All oral history is lost. Those cataclysmic moments when a parent or a preacher, a crook or cop pulled us aside and spoke to us of better times, of worse periods, of something or somebody or some idea that came before us, before Snapdoodle was our source of historical inspiration, are...
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Three members of the soon-to-be-Big Four fight it out in San Diego on June 12, 1982. Scott Molina (front left), Scott Tinley (front right), Dales Basescu (center) and Mark Allen
In the history of triathlon there is perhaps no more significant race than the first U.S. Triathlon Series event on June 12, 1982 at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, California. It was, in retrospect, a rudimentary production, little more than a somewhat tentative proof of a wild-eyed...
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Jason Cambell (left) and the author (right) hang out with US Olympic triathlete Joe Maloy. Harper is now a law partner at Bowles & Verna LLP in Walnut Creek, Calif. He is also the head coach for the University of California/Berkeley triathon team. In his day, Dean Harper was among the top professional triathletes in the world -- about as close as you could get to being one of the Big Four without being named Scott or Mark.
Before triathlon existed in Northern California, I raced triathlon Hall of Famer, Dave Scott, in a run-swim event. It was August of 1976 and the race was held at Pacific Shores in Redwood City, California. I’d known Dave from collegiate swimming and water polo but failed to ask him why he...
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Back in the day when people were still looking at triathletes as if they were gods or fools, Miranda Carfrae was still in diapers, and fig newtons and chocolate chip cookies were the multisport energy foods of choice, a young man in Walnut Creek, California decided that he had what it took to be...
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Dale Basescu out of the water at the inaugural Bud Light USTS National Champonship in 1984.
Dale Basescu out of the water at the inaugural Bud Light USTS National Champonship in 1984. Mike Plant photo
Kiuru’s competitive fire produced seven international Ironman victories, including four wins in a row (1991-1994) in Australia. In the photo above he is leading Mark Allen at the 1991 Ironman in Kona. (Click on the photo for the full shot)
Carl Thomas on the Queen K Highway in 1985. At the time Bud Light was the sponsor of Thomas' U.S. Triathlon Series, and the Ironman in Kona.
Scott Tinley (left) and Scott Molina finish in a dead heat in the 1984 Atlanta US Triathlon Series event.
This is the kind of story we tell each other over a beer. It’s a triathlon classic from the wooly early days of the sport, when the world was just waking up to the notion of triathlon, and even folks in the business were learning as they went. It was on-the-job training for everyone,...
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In 1998 France won the World Cup and snowboarding made its debut in the Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan. Microsoft was the most valuable company in the world, the Dow dipped below five hundred, and President Clinton denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Alistair and Jonathon Brownlee were 10...
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To mark the recent 40th Anniversary of the IIonman World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii, I wanted to offer a survey of ideas and thoughts about the event I’ve penned over the past decades. But when I went through old files, most of the what I’d written was about the...
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Looking just fine. 2016 USA Olympian Ben Kanue is the epitome of contemporary tri-style -- and the result of four decades of multisport technological evolution, from eyeware to nutrition to everything in between, -- Mike Plant photo
"When the will and the imagination are in conflict, it is always the imagination that wins" -- Emile Coue'
The short history of triathlon might be written in the long search for style. How the sports’ participants sought a certain look, a feel, and a coveted approach to...
Gale Bernhardt and part of her collection of Triathlete magazines. The magazines (not Gale) are looking for a good home.
In my home office closest, gathering dust and the fur of my support staff, sits 23 years’ worth of Triathlete Magazines, 1987 to 2009. Recent life events had me staring at the carefully dated boxes. What made me start keeping the magazines and why are they still in my house?...
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My recent return to Xterra, and in some strange way, competition itself, was thwarted by the weather. But that sounds lame. Shit happens. After four days of near constant rain, the great majority of the bike and run course were mired in two or three inches of icy clay; that sticky earth of which...
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It sits like a time machine in a corner of my office: a large file drawer stuffed to overflowing with images from the original Bud Light US Triathlon Series, transferred several years ago from cardboard file boxes but never fully catalogued. The collection of unpublished negatives and proof...
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It was a grand idea by an early multisport impressario, Dave Horning: a point-to-point triathlon from the lower end of Manhattan, with a view of the Satue of Liberty, with a finish at the Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia. Easier said than done, but somehow most of the 140 starters made it...
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Over the past several years, I've been back at the Ironman World Championship in Kona with a different perspective than in the old days. I go now to see clients and pitch new business for my company, but I have no official role at the race itself. No credential, no passes, no access. This...
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“Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can’t get inside and know the subject.” – W. Eugene Smith
Tom Fleming, winning the Jordache Marathon LA in 1981 (Mike Plant photo)
It was sad to hear that running great Tom Fleming died last month of a heart attack at the still-young age of 65. Fittingly, he died while coaching a track meet. If he’d had a choice, I’m sure...
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Bill Katosky in his triathlon life circa 1984
William R. Katovsky didn’t like very many triathletes. And in a pathetic indictment of the sport, many of the self-anointed movers-and-shakers didn’t like him.
Steve Tarpinian at his beloved Mighty Hampton Triathlon
by Jean Mellano
Author, photographer, journalist, and entrepreneur, Mike Plant has been a professional marketer and communicator for more than 40 years, with a career in multisport that spans almost the entire lifespan of the industry. As co-founding publisher of the San Diego-based Running News in the late 1970’s, he was arguably the first journalist anywhere to cover triathlon as a bona fide sport in its own right. During the 1980’s and 90’s his photographs and feature articles appeared in numerous national publications, including Runner’s World, Ultrasport, Outside, Elle, Women’s Sports & Fitness and many others. His feature article about the October, 1982 Ironman in Kona was the cover story of the inaugural edition of Triathlete (now Triathlon). During the 1980’s, Mike served as writer, segment producer and on-air color commentator for endurance sports television productions by NBC, CBS, ESPN and numerous local network affiliates across the U.S. His book “Iron Will” is widely acknowledged as a definitive history of the early days of the Hawaii Ironman. He also co-authored with Scott Tinley “Scott Tinley’s Winning Triathlon.”
Mike was the finish line announcer/emcee at the Ironman World Championship Triathlon in Kona for four years, from 1987-1990. He and his wife Cathy spearheaded marketing and public relations for the Bud Light U.S. Triathlon Series through most of the 1980’s. The couple played a leading role in educating the mainstream sports media about the still-emerging sport.
A lifelong athlete and fitness enthusiast, Mike was a three-sport varsity athlete in high school and a scholarship springboard diver at the University of Nebraska. He placed third at the National Masters Age Group Diving Championships in 1996, and finished the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in 1983.
Mike is currently president and CEO of Mike Plant & Associates Inc., dba MPA Event Graphics, a leading supplier of large-format promotional signage (tents, banners, flags, table covers, inflatables, vehicle graphics, etc.) to promotional agencies, corporations, events and organizations.
Back in the day when people were still looking at triathletes as if they were gods or fools, Miranda Carfrae was still in diapers, and fig newtons and chocolate chip cookies were the multisport energy foods of choice, a young man in Walnut Creek, California decided that he had what it took to be a triathlon coach.
There was a post in mid-October on the excellent French triathlon Facebook site, Triathlon : plongée dans l'histoire avec les légendes à bord featuring USAT Hall-of-Famer Ken Glah on a vintage cover of Triathlete magazine, and with a reference to Glah as “The Beast from The East.”
It was a grand idea by an early multisport impressario, Dave Horning: a point-to-point triathlon from the lower end of Manhattan, with a view of the Satue of Liberty, with a finish at the Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia. Easier said than done, but somehow most of the 140 starters made it to the finish line in Philly. Since this was 1984, the Hudson River was a bit of a question when it came to cleanliness. But viewing the start, an observer was tempted to paraphrase Butch Cassidy: "Pollution? The fall will probably kill you."
Tim O'Donnell, with about a mile to go. He will finish in third place, wobbly, but happy, at the end. If TO and his coach Mark Allen have it right, there are more and bigger things to come. (Photo: Mike Plant/Tri-History)
By all accounts, the performance of 35-year-old American triathlete Tim O’Donnell at the 2015 Ironman World Championships in Kona was a breakthrough – especially so on the bike. There was a discernable note of surprise in the race-day coverage when O’Donnell went strongly to the front on the way down from the turnaround at Hawi. And in interviews after the race, O’Donnell admitted to sharing in that surprise – at least a little. Suddenly, there he was in front. What now?
Scott Molina was at the peak of his career (it was a long-lasting peak, to say the least) when he graced the cover of the October 1984 Running & Triathlon News. His win at the World Toughest Triathlon in September was the lead story in the publication that month.
I was poking around the archives to see what happened in triathlon history around this time of year, and came across the October 1984 issue of Running & Triathlon News. Scott Molina was on the cover for having won in dominating fashion the World's Toughest Triathlon on September 8. Molina won the race by 40 minutes, over a mountainous course that suited his competitive strengths and relentless style to a T.
