Valerie Silk, Matriarch of IRONMAN, Passes Away

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Originally published at: Valerie Silk, Matriarch of IRONMAN, Passes Away - Slowtwitch News

Valerie Silk, who led IRONMAN from obscure event in Hawaii to the Wide World of Sports and behind, died Sunday, September 7th. She was 74.

Silk took over the reigns of IRONMAN in 1980, inheriting the role from co-founders John and Judy Collins. Silk, who co-owned multiple Nautilus Fitness facilities with her then-husband, became the race director. Together they co-formed the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation, which took over race organization in 1981.

Silk did not have a background in endurance sports, nor an interest in competing, either. She told the New York Times in 2019 that “After the first event, I could see that it needed a race director, and it was something I wanted to try my hand at. So I stepped away from the clubs, turned those over to my husband, and I took on the race. And he was happy for me to do it.”

It was Silk who led the decision-making to move IRONMAN’s Hawaiian home from Oahu to Kailua-Kona in 1982. Kona would become the sole home of the IRONMAN World Championship until the COVID-19 pandemic, when the race would temporarily move to St. George, Utah. It then would split into a two-day championship, alternating genders with Nice, France. IRONMAN will return to a single-day world championship in Kona in 2026.

It was during Silk’s tenure that the infamous Julie Moss crawl to the finish broadcast on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, bringing the sport notoriety that continues to this day. Silk also led the Hawaiian Triathlon Corporation as it first registered IRONMAN as a trademark, in 1983. She oversaw the first professional prize purse on offer, with a $100,000 purse awarded beginning in 1986.

In 1989, Silk sold IRONMAN for $3 million to a group of investors, led by Dr. James P. Gills. Gills re-named the company the World Triathlon Corporation. World Triathlon Corporation later became The IRONMAN Group, which owns the brand and manages races and its licensees globally today.

Silk was the eighth inductee into the IRONMAN Hall of Fame, earning the award in 1999. She was part of USA Triathlon’s second class of their Hall of Fame, inducted in 2009 alongside Jim Curl, Barb Lindquist, Paula Newby-Fraser, and Carl Thomas.

For more history on the IRONMAN World Championships under Silk’s leadership, you can read Dan Empfield’s article from 2022 here.

About Respecting IRONMAN’s History

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Words from Scott Tinley.

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Valerie was amazing! We all hope owe her great gratitude for helping create the sport we all love. I’m not sure we would have slowtwitch if it weren’t for her.I have very fond memories of her greeting me at the Finish Line. RIP

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Thank you @tomziebart, we are all blessed from her tenure and although John and Judy Collins got it off the ground, Valerie took Ironman from an initial hovering over a Oahu launch pad from a relatively sputtering rocket that could tip over and crash right to escape velocity through the stratosphere.

We’d be a bit revisionist though if we don’t mention the impact of the 1980’s pro field and the Nice Triathlon. In the mid 80’s Kona had no prize money and we can easily argue that Nice had the much deeper field every year.

In 1986 Valerie added the initial $100,000 prize purse (still good money in 2025 dollars 39 years later) and uniquely at the time made it equal prize money for men and women. From what I recall few other top tier “world finals” did that. On the pressure of Billie Jean King, the US Open may have been the first in 1973. Wimbledon only came around in 2007.

In any case the prize money committment was on her watch and being a woman race director, she made it equal pay for equal work. Largely our sport has had that since thanks to her leadership on this topic.

Adding the pro prize purse elevated Kona well past Nice in the subsequent years

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Like it Dev. Also on Silk’s watch. Helmets. Expansion. Roth. Qualification. Timex. TV. Aerobars. Bud Light.