose Merc in 1984 for results of another triathlon I was involved in. Didn’t find any write up or results but came across this article about triathlete of the time Joanne Ernst which I am attaching here in case anyone ever searches this forum for her name.
