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US to Wales - Triathlon in the early days

If you are interested in how Triathlon developed in the UK and especially in Wales, I have written a (so far) 6 part blog.

Being in on the 'scene' since 1983 I have witnessed an incredible surge in the interest of the sport...from the early-mid 80's where people asked 'Tri what' and comments that we were all mad as hatters!! and at time when there were no books, magazines (until the US Tri-athlete in 83/84) or facebook (or even internet) to ask the numerous questions that we see today, and hardly any clubs in UK and certainly not in Wales until I established the first one in 1985 (Triathletes Swansea) - Now we have hundreds of Tri clubs and just as many events to choose from, while the 'Ironman' series has exploded onto the Tri scene in recent years!

But what was it really like when it all began?

Check out the first blog here and be sure to scroll down to the bottom of each blog so you can move forward to the next blog posting - this is an on-going project - enjoy!

https://thetidehasturned.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/triathlon-from-us-to-wales-the-early-days/

Howard

Comments

  • bathtubbathtub Posts: 280

    Great blog Howard looking forward to the next chapters.

    You mentioned the Barry Island event in 1987 with the moving buoy.

    I competed in the 1988 Barry Island event which doubled up as the Welsh Open championship and also Home Nations team international. One of the marker buoys broke loose during the swim leg resulting in each one of the three waves swimming a bit further than the previous wave.  It gave the results folk a headache but they came up with a formula for amending the swim times accordingly. I can also remember it being a red hot day and back then you were allowed to race topless ,well the men were!!!

    Happy days

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