For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Klaus Barth was an Ironman great in the eighties–as an age grouper. He finished fourth overall at Kona in 1986, at age 37, with a time of 9:03; beaten by Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Scott Tinley. Klaus was apparently saluted at this year’s Ironman carbo dinner: http://www.ironman.com/columns/ironmanlife/kevin-mackinnon-writes-about-the-incredible-klaus-barth
Klaus has been battling brain cancer for about six years, and lost that battle today. Really sad news.
Very sorry to hear this. I just saw him at George Wright’s memorial last year, and he was doing pretty good for a guy that was not supposed to be around… He fought the cancer as hard as he fought his races. I was there for that great Kona race of his, and many of the others. He was a great guy, and I’m honored to be able to carry his memory with me now…
And one last Klaus story for now, excerpted from the San Diego Tribune August, 2004:
"Bob Babbitt, co-publisher of Competitor Magazine and a triathlon historian, said that years before the term “brick” was originated there was an Ironman triathlete who practiced the bike-run sequence.
A Long Beach teacher with a wife and kids in the 1980s, Klaus Barth maximized time management by combining long bike rides and runs. The amateur finished eighth at Ironman Hawaii in 1985.
Rather than continue tradition and give Barth No. 8 the next year, organizers gave him No. 48. Their reasoning: pros like Mark Allen and Dave Scott didn’t race in '85, so Barth didn’t deserve the number.
How did Barth fair at the '86 race?
He placed fourth behind pros Scott, Allen and Scott Tinley, who among them would combine for 14 Ironman Hawaii victories.
Although I did not know Klaus well, I did have the opportunity to have several discussions with him on IM training at the local pool. At the time I was training for my 1st and Klaus was training hard (several 100 mile rides) for a return to Kona. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed just a short time later and never had the opportunity to tear up the 50+ bunch at IMH. I would have much rather rooted for him in Hawaii than in his courageous battle against cancer.
That’s sad news. I never met the man but he was an inspiration to me back in the 80’s when he had a string of great races at IMH. Here was a guy who worked full time, was a bit older, had a family( four kids I think) and was still able to race the big names at IMH and come close to breaking 9:00 hours( times that would have put him in the top 50 yesterday 20 years after the fact!!!)
The triathlon world has lost one of the unsung greats.
I’m pretty sure he did that back when there was no prize money, so everyone was an AG’er. THey gave the AG records to Dave Scott and TInley, and the rest of the studs in those days…At some point they backed them out and divided the two groups…
"was Klaus an age grouper when he finished 8th and 4th?
As memory serves me, up until about the early 90’s if you finished in the top 10 regardless of whether you were a Pro or not you were honoured as such and recieved whatever reward for that particular position. After that they formalized the Professional standing and you had to declare before hand what category you were racing in. Now you actually need to qualify to have a Pro card through your own sports association.
The 5th annual Klaus Barth Biathlon (3 mile run-1/2 mile swim) will be held on Nov. 19th in Long Beach, Ca. It benefits the Water Polo program that Klaus coached. My nephew, who played for Klaus, is sending me the details. I will post them here when I get them.