Triathlon’s Triple Crown 1986
Yesterday I wrote about the 1985 Triathlon Triple Crown.
The 1986 Triathlon Triple Crown also took place over a four week period. The USTS Nationals at Hilton Head were on 27th September. Nice was on 5th October. And Hawaii was on 18th October.
The big change this year was that Hawaii offered prize money for the first time. An anonymous donor had put up $100,000 and Ironman also had plenty of cash from their recent deal with Timex.
Bob Bright was the Pro Athlete Liason Manager for the Chicago Marathon. And was hired by Ironman to ensure that the best athletes came to The Big Island. His main tactic was paying athletes NOT to do Nice.
Kirsten Hanssen got her first big win at Hilton Head. And Scott Molina easily won his fourth consecutive USTS Nationals title.
The age group races were described as fiercly competitive and race officials did a better job than the year before with drafting penalties. Strong showing from the cone placers too. See photo below.
And some future important names featured in the top 10s. Glah. Ripple. Pigg. Mitchell. Riccitelo. Smyers. Wells. And Robinson.
At the 5th edition of the Nice Triathlon, Mark Allen won for the fifth time. From Molina and George Hoover. Yes. The son of Nancy Hoover from the Team J David kerfuffle. More on that coming soon.
Erin Baker crossed the line first but was disqualified for taking drinks from her sister. So Linda Buchanan won. But not without controversy. See video. And just a week after being hit by a car at Hilton Head.
At the 22:18 point in the video above there’s a rubrique called Update File: Cheating. It’s pretty interesting. And cool 80s font.
But Europeans also featured on the podium for the first time. Great Britain’s Sarah Coope was second and Belgium’s Lieve Paulus was third.
In Kona, guess what? Yes. The women’s winner was disqualified again. This time Patricia Puntous. For drafting. Off her twin sister. So Paula Newby-Fraser won her first of eight. 1983 and 1984 winner Sylviane Puntous was second. And 1985 champion Joanne Ernst was third.
Dave Scott got his fourth win and a new course record. 8:28:37. Mark Allen wasn’t supposed to be there. As he’d raced Nice. But then he shocked everybody by arriving on the island. And finished second. 8 minutes down. Scott Tinley was a distant third.
