Ironman Hawai 1996 Top 50 -long swim, harder bike, harder run - discuss

Triathlon Forum
1

So on the Peter Reid thread, I pulled out these results. The old swim was around 200m longer, the run climbed all the way up up up before going down to Kona Surf resort down the switch backs connecting the far end of Alii drive (I thought it was changed to T2 at Kailua Pier, but was corrected by a few of you) and the run used the pit.

Feel free to discuss the impact of the course, the prep from back in 1996, the athletes at hand, the bike tech, the shoe tech. Do these guys get anywhere close to the boys today on the same stuff?

 Name                 Age   St/Country   Swim     Bike      Run     Total

1 Luc Van Lierde 27 Belgium :51:36 4:30:44 2:41:48 08:04:08

2 Thomas Hellriegel 25 Germany :54:22 4:24:50 2:46:55 08:06:07

3 Greg Welch 31 Australia :51:23 4:35:43 2:51:51 08:18:57

4 Peter Reid 27 Canada :54:22 4:30:33 2:59:42 08:24:37

5 Dave Scott 42 Colorado :53:16 4:49:55 2:45:20 08:28:31

6 Alexander Taubert 27 Germany :55:31 4:42:52 2:52:22 08:30:45

7 Peter Kropko 33 Hungary :54:14 4:48:12 2:52:29 08:34:55

8 Jean Moureau 33 Belgium :55:40 4:41:55 2:57:54 08:35:29

9 Jan Van Der Marel 28 Netherlands :59:48 4:37:54 2:58:14 08:35:56

10 Matthias Klumpp 28 Germany :56:57 4:47:12 2:51:59 08:36:08

11 Jurgen Zack 31 Germany :54:20 4:30:58 3:11:25 08:36:43

12 Michael McCormack 36 Massachuset :54:19 4:34:35 3:09:30 08:38:24

13 Cameron Widoff 27 Colorado :51:30 4:40:29 3:07:41 08:39:40

14 Rene Rovera 28 France :59:54 4:46:21 2:53:39 08:39:54

15 Ken Glah 32 Pennsylvani :51:28 4:37:20 3:13:48 08:42:36

16 Pierre-Alain Frossard 30 Switzerland :57:26 4:45:28 3:00:01 08:42:55

17 Juergen Hauber 28 Germany :59:46 4:49:34 2:55:48 08:45:08

18 Lothar Leder 25 Germany :53:29 4:51:21 3:01:05 08:45:55

19 Markus Dippold 28 Germany :55:37 4:50:32 3:00:29 08:46:38

20 Alexandre Ribeiro 31 Brazil :57:27 4:54:20 2:58:19 08:50:06

21 Timothy DeBoom 25 Iowa :51:24 4:44:43 3:18:24 08:54:31

22 Julian Jenkinson 29 Great Brita 1:00:31 4:49:24 3:04:58 08:54:53

23 Christophe Buquet 33 France 1:01:05 4:55:12 3:00:09 08:56:26

24 Yuji Fujiwara 33 Japan 1:00:38 4:57:13 2:58:55 08:56:46

25 Pierre Lavoie 32 Canada :57:36 4:53:57 3:05:20 08:56:53

26 Rik Van Trigt 34 Netherlands :57:31 4:56:12 3:03:23 08:57:06

27 Igor Kogoj 37 Slovenia :55:34 5:00:34 3:02:12 08:58:20

28 Hideya Miyazuka 32 Japan :57:34 4:52:50 3:09:32 08:59:56

29 Troy Jacobson 27 Maryland :59:53 4:50:22 3:10:45 09:01:00

30 Bogdan Mykhalus 31 Ukraine :53:17 5:05:02 3:03:06 09:01:25

31 Pierre Stoeth 24 Germany :55:16 4:51:18 3:17:10 09:03:44

32 Taro Shirato 29 Japan :53:12 5:04:42 3:06:13 09:04:07

33 Scott Tinley 40 California :55:39 4:48:42 3:20:05 09:04:26

34 Brent Imonen 27 Hawaii :51:20 4:54:59 3:18:39 09:04:58

35 Mike Davidson 33 Florida :50:21 4:50:14 3:24:41 09:05:16

36 Uwe Wamper 29 Germany 1:00:38 4:57:49 3:07:24 09:05:51

37 Wolfgang Dittrich 34 Germany :48:45 4:39:09 3:38:07 09:06:01

38 Holger Spiegel 24 Germany :59:44 5:01:12 3:05:09 09:06:05

39 James Bonney 24 Texas :50:44 4:42:33 3:33:02 09:06:19

40 Paula Newby-Fraser 34 F California :55:30 5:01:34 3:09:45 09:06:49

41 Gregory Taylor 42 Idaho :59:59 4:56:20 3:10:49 09:07:08

42 Shingo Tani 29 Japan :59:13 5:04:31 3:03:25 09:07:09

43 Mike Swan 25 California :55:35 5:01:39 3:09:57 09:07:11

44 Thomas Braun 29 Germany 1:00:35 4:49:30 3:17:27 09:07:32

45 Guardagni Massimo 27 Italy :58:29 4:59:18 3:09:47 09:07:34

46 Gustavo Garzon 30 Brazil :51:36 5:11:04 3:05:40 09:08:20

47 Eric Kappes 25 Germany :58:57 4:52:28 3:18:32 09:09:57

48 Natascha Badmann 29 F Germany 1:00:41 4:53:47 3:16:51 09:11:19

49 Mitsuhiro Yamamoto 33 Japan 1:03:39 5:00:24 3:07:57 09:12:00

50 Grant Webster 26 Australia :55:33 5:09:59 3:07:50 09:13:22

2

I think that Luc Van Lierde had a standard Colnogo road bike, clip-on aerobars, Speedo and tank top. Nothing extreme about aero wheels that I remember. Hellriegel’s bike set-up was probably pretty similar.

I believe that Hellriegel was putting in massive bike mileage. Van Lierde came up from short course, but did extremely well at Muncie half-ironman (that was World’s that year, I think. He was second to Greg Welch.)

Van Lierde also had a three or four minute penalty for blocking – a rule that apparently didn’t exist in Europe and which he wasn’t aware of… basically, passing too long in the left lane.

That era was my hey-day of triathlon. One of the most amazing things I loved about Van Lierde was how cordial he was with his competitors. It didn’t matter if he was ahead or behind, passing someone or getting passed, he almost always had a little wave or a thumbs-up or a pat on the back. He was crazy-fast, but also showed incredible sportsmanship. I loved him!

3

Actually, LVL’s bike was the road version of the track bike used by Tony Rominger to set the hour record (55.29 km), therefore not a “standard road bike” at all, but rather the best aero frame available at the time

4

It appears he switched out the Grip Shifters for Shimano STI and the wheels from Corima to Mavic Cosmic Carbon. From Colonago’s website, "Van Lierde received two bikes, one for training and one for racing. At the time, there was no difference between a “triathlon” bike and a traditional bike, so the Belgian champion received an Oval CX developed thanks to Rominger’s success on the road and track.

It had a steel frame with a 26“ front wheel and a 28” rear wheel, a Shimano Dura Ace group except for the shifters (GripShift) on the top of aerodynamic handlebars, and Corima wheels to complete the build. It was an exceptional, lightweight and comfortable bike (made of steel rather than carbon) capable of supporting Van Lierde through the very long cycling section of the Ironman as it enabled him to start racing with a relatively rested back. For training, Van Lierde rode a Bititan, another frame in vogue thanks to the performances of Swiss champion Tony Rominger. "

5

thanks for this. Good read
from a 2011 thread [quote=“Paulo_Sousa, post:21, topic:550948”]
Colnago steel time-trial frame. 700c back wheel and 650c front wheel. 3T Bio-Arms clip-on aerobars.
[/quote]

Photos of the 1996 bike are basically impossible to find and it’s not clear from the grainy 1996 footage. I knew it was a Colnago and that thought it may have been a Rominger style Krono https://premium-cycling.com/product/colnago-krono-rominger-time-trial-bike-1995-96/ but it does seem like it was an Oval CX

6

yeah, Thomas was putting in 1000km weeks on the bike. I met him at the 1995 world military games triathlon (his room was next to mine) and he was telling me about his bike camps in Lanzarote !!!

LVL as others pointed out had a road geometry colnago.

I don’t believe this is 1996 (it may be 1997) but Hellriegel had a Cannondale tri geometry bike. Tri Geometry bikes were invented by 1989 when @Slowman put Ray Browning on the Quintana Superform (dual 650mm wheels, 78-80 degree seat tube angle) which he won with at IM NZ

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We had a thread about that in 2018 (when it was “almost 30 years ago”

7

Hellriegel rode Centurion bikes in 1995-1996-1997. The 1995 and 1996 bikes had 650c wheels (Ali drive model), the 1997 bike (called Hell drive) had 700c on the rear and 650c front. The 1996 LVL colnago bike was never a road geometry; it replicated the Rominger pursuit bike (used in the hour record) and had a 700c rear and 650c front wheels

1 Like
8

Start the video at :37 minutes in to get a look at some of the top pros’ bikes from 1996…

9

From what I can remember, Luc Van Lierde was the last person to win on a steel frame and last to win on drop bars in 1996, Faris Al-Sultan the last to win on an aluminum frame and the last to win while wearing a speedo in 2005. Tim DeBoom was the last to win on a titanium frame in 2001. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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10

1995:

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image1488Ă—2000 278 KB

1996
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1997:
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2002:
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2003:
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2004:
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2005:
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2007:
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image688Ă—1031 85 KB

2008:
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image688Ă—1031 93.3 KB

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11

This is awesome!!! Thanks

12

Two things I noticed from those Hellriegel bike timeline photos: 1. He didn’t wear sunglasses on the bike or run in 1995. 2. After the first two years his bike position steadily declined.

13

Some of these guys are just absolute studs and would definitely still compete in today’s field. LVL running 2:41 with non-carbon shoes and when I think T2 times were included in the run (similar to Mark Allen’s 1989 time). I feel like if you ran in the low 2:40’s pre-carbon shoes, you would’ve been a competitor in today’s field. Guys like Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Tim Deboom, Peter Reid, LVL, etc… would all still be players. The consistent across all three disciplines guys would without a doubt still be competitive.

1 Like
14

Coming into T2 20-30 min earlier (combo of starting earlier today and better positions and aero gear) gets one to T2 with less Tss. Then that means being a bit more fresh during the run, and then add in Carbon shoes and those who ran 2:42 may be down in the 2:38 range and those that run 2:50 down closer to 2:45? The swims are not that much different given the longer course that they used to have until recently

15

I think we all know that we can exclude LVL from any rational Kona discussions.

2 Likes
16

Is this a drug insinuation? I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just not familiar with him having used.