Headlights at the Finish Line
The first modern triathlon was a gloriously messy affair. It took place at Mission Bay in San Diego, California, on September 25, 1974. Two members of the San Diego Track Club, Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan, dreamed it up. Johnstone wanted a run-and-swim race. Shanahan wanted to add a bike leg, and Johnstone, a little hesitant, agreed.
The course was wild. Racers ran a 4.8 km loop, biked twice around Fiesta Island, kicked off their shoes and swam to the mainland. Then they ran barefoot, swam again along the bay, swam once more, and finished by crawling up a steep dirt bank.
Most entrants were not skilled swimmers, so Johnstone's 13-year-old son floated on his surfboard as the lifeguard. Some racers were so slow that it got dark, so the organisers pulled up a few cars and switched on the headlights. They were surprised to get 46 entrants. Two of them, Judy and John Collins, later founded the Hawaii Ironman.
The French Got There First
Here is the twist: the San Diego founders had never heard of the earlier French events and believed their race was a unique idea. It was not. As early as 1901, Joinville-le-Pont in France hosted 'Les Trois Sports' (The Three Sports), a race made of running, cycling and canoeing.
By 1921 the canoe leg had been swapped for a swim. That race had a 3 km run, a 12 km bike ride and a crossing of the river Marne, all done back to back without a break. Through the 1920s, similar races popped up in Marseille and Poissy, and by 1934 La Rochelle was hosting its own version with a 200 m channel swim.
Yet there were never any shared rules, and the sport stayed small. The Americans gave it the name that stuck, built the same way as pentathlon and decathlon. 'Triathlon' comes from the Greek words for 'three' and 'competition'.
From Beach Race to the Olympics
The sport spread fast. Europe's first triathlon was held in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, in 1980. In 1982 a race in Nice, France, drew 57 starters into a Mediterranean that was only 14 °C (57 °F). French television then aired a program about it called Journey to the End of Suffering, which introduced the sport to the public. Nice became one of the two biggest long-distance races of the 1980s.
In 1989, 30 national federations met in Avignon, France, and created the International Triathlon Union, now called World Triathlon. Its main goal was the Olympics, and it got there. Triathlon made its Olympic debut at the Sydney Games in 2000, over a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run.
A mixed relay with four short legs joined the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Paratriathlon made its debut at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Secret Fourth Discipline
A triathlon is not just three sports. The clock keeps running while racers switch gear, in a zone called the transition area. Because races can be won or lost there, it is often called the 'fourth discipline'. Some racers leave their cycling shoes clipped to the pedals and slip their feet in while riding. Some skip socks to save even more time.
The rules are strict. Your helmet must be on before you get on your bike, and you cannot ride until you cross a marked mount line. At the London 2012 Olympics, Jonathan Brownlee got a 15-second penalty for mounting his bike too early. In elite World Triathlon races, drafting on the bike is legal, but amateurs are not allowed to do it.
Then comes the run, on legs that are already tired. First-timers are often shocked by a strange, weak feeling in their thighs. To get ready for it, triathletes train with a brick, most often cycling straight into running.
Races That Push It to the Limit
Some triathlons are famous for being brutal. At the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, the bike leg covers more than 160 km (100 mi) over lava flats, where midday heat often goes above 43 °C (110 °F) and cross-winds can blow at 89 km/h (55 mph).
Escape from Alcatraz in San Francisco starts with a swim through cold bay water from Alcatraz Island to shore. Its run includes the 'Sand Ladder', a 400-step staircase up a beachside cliff. Norway's Norseman starts with a swim in a fjord and finishes on top of a mountain, 1,850 m (6,070 ft) above sea level, and it takes only 200 racers a year.
Then there is Arch to Arc, a 465 km (289 mi) challenge from Marble Arch in London to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Racers run 140 km to Dover, swim 35 km across the English Channel, then cycle 291 km to Paris. Only 46 people in history have finished it.
