I was chatting with Herbert at American Bicycle Group this morning and he mentioned that ABG brands (Merlin, Litespeed, Quintana Roo) have won about 44 Ironman races.
44!
I think that is pretty darn impressive.
I agree it is impressive. But isn’t that kind of like saying “Look at all of the auto races GM has won?” They are a huge company with many brands.
I suspect that Ferrari has won more than 44 F1 races, Colnago more than 44 WC’s of differnt varieties and I am sure that boy at Campy will throw in their claims about countless World Cups and World Championships on Campy equiped bikes. Regardless, 44 Ironmans is a big deal for one company. I am sure that Kestrel, Cannondale and Cervelo who also do strongly in the KONA bike survey could not claim close to the same. In fact, they would be hard pressed to add up that many wins between them (OK, perhaps that is a stretch, but not far off)…
That got me thinking, what brand has won the most Hawaii Ironmans?
heres my take:
- Cheetah 6 (4 Badmann, 2 Bowden)
2.) Felt (5 or 6) Paula rode various Felt/Easton bikes over the years
- Centurian(the old U.S./ not Hellriegal German Centurian) 4 (Dave Scott)
3 tie) Specialized 3 (peter reid)
3 tie) Trek 3 (Tim Deboom 2, Karen Smyers 1)
5 tie) Kestrel 2 (Mark Allen on the rebadged Schwinn in 89 and Heather Fuhr)
5 tie) Huffy 2 (Mark Allens 2nd and 3rd win)
GT(Mark Allen), Look(Mark Allen), Giant(LVL), Colnago(LVL), Centurian Germany(Hellriegal), Softride(Welchy) all have one victory. I am sure Gordon Haller, John Howard, Tom Warren etc. all had brand name bikes but I am only counting the “modern era” that even puts some of the centurian number into question.
Its interesting that some big names like ABG, Cervelo, Cannondale are missing.
Yeah, but Herbert, don’t you know that triathlons are won on the RUN?!
Guess that takes the gee-wiz out of Ironman Wetsuits’ recent crowding of the top places at IMNZ. “Right, well your athletes did well, but as the saying goes: Ironmans can’t be won on the swim, but they can be lost.”
Imagine the snappy ad slogans we could see out of those aphorisms.
ABG: “Our cyclists can really run!”
IM Wetsuits: “Our athletes don’t lose their races in the swim!”
Think that would move some product?
Ask Herbert how many of them he himself has won.
I would be willing to wager ABG brands have won the most Ironmans. Also, a lot of athletes on that list have, at one time or another, been on an ABG brand bike.
QR especially shares a legacy and history in the sport unmatched by anyone.
To me two things emerge: QR’s “traditional innovation”, kind of an oxymoron but they have come up with a lot of firsts in this industry- and Cervelo’s lightening like acquisition of market share with some very innovaive product against some very entrenched players.
Both companies have earned some impressive accolades.
I wasnt doubting that ABG has the most Ironman victories. I am sure they do. I was just intrigued by the list of Hawaii winners. I did it from memory between phone calls so it may have some holes in it. I think the Hawaii list shows a couple things. Bikes that are perceived to be fast i.e. Cheetah will always get some top pros who deem the added speed worth the trade off in sponsorship dollars. I think Cervelo is in the same boat. They are getting athletes who want the fastest bikes regrdless of the money involved. The other big guys. Trek, Cannondale, Specialized and ABG have taken different approaches to the Tri Bike Marketing. Trek and Specialized have pretty much thrown all their eggs into one big basket(Reid or Deboom). Not a bad stratedgy based on the results and it has netted them 5 wins in the last decade. ABG has gone after a number of top tier pros and they have grabbed wins all over the globe. They really dont have the Hawaii stud yet but Cam Brown seems to be getting close. Cannondale has gone with the Ironman name rather than the top tier athlete. I think it has hurt their image as a pro level bike for triathlon. I think the guys they have signed, Hellriegal, Faris Sultan etc are good racers but not really threats to win Hawaii and definitely not spokespeople(U.S. market). I love Thomas Hellriegal but have you ever heard the guy talk? He sounds like he is reading for the part of mini -terminator in the new Austin Powers movie.
Well, I have actually never claimed to have won any Ironman races, although I have dreamt before that I have either won or placed on the podium. But I think that is most likely true for almost everybody on this board. We are all enthusiasts who do our best when we compete, be it long course or short course, and some of us do better and others worse.
As for me personally I have finished two Ironman races, several Halfs, and lots of international distance events. 
Herbert
Litespeed / QR
We actually have never gone after big name athletes at all, we see ourselves as a breeding ground for new upcoming athletes, and sometimes these athletes stay with us. For example we sponsored Tim DeBoom before anyone know who he is, the same is true for Cam Brown, Lori Bowden, Christian Bustos, Lisa Bentley, Ray Browning and Katja Schumacher.
Other athletes we supported more recently like Michael Lovato, Dave Harju and Timo Bracht came through with Breakthrough performances after they started using our bikes and wetsuits.
Do we like the good exposure these athletes get us? Of course. But most of all we enjoy the feedback from these athletes in terms of our product. Which helps us develop better bikes and wetsuits.
But it is nice when they win events too.
Cheers,
Herbert
Litespeed / QR
Guess I"m in deep trouble if God answers my post on the other thread.
Actually, people have known about Deboom for a long time. He was winning decent sized races like Gulf Coast 11 years ago. How long has Litespeed been sponsoring him?
And I would wager that the company with the most Hawaii wins is Shimano. I’m sure this will elicit a smartass response from Record10.
I agree with you about Shimano but here are some interesting accomplishments.
Fastest bike split ever in Hawaii: Hellriegal(Campy)
Fastest Overall time in Hawaii: LVL(Campy)
Fastest Ironman ever: (LVL in Roth) Campy
First under 8 hrs: Lothar Leder (Campy)
First non American to win Hawaii: Welchy(campy)
Is this 44 IM wins while these 3 bikes were under ABG or does it include wins when they were seperate companies.
Tim deBoom won ITU Age Group World’s in Wellington NZ as a 20-24 year old. I believe he was also top amateur that day in a race won by Spencer Smith (last non drafting World’s and man did Spencer put on a show…). Back then the deBoom’s were well known and many argued that he had no business racing age group that year given that he was already winning races overall :-). That of course, is another arguement.
As for ABG sponsoring up and coming guys like Ray Browning…can Dan please share the story of Browning, heading down to IMNZ with not much tri training and a whole lot of XC ski racing under his belt in the winter of 89 (or was it 90) and then pummelling the field on an unknown bike called the QR Superform ? That story is classic.
Dan Empfield and I recently talked about how the paths of Quintana Roo and Litespeed crossed many years ago when a small ti manufacturer in Tennessee was asked to build a titanium tri-bike for a triathlon company in Southern California. This titanium Quintana Roo bike was then ridden bike a very young Texan triathlete named Lance Armstrong. Dan actually has a funny black and white pic of Lance “posing” in front of that bike wearing Oakley Factory Pilot glasses.
Dan, why don’t you share that image with the folks here?
Cheers,
Herbert
Litespeed / QR
I think it is relevant to note that some of the best athletes in the sport have done their “break-out” performances on a QR and then moved into a situation where their notoriety (acheived on a QR) has put them on other products.
The reason this is relevant is some of these athletes only got minimal sponsorship deals from QR- but they got deals none the less becasue QR has traditionally supported up and comers. Other athletes actually bought bikes from QR to race on. Like Cervelo, this is the highest form of compliment.
I’ve been telling the guys at QR “You have a story to tell, the legacy of QR in the history of the sport- a tradition of innovation.” I think their new catalog, which I love, reflects that.
Personally, I have owned no less than three, maybe four I think QR bikes. The Quintana Roo Kilo PR with the carbon fiber fairing section behind the head tube and the round tubes was a favorite bike of mine. I loved that bike. I had a few local age category wins on that- Maumee Bay, Ann Arbor, etc. That was a good bike.
Wasn’t that bike called the Redstone or something like that?
Those Huffy’s Mark Allen was riding were Calfee’s (Carbon Designs)
Is it fair to accumulate wins by buying companies? When you buy a company, do you buy its history? I’m going to have to ponder that one…
Mark
they were Huffys. Built bike Mike Melton I believe. He also built the U.S. Olympic team bikes. I remember you could buy that Mark Allen Huffy for $10,000 back then. Everything was custom and they shipped it to you in a hard case. Dave Scott rode a Calfee in his comeback race in '94. I believe he had Huffy decals on it because Huffy was the “bike of Ironman” and Calfee is too small to actually pay the kind of money “the man” was looking for. Since Huffy had long since given up on the high end stuff they werent about to insist Dave actually rode one of their Walmart bikes so he was free to get whatever he wanted. Huffy bought Airborne a couple years ago and looked like they were getting back into the sport but they have since sold Airborn back to the original owners .