In 1981 John Hellemans entered a race called 'Ironman' in Auckland, New Zealand. While it wasn't the distance that we know now days the race drew over 400 people. He thought he would give it a go, he turned up and managed to win. This started a lifetime love of Triathlon. John went on to be a hugely influential coach, a multible age group world champ. He is one of the great minds of our sport.
In this months show we have a interesting interview with a real legend of our sport.
Graham Fraser has been a huge influence on the sport of triathlon in North America. After racing Kona at the age of 24 he went on to become a race organiser. This lead to the creation of North America Sport, the complany that ran Ironman in North America for a long time. In this months show he shares many of the experiences of building the Ironman Brand. It's a great listen.
While Rob Barel isn't the most known athlete in the North America he was one of the best athletes in Europe in the 80's-90's. He won Nice, Almere and even competed in the first Olympic Triathlon at the age of 42! In this months show he shares many of the amazing experiences he had throughout his career.
This months guest will always get to say that he was the first ever Ironman winner! On this months show we have Gordon Haller, the first ever World Champ of Ironman Triathlon. He shares some great stories around the early days of the sport and reveals some information that many of us wouldn't have known about.
Karen Smyers is a woman who is not just an amazing athlete but is also an amazing person. Here's a bit about her from her website, www.karensmyers.com:
Karen Smyers is one of the most versatile women in the history of triathlon. Over her professional career, she accumulated seven national triathlon titles (including six in a row), one national duathlon title, two world triathlon medals, and one victory at Ironman Kona. Her 1995 double of winning at Kona and returning two weeks later to capture the ITU triathlon world title is perhaps the single most remarkable achievement in the sport to date. Karen was also a Pan American Games gold medalist and a three-time USOC Triathlete of the Year. She continues to serve as an inspiration through her coaching, writing, speaking, and sharing her story of surviving cancer.
This month Karen shares her experiences with us.
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