UK's first Ironman Triathlon

5 years before Mark Allen and Dave Scott slogged it out on the Lava fields of Hawaii, and just 6 years after John Collins gathered 12 people together to race what became the first Ironman, a pair of lifeguards from Peterborough Regional Pool, along with the support of a fitness fan from Peterborough City Council put on the UK's first Iron distance race at Tallington Lakes just north of the city.

My interest?

I had a summer job over several years at Tallington Lakes doing jobs as diverse at teaching windsurfing, to driving a bulldozer, building a dry ski slope... and along the way, I ended up marshalling in a minor capacity at that first race.

I had no interest in triathlon at the time, although I did participate in lifesaving competitions, so spent a lot of time in the water, and ran the odd road race here and thereup to half mara distance.

And here, I find myself, all these years later, an IM addict, and having competed last year in the first event (an Oly distance) run at Tallington in many years (the last was the national champs in 1988)

Naturally, I couldn't miss the opportunity to try and track down some history.... so after lots of emails, and a fair few phone calls, I now have a copy of the original results and a newspaper clipping of speedo wearing swimmers struggling with near hypothermia being helped onto bikes.

The winning time was even by todays standards, a fast 9hr 18mins even allowing for a 1/2 mile short swim (due to the cold water - no wetsuits in 1984)... with a 12hr cut off, although one result shows a 12h 23m finish, so someone was lenient!

My reason for this post?..... none really, other than I think the history is interesting, and I now discover that there has been talk of another 70.3 or even a 140.6 there... and its kind of neat to be able to complete the circle!... plus I suspect that some of those early competitors would have really liked the PSOF ethos!

If anyone wants a copy of the results, shout!

 

lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday

Comments

  • Great post, really really interesting to read about it.   When I saw the thread tittle id already imagined the contents would be asking the question, 'which was the first UK iron distance', and was almost ready to come in and suggest The Longest Day.  

    Little did I know UK long distance went back to the early 1980's.

    Id be interested in more information.  I wonder what became of the lifeguards, those that raced?  Have they gone on to other long distance event, even Ironman?  

  • I believe some triralkers would know more

  • One of them, the primary organiser, Graeme McLeod, moved to Egypt to teach scuba diving I believe....another, of those lifeguards still runs one of the UK's largest triathlon shops.

    ...and a few of the people that new, worked with or had connections to these people went on to organise marathons in Peterborough the following year (in 1985) and at the same time to form Peterborough Area Combined Triathlon and Athletics Club, or PACTRAC as it is still known and operates today... another person who joined that early gang of PACTRAC pioneers was Harold Frobisher, who besides already being a veteran if several Hawaii IMs, was also master in charge of the swimming pool at Oundle school, so helped with access to facilities.

    Various of those 4 or 5 founding members are still competing today.. One of them has beaten me comprehensively as recently as races in the last 3 or 4 years... at both sprint and half IM distance.... 

    Another of the competitors from the 1984 event has been in touch with me to let me know that he has entered his first IM race since that day, and is competing in Ironman Wales this year!

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • yep, there are a few on there who raced the first branded event in 1990 or so, and i've feelers out with some of the old hands on there for more...

    Its proving to be a fascinating exercise researching all of this!

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • F.oggyF.oggy ✭✭✭

    From PACTRAC website

    In 1984 an ex-paratrooper from Stamford, called Graham McLeod decided to organise an Ironman triathlon at Tallington Lakes. This proved a success, and the following year, the venue was switched to Ferry Meadows in Peterborough. There was initial interest in this Ironman race from some local Peterborough athletes, notably Steve Cox and Chris Boon, who were both lifeguards at the regional pool and the Lido. A meeting was organised to form a club in Peterborough to train for the Ironman and to meet like-minded people. This meeting took place in February 1985 at the museum, and the club was inaugurated. The meeting was attended and witnessed by Councillor Ken Winfrey. Laurie Miles also joined. He was to organise the Peterborough Marathon later that year, and was to become the chairman of PACTRAC.

    The club then organised a number of mini triathlons and training sessions. Harold Frobisher was contacted, and joined the fold. He was a veteran of a number of Hawaii Ironman races, and fortunately for PACTRAC, he was the master in charge of the swimming pool at Oundle School. This 50-yard pool proved to be the perfect swim venue for PACTRAC's aspiring triathletes, and has continued to be the choice of venue ever since, providing the stability for the club to grow. The Ironman race duly took place in Ferry Meadows on 30th June, 1985 with 6 club members taking part.

  • Fascinating. Can we put up the cuttings on the PSOF website?
  • don't see why not.... happy to write a short summary, and provide the docs to whoever admins the site

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • Was FB reffing ?    image

  • yep... he DQ'd one entrant for lashing a VCR to their handlebars....

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • If.... and its a big if.... they do manage to get 70.3 off the ground in 2017, this would make a superb pirate event.... fab camping facilities, with proper facilities (rather than just a field like the Vit), options for wooden lodges for those that don't do tents, caravans or campervans, an excellent bar that also does food, great 'other stuff to do' on site for both pirates and families including a dry ski slope, climbing wall, quad biking, canoeing, windsurfing, water skiing, dinghy sailing and jet skiing, even zorbing... and nice and centrally located to make travel viable.... I reckon we could make quite a weekend of it!

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • PapermanPaperman ✭✭✭

    We'd be there - its one of our two open water swimming practice places!

  • I love this type of history and if they did get something off the ground for 2017 I'd definitely be up for a piratey presence image

     

  • Me too Paperman.... we might have even swum at the same time then!.... although poss not, as I always swim in a pirate swim hat, so you'd probably have noticed it!

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • Here's a couple of screen grabs of some of the doc... its in pdf format, so I need to get it converted to show it all, or host it as a pdf somewhere...

    anyhow, just a little more, as its interesting!

    http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s241/magnacarter/13bc1143fe274df08df44a26c02384f7.jpg

     

    http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s241/magnacarter/2dac899e22787db4791ff456166611b6.jpg

     

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • PapermanPaperman ✭✭✭

    MC - we'll be coming over as a family on Saturday mornings once the season starts, as all three of us have OW tri events this year. I'll look out for the hat!

  • I rarely swim sat mornings.... usually mid week evenings.

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • did you see the winners bike split compared with the others.looks like he was cyclist and the others were runners

  • There was def a swimmer in there ...check her time!!
  • Also, an interesting insight into equality and how much we've moved on... read the article again... it doesn't even name the female winner, just states that 4 females finished with a tone of astonishment, and then goes in to discuss the oldest male finisher in much more depth.

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
  • when I get the whole doc up, you'll see a few other fast bike splits too...

    lets be honest.... its all prep for an Ironman on my 100th birthday
Sign In or Register to comment.