Tampa and the Nike Vest
Yesterday I brought the blog back. I’m going to write something most days. And record a podcast episode every Friday.
Today I’ve got a guest post from my brother, Luke. Like me, more than thirty years in the sport and still truckin’.
In 1989, just as we were getting sucked into the vortex of triathlon, our swimming club arranged a two week trip to Tampa in Florida. The whole family was going. The first week the squad would be staying with families and the second week would be spent exploring Florida with our parents.
I’m not sure how our parents envisioned this second week going, but we (me and Ross) were expecting it to be split 50/50 between theme parks and searching for ‘exotic’ triathlon equipment.
Although you could get triathlon specific equipment in the UK at the time, it was very limited and about 6 months to a year behind what we were seeing in the magazines. This would give us an opportunity to come back to the gravel pit in Reading, where our club had started doing impromptu triathlons, with a bit of swagger!
“We had a modest hit list. We both wanted the new Profile Aero 2 clip-ons and I needed a helmet. I’d set my sights on the Bell Ovation. I’d seen Mark Allen wearing it in Tri-Athlete at the 1988 Avignon Triathlon. We would review any other finds as and when.”
The first week went as expected and we spent the next few days travelling down to the Florida coast with our parents, stopping at every bike shop we passed quickly checking off our hit list.
After a couple of days of one on one swim-runs on the beach, the club were to reconvene in Orlando to visit Disneyland and some American strip mall/outlet shopping for regular American brands, that still seemed slightly exotic back in 1989.
It was while we were in a nondescript (not particularly sport specific) Nike outlet store that we found, hidden on a discount rack, the Holy Grail for aspiring teenage triathletes in the late eighties.
Something we knew you definitely couldn’t get in the UK. Something that I was sure would make us legends on the East Berkshire triathlon scene. The 1989 Mark Allen vest. The blue and grey one from the magazines. Made of mesh material, cropped at the front, long at the back (like a mullet) and with a pocket for the just invented sports nutrition.
There were two, both small. Mine would still need to be taken up at the shoulders by my mum. We grabbed them as though there might be someone else in this random Orlando outlet looking for an iconic triathlon vest.
There wasn’t.
Back at home our new kit helped to make East Berks feel a little bit more like San Diego, and we got a few knowing nods of appreciation from those in the know while rocking our new vests.
I’m holding the vest in my hands now and still love it. If it had a slightly more modern cut I’d still wear it.
Maybe I’ll try to recreate it. Watch this space.
Photo: At a 1989 Berkshire Tri Squad gravel pit race with my Florida purchases. Nike Mark Allen vest. Bell Ovation helmet. Profile Aero 2s.
