TSP4: The Le Coq Sportif Grand Prix
The video below is the 1990 Nice Triathlon. In 1989 they moved the race to June so it didn’t clash with Hawaii in October. Nice 1990 was also the 2nd triathlon that I ever saw on TV after the Heineken Southport Triathlon in 1989. There’s a podcast about Southport coming soon.
My mum had a friend who had the new cable TV installed. We’d give her a pack of VHS tapes and she’d fill them with rare triathlon, cycling or athletics coverage for me and my brother.
TSP2 is called The Speed And The Sweat. It was about my first triathlon and deciding at the end of the 1989 season that even though I was only 16 and doing my GCSEs, I wanted to become a professional triathlete.
In 1989 there were no academies at universities, national team performance pathways or World Cup circuit. So the only way to do it back then was as a privateer. Living off prize money, savings, small sponsorships and your parents. Hopefully wintering in San Diego and racing as often as possible. This might include hooking up with a French or German club.
I read a lot of golf books and love the history of the game. Especially the stories from the early days on the PGA Tour. When players were actually on tour. Driving from event to event without going home.
I actually imagined triathlon developing along the golf model. Allowing the journeyman pro to make a respectable living. There would be multiple circuits like the US, European and Asian Tours in golf. Entry would be via a Q-School and athletes would have to race at all distances while attempting to be on peak form for “the majors”.
The golf thing obviously never happened. However, starting in 1985 the Grand Prix Series provided regular national standard racing and some pocket money for UK-based pros.
Names like: Peter Moysey, Cathy Bow, Mark Marabini, Sarah Springman, Bernie Shrosbree, Sally Ikin, Tracey Harris, Vicky Lescombe, Richard Hobson, Doris Trueman, Rick Kiddle, Pippa Cribb and Mike Harris.
By 1986 the Grand Prix was sponsored by Le Coq Sportif. The French sports apparel brand had brought out a one-piece tri-suit and a range of triathlon separates. They were also sponsoring a triathlon team and the European Cup circuit. In 1987 European Cup even included a UK race in Canterbury.
Images:
Tri-Athlete (UK) July 1988
Tri-Athlete (UK) August 1988
Tri-Athlete (UK) September 1988
Tri-Athlete (UK) October / November 1988
In 1988 I started buying triathlon magazines to follow the GP series. There were 10 events that season. So basically one race a fortnight. The venues were Swindon, Barry Island, Otley, Ripon, Milton Keynes, Redbridge, Keswick, Wakefield, Leicester and Bedford.
The Swindon race was organised by John Lillie and Trevor Gunning. Trevor was the owner of the specialist triathlon shop, Total Fitness in Swindon. And John would start 220 Magazine the following year. Together they would also launch the 220 Race Series in 1991.
To get a final Grand Prix ranking in 1988, athletes had to complete at least five events. The overall winners, Cathy Bow and Mark Mararbini, pocketed £750 as an end of series bonus.
Highlights of the year included the overall high standard and close racing in both the women’s and men’s competitions. Even though Britain's two reigning European champions, Glenn Cook and Sarah Coope, focused their seasons around races out of the UK.
Similarly, the use of a 4 lap circuit and an evening start in Otley that drew plenty of spectators and a brass band was also a high point. It was suggested that this format could possibly be used to attract TV coverage much like the Kellog’s City Centre Cycling.
New levels were also set in terms of participation as at least half of the events in the Grand Prix Series had more than 350 competitors. The races at Ripon and Barry Island even had around 500.
Low points of the 1988 season included misdirections of top competitors at a couple of events and several short swims.
Although not part of the Grand Prix Series, The Warburton’s Big Bread Triathlon in Southport was probably the most high profile event of the season. Tri-Athlete magazine said that it put triathlon on a plane not previously attained in the UK.
The Big Bread took place the day after the Otley Grand Prix, yet still attracted an international field and plenty of Grand Prix regulars. Sarah Springman and Robin Brew were the winners.
Images:
British Triathlon Scene (UK) May 1989
220 (UK) June 1989
For the 1989 season the series was renamed the Carlsberg Grand Prix. Bernie Shrosbree had a personal sponsorship with them and brokered the deal that saw the beer company sponsoring the whole series.
There were 13 events that year. In Swindon, Staffordshire Moorlands, Southampton, Blackpool, Ripon, Tallington Lakes, Dover, Wakefield, Milton Keynes, Rushden, Hunstanton and Emberton Park.
I also had club-mates at Berkshire Tri Squad who were driving up and down the country to do as many Grand Prix races as possible. Finding cheap B&Bs or camping at lake complexes and beach towns.
They wore fluorescent clothing, rode Dave Russell Bikes and had the new Scott DH aerodynamic handlebars. As far as I was concerned they were living the late-80s triathlete lifestyle that I aspired to.
The coordination of the series was taken on by prolific Bedfordshire race organiser Bill Steel, who even put on six of the thirteen events himself. Most races had between 200 and 400 competitors.
Again, only your best five results counted for the overall standings. Both Vicky Lescombe and Bernie Shrosbree managed to win 5 races and hence the overall Grand Prix and the $1000 prize-purse.
Highlights of the season included the overall great weather, which was the driest summer since 1959, and the strong support from Carlsberg that included free beer at every race.
Images:
220 (UK) June 1989
British Triathlon Scene (UK) June 1989
220 (UK) August 1989
220 (UK) September 1989
220 (UK) November 1989
220 (UK) December 1989
British Triathlon Scene (UK) December 1989 / January 1990
Round 1 in Swindon saw the use of wave starts that reduced incidents of drafting. However, when the idea was used for Round Two at Staffordshire Moorlands an elite wave was not included. This caused confusion for spectators and a mathematical kerfuffle for the organisers.
The low point of the 1989 season was definitely the Hunstanton race that was ruined by high seas and insufficient safety craft. Only 75 triathletes toeing the line for the final race in Emberton Park was also disappointing.
Again like in 1988 the most high profile race was a non-GP one. And again it was the race in Southport. Now sponsored by Heineken. It was on the same day as the Southampton Grand Prix.
In the spring of 1990 I passed my driving test and bought my first car. A Skoda Estelle. The engine was at the back which left a bike-shaped space under the bonnet. I was building my skills as a triathlete and was planning to do a mediocre job with my A-Levels to take on the Grand Prix.
The BTA announced a new series at their AGM that was planned to be just five events over seven weeks in mid-Summer. With venues to be selected from Swindon, Staffordshire Moorlands, Alderney in the Channel Islands, Blackpool, Otley, Dover, Redbridge and Torbay.
The dates chosen would avoid clashes with major championships and the best athletes would have to consistently turn-up, as the races would also be used for national team selection.
Unfortunately, 1989 proved to be the last year of the Grand Prix. As the proposed 1990 series didn’t actually go ahead.
So instead of taking the Skoda on tour I refocused on different goals. More about those in a future episode.
Links:
Sources:
Triathlon: Technique, Training and Competition By Martin Engelhardt and Alexandra Kremer
Running Magazine (UK) May 1987
Tri-Athlete (UK) May 1987
Tri-Athlete (UK) November / December 1987
