Ross Ross

France Diaries 3: Eyeshades!

I’ve never been into sunglasses. But I need to get some before my eyes get even worse. Actually I had an eye test in April. My eyes are fine. But I now need reading glasses in the evening or in low light.

But. In TSP13 I mentioned that athlete 703 on one of the postcards was maybe wearing Oakley Factory Pilot sunglasses.

A keen listener, Doug, picked me up on my use of the word sunglasses. He was right. Oakley stated in their magazine ads that sunglasses were good for nightclubs and press conferences. But for triathlon you need Eyeshades. France Diaries 3 has some more history.

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Ross Ross

France Diaries 2: The Absolute Must For Triathletes

France Diaries 2. Short podcasts from my holiday. I’m still at La Plage du Gurp. On the Atlantic coast. About an hour north of Bordeaux. Today we are looking at a kit flat-lay from 1988.

Triathlete Magazine used to do a lot of these. Mainly around Christmas time. With a variety of products and brands. But this one seems to be driven by the magazine’s own stuff, their spin-off Winning Club stuff or their main advertisers products.

I’ve posted the German version. But I also used to have it in English. Now listen to me explain what we have.

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Ross Ross

France Diaries 1: Ron Hill Club Special Vests

I’m on holiday in France.

So I’m going to record as many very short podcast episodes as I can. As I've been inspired recently by listening to the Cycling Podcast and Escape Collective Tour de France dispatches.

I’m going to record everything while walking. I don't want to be that guy sitting around the accommodation trying to shush people because I’m recording my very important podcast.

Today I’m at La Plage du Gurp. About an hour north of Bordeaux. And I’m talking about Ron Hill Club Special Vests.

Images:
Athletics Weekly (UK) 16th October 1982
Ross at the 1991 Tallington Lakes Triathlon
My Current Ron Hill Vest
Triathlete (FR) 1989 Avignon Special Issue
220 (UK) January 1990
220 (UK) October 1990
220 (UK) February 1990
220 (UK) April 1990
BTS 1991-1993 Ron Hill Vest
Luke’s Ron Hill “Glenn Cook” Vest

Links:
The Cycling Podcast
Escape Collective
BBC Sports Report by Pat Murphy
The Slough Demos Part One: A Triathlon History Tour
TSP7 & TSP8
Ron Hill at the 1962 Polytechnic Marathon
The Tour of Thamside
The Sun Life Great Race
Luke’s BTS Vests On Instagram

Sources:
Ron Hill on Wikipedia (FR)
Ron Hill on Wikipedia (EN)
Ron Hill Obituary In The Guardian
Ron Hill Sports History

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Ross Ross

Bonus: A Short Trip To Roth

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Ross Ross

TSP26: The 1990 Nice Triathlon

Today we are watching the 1990 Nice Triathlon video that’s on YouTube. It was probably the first Nice race that Luke and I saw. IMO. It’s the best English-language triathlon video on YouTube.

The scripted commentary by Sarah Springman and Ian Sweet is ace. And some big athletes were coming off great 1989 seasons. Of course. There’s our usual tangents into iconic equipment and previous races.

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Ross Ross

Bonus: ESPN Running & Racing

In August 1989. On a family, sports and shopping holiday to Florida. I watched an episode of ESPN’s Running & Racing. A magazine show that covered running, cycling and triathlon.

I’ve recently found one episode on YouTube. Also from 1989. But it’s not the one that I saw in Florida. But let’s analyse it and talk a bit more about that Florida trip.

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Ross Ross

Bonus: The Sweat Shop In Teddington

In 1971, Chris Brasher, Olympic Gold medallist, 4 minute mile pacer and future co-founder of the London Marathon, was heavily involved in the developing sport of orienteering. Realising that British orienteers were finding it hard to get hold of the specialist equipment. Like off-road running shoes and compasses. Chris started sourcing, importing and selling the stuff out of his car boot at events. This is the birth of The Sweat Shop.

Later in the 1970s a brick and mortar store was established in Teddington. And other forms of running were catered for. Not just orienteering. The shop I started visiting in the mid-1980s was at 10 The Causeway, Teddington. In 1987 they moved into larger premises just 200m away at 33 Broad Street. 

As a teenage runner, a trip to The Sweat Shop was always a special day out. With pocket, birthday and Christmas money saved up. And short and long lists of possible purchases carefully curated.

Join me the day before the 2025 London Marathon to learn more about The Sweatshop. With relevant and random tangents into my history with the shop and the London Marathon.

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Ross Ross

TSP24: Season Openers Part 1

This episode is Part 1 of a two-parter about Season Openers. The traditional races in the late-1980s that let us know that the tri-season had started. Both domestically and internationally.  

The idea came from recently leafing through two triathlon magazines that had significance to my life. That brought back waves of nostalgia from the time when I first got interested in triathlon.

These season opener races were important for the athletes. To validate their fitness after a winter of training. But for the magazine readers. These race reports were all we had. Before Eurosport or live streams or YouTube. 

This is how we got to understand the racing and to learn about the athletes. In articles written by familiar names like CJ Olivares Junior, Chip Rimmer, Richard Graham or Terry Mulgannon.

There’d be backstory, play by play race commentary, athlete profiles and a discussion of what the results meant. Therefore building up a season-long narrative to follow along with.

We’d find out if the Big 4 and Mike Pigg were still at the top. And who were the up and coming athletes? As nobody was vlogging or uploading their breakfast to instagram.

And via the excellent photography that accompanied the articles we also got to see the new bikes and kit.

So have a listen. And learn more about the 1988 Lanzarote Triathlon, the Gold Coast World Cup and the Swindon Triathlon in the UK.

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Ross Ross

TSP23: The 1983 Los Angeles Ricoh Ironman

In 1988 Valerie Silk and her Ironman company added two more franchise races to their roster. Ironman Europe in Roth. And Ironman Australia in Forster-Tuncurry. That brought the total number to six. With Hawaii, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.

However, the first Silk-sanctioned race outside of Hawaii had already come and gone. It was the Ricoh Los Angeles Ironman. In 1983. In this episode we’ll dive into that race. And go over some vital Hawaii Ironman backstory. That sets up a few more episodes about the race.

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Ross Ross

The Slough Demos Part 1: A Triathlon History Tour

This is the first in a series of episodes called The Slough Demos. Mainly about what it was like growing up in Slough in the 1980s as a teenage triathlon nerd.

TSP2: The Speed And The Sweat was about the first triathlon I ever did. In May 1989 in Wokingham. And these episodes will follow on from that. With some prequel stuff too. Part 1 is a running tour of Slough that you can do to get an overview of the triathlon history that exists there.

The inspiration for this episode came from a YouTube video on the Ginger Runner channel. It’s with Ben Gibbard from the band Death Cab For Cutie. And he describes a 46 mile run he did through Seattle visiting famous local music landmarks.

Enjoying learning more about Slough!

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Ross Ross

TSP22: The 1993 Bordeaux Indoor Triathlon

In this episode Luke and I do another 1980s or 1990s race watch-along. This is our 3rd one. Check out TSP14: The 1992 Nice Triathlon and TSP20: The 1991 St. Croix. Triathlon. To listen to the two previous races that we covered in incredible, maybe too much, detail.

Today we are looking at the 1993 Bordeaux Indoor Triathlon. An event that TED magazine called. A turning point for the sport. A day as historical as the first Hawaii Ironman or first Nice triathlon. Knowing what we know now I don’t quite agree with this. The format did go somewhere. But not far.

So let’s find out more about those 2 days in February 1993.

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Ross Ross

TSP21: My First Wetsuit. My Favourite Wetsuit. One I’d Like To Get Hold Of. And Some History.

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Ross Ross

TSP20: The 1991 St. Croix Triathlon

We’re back with Season 2. I’m hoping to do more and better in 2024. Maybe aiming for one episode every fortnight. 

I’m also reunited with my most popular guest slash co-host. According to the Buzzsprout statistics at least. My brother Luke. 

The event we are focusing on today is the 1991 St Croix Triathlon. 

Starting in 1988 St. Croix was one of a few early season races where a lot of the best athletes showed up. And in 1991 the event was the first ever stop on the new ITU World Series.

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Ross Ross

TSP19: Books To Start Your Triathlon History Journey

I think all modern triathletes should be reading about our sport’s past. Especially the eighties stuff. To understand the history of the game. And decide where we should take it. So today I’m talking about twelve triathlon books to get you started on your triathlon history journey.

Some of the books are modern look-backs and some are books from the early days of the sport that give you a cool feel for the era. Decide what you’re more into and go and get hold of some. Here we go. In no particular order of favouritism or period.

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Ross Ross

TSP18: My 1980s Tri Bike

Over the last 18 months I’ve been putting together a 1980s tri bike. It was a  fun project. I particularly enjoyed sourcing the bits and learning more about the groupsets of the day.  

This episode is about what I like about the bikes from this period. The inspiration for the project. And the component choices I made.

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Ross Ross

TSP17 : Some Munich Triathlon History

In TSP16 I did a bit of triathlon history from near where I grew up in the UK. And today’s podcast is about some triathlon history from my current hometown. Munich in Germany. 

Our story is based at the Regattastrecke in Oberschleißheim. The facility was built for the rowing and flat water canoeing events at the 1972 Olympic Games. And it’s still in use for those sports today. 

It’s a super place to visit for some Olympic history. The boat sheds and grandstands at the Regattastrecke really look like they are stuck in 1972. 

However the tarmac on the rectangular nearly 5km circuit around the lake was brand new in the spring of 2023. This makes the venue an ideal and popular venue for local triathlons. I’ve done quite a few events here.

But probably the best field ever assembled here was for a round of the European Golden Cup Circuit on the 23rd July 1989. In this episode we’ll learn what happened on the day nearly 34 years ago.

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Ross Ross

TSP16: The 220 Triathlon Series - Year 1

In 1991 the team at 220 launched a 5 race triathlon series. It would last 5 years. Add a new narrative to the British triathlon season. And provide plenty of content to fill the pages of the magazine.

One of the races on the docket was Windsor. As teenage tri-nerds, the Windsor Triathlon was a big deal for me and my brother. Because it brought a big race and top athletes to within 5km of our house. 

In this episode find out more about the first year of the 220 Triathlon Series and what the Windsor race was like back then.

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Ross Ross

The Windsor Tapes

I'm writing a podcast about the first year of the 220 Triathlon Series. It took place in the UK in 1991. I'll put the full episode out next Friday.

But here’s some raw audio I recorded with Luke when we recreated the 1991 Windsor Triathlon. That was the 2nd race in the 220 Series. After Swindon.

The Windsor Triathlon was a big deal for us as teneage tri-nerds. Because it brought a big race and top athletes to within 5km of our house.

And the 220 series brought a new narrative and professionalism to the British triathlon calendar. After the GP ended in 1989.

Leave a comment below if you were there!

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Ross Ross

TSP15: The 1986 Triathlon International de Paris

A couple of weeks ago I was pretty psyched to see what happened at the Olympic Test Event in Paris. Yet. Triathloning isn’t new to downtown Paris. The first Triathlon International de Paris took place on 13th September 1986. 

And the Triathlon Hauts de Seine on the Ile de Puteaux was earlier in the 1986 season. There were also ITU World Cup races in 1991 and 1996. And a few French Grand Prix events. I’ll cover all of those triathlons in the future.

Today. Let’s look at what happened at the first Triathlon International de Paris. Before covering those other races in future episodes.

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Ross Ross

TSP14: The 1992 Nice Triathlon

This episode is going to be the first of hopefully a three part series that will look at the Summer of 1992. 1992 was the first year that I raced in France on a family holiday. And from buying Triathlete magazines in French. Which I couldn't read at the time. I started to get interested in the triathlon scene over there.

The idea for this series comes from a video recently posted by Ben Bright. It’s a must-watch for anybody interested in triathlon history. Following Bright’s career in France from 1992 onwards was one of the inspirations for me to figure out how to move to France and find a French triathlon club to race for.

Today we are going to look at Nice, which took place on 14th June. Then Grenoble from the 28th June and Ironbridge which was organised on the 18th July. Ben Bright did all three. So the logical conclusion to the series would be to try and contact him to ask if he would agree to come on the podcast. To take us through those 5 crazy weeks in 1992.

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