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.