Triathlon Troops: Sport Born in Marines Looking for a Few Good Athletes

     Anyone who doesn’t believe the sport of triathlon is the prime measure of athletic excellence should “tell it to the Marines.”

     After all, it was a small group of that enclave which reputedly generated the idea about a dozen years ago.

     “Actually, there were a couple different starts of it,” said Dave Ware, president of Mid-America Triathletes.  “One started when several members of the Marines were sitting around and getting drunk, arguing which among runners, bikers and swimmers made the best athletes.”

     So, they decided to do all three events back-to-back on Oahu in the first triathlon back in 1978.  That challenge, which saw 12 of 15 entrants finish, later grew into 1,000 participants completing the grueling 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run known as the Kona Ironman Triathlon.

     In 1979, Sports Illustrated referred to the event as “lunatic,” but a new breed of American athletes hasn’t viewed it as such.

     “The growth of triathlon is phenomenal!”  Ware said.  It’s taking off faster than any modern-day sport.  Some people got tired of just running, and were looking for a new challenge.  Bikers who developed injuries looked for other methods of keeping in shape.

     “A lot of people saw the Ironman on TV and thought it was a neat idea.  Triathlon gives you a goal to work on, and once you do, you’re hooked”

     Although it’s hardly recommended for the everyday athlete to try an Ironman event, participation in shorter triathlons doesn’t require as much training as most people might think.

     Ware’s first attempt was the completion of a standard triathlon of roughly .75 miles of swimming, 35 miles on the bicycle and 6.2 miles of running.  It took him less than six weeks to train for that event.  But if that sound too ominous, a mini-triathlon encompassing distances of a quarter- to half-mile of swimming, 10 to 15 miles on the bike and 3 to 5 miles of running can be easily found.

     “Obviously, if you haven’t ridden a bike since you were five years old or jumped into the pool for the first time, you’ll have trouble,” Ware said.  “But most three- or four-day-a-week athletes could comfortably finish a triathlon after just a few weeks of training.”

    

     The ultimate challenge of competing in three different sports draws some people into triathlons, while the degree of camaraderie attracts others.  Besides meeting people from throughout the Midwest and the country at triathlons themselves, St. Louisans can make countless appearances while they train.

     “A lot of people out of necessity train alone,” Ware said.  “But the triathlon club, YMCA and other groups feature training events where people can get together.  We have a Wednesday night bike ride with people of all different levels of ability, and a regular club meeting the first Monday of every month.”

     It isn’t hard to find an event in which to participate.  A sample of nearby cities that host triathlons are Belleville, Wood River, Alton, Jefferson City, Mexico and Columbia.

     But the most popular triathlon in the Midwest is the Bud Light-Lake St. Louis Triathlon scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday at Lake St. Louis.  Now in its sixth year, the Lake St. Louis event has had to limit participation to 1,000 entries.  It is equally popular with spectators.

     “Triathlon is an exciting sport to experience,” Ware said.  “You constantly see interesting developments in all three individual events.  There used to be a lot of questions as to which are the better athletes.  But now, none of these is thought of as the top because triathlon is considered a separate sport in itself.”