Just got a copy on eBay. Support crews. $800 bikes. No helmets. I’d heard a good deal about this article but had not been able to find it until the SI popped up on eBay. If you can find a copy, grab it - not sure if it has been re-printed anywhere else. After reading it, it certainly made me appreciate what we have today; but it also made me wish that our current crop of events could re-capture that degree of simplicity.
Guess I did not look hard enough. Still nice to have the hardcopy. Al the rest of you: if you have not read it, follow the link and read it!
I actually never have seen this article, which is rumored to have been the catalyst for the ABC coverage with the (in)famous Julie Moss finish. For triathlon, it was the shot heard round the world. It got me in the sport. I was captivated. have been ever since…
Read it and let us know what you think of it?
I read this from time-to-time. Very inspirational. Makes me want to get out an train immediately.
SI has done a good job making all of their old issues available. Those 70s advertisements are gold! Lots of tobacco ads, one for Fiat, and one for Schwinn X-tra Lite bikes - “only 30 pounds”.
Just got a copy on eBay. Support crews. $800 bikes. No helmets. I’d heard a good deal about this article but had not been able to find it until the SI popped up on eBay. If you can find a copy, grab it - not sure if it has been re-printed anywhere else. After reading it, it certainly made me appreciate what we have today; but it also made me wish that our current crop of events could re-capture that degree of simplicity.
No helmets? I was there and, as I remember, helmets were required. And my bike cost me $150. Doubt anyone had an $800 bike in that race.
All I can say is read the article…
And, for all I know, the article may be mistaken…
All I can say is read the article…
And, for all I know, the article may be mistaken…
I actually have that article (my name is in it you might notice). I don’t remember that being in it. If it says that, I am sure it is mistaken. I have never seen a newspaper article that is about something of which I have personal knowledge that doesn’t contain at least one error. edit: there is one error in the article that does concern me directly. I am described as a research anesthesiologist when, in fact, I was a resident anesthesiologist. It was a phone interview and he probably couldn’t read his notes.
I also have the people magazine issue that is about Lynn Lemaire, the first women to do the race because my picture is in it, standing on the beach next to her. I believe it has been commented on here that I look a lot like Borat.
Just got a copy on eBay. Support crews. $800 bikes. No helmets. I’d heard a good deal about this article but had not been able to find it until the SI popped up on eBay. If you can find a copy, grab it - not sure if it has been re-printed anywhere else. After reading it, it certainly made me appreciate what we have today; but it also made me wish that our current crop of events could re-capture that degree of simplicity.
When the issue came out I was in sixth grade and obsessed with all sports. My subscription to SI was like gold, as it would be years before we received cable TV or the interwebs or anything like it. Coming home from school and getting the SI out of the mailbox was about the best part of my week.
I read the issue cover to cover (like I did every issue) and remember thinking that these were some of the strangest people I had ever seen. IIRC McDermott had been in Hawaii for a big surfing championship and more/less stumbled upon the 1979 event. The man knew a good feature article when he saw one!
Paul
I can’t help but think that many on this forum would say to those athletes: HTFU; you undertrained; or you tarnish the spirit of the event by not finishing it in under x hours (where x = my finish time plus 30 minutes). Yes, we have come a long way.
My understanding was that he was in Hawaii for what is now called the Mercedes Championship, the season-opening PGA tournament for all the champions from the year before (Kapalua Championship back then?). Of course, he could have picked up the surfing championship and the Iron Man (sic) race on the same trip. SI did some way-out shit back in the day, and this is no exception. For all of its dumbing down in recent years, the online Vault is the best thing SI has done.
Dr. Day, as a reporter myself I’ve mislabeled people like that in notes. He probably wrote down “res anesth” or some such, which necessitates making that extra call to clarify what it is. Shame on Barry and I. 
I can’t help but think that many on this forum would say to those athletes: HTFU; you undertrained; or you tarnish the spirit of the event by not finishing it in under x hours (where x = my finish time plus 30 minutes). Yes, we have come a long way.
Did they have the support and aid stations we enjoy though?
WIll have to read the article when i have more time.
Dr. Day, as a reporter myself I’ve mislabeled people like that in notes. He probably wrote down “res anesth” or some such, which necessitates making that extra call to clarify what it is. Shame on Barry and I.
No one is perfect. One can only do what one can do regarding fact checking with deadlines. Most of these errors are not very important. But, one should not take what they read almost anywhere as “fact”. It is worse now that it is the internet. At least professional journalist try to check their facts.
Does anyone know how to find Barry now? As part of a feature, I tracked him to Hilton Head in 2000 and interviewed him - but when I tried those numbers late last year, they all led to dead-ends.