TSP5: UK Triathlon Magazines 1986-1990

Over the last couple of years I’ve been buying up vintage triathlon magazines on eBay. Some of them I’d previously owned. But they hadn’t survived multiple international house moves and a few loft purges.

I’m a big fan of magazines. Because I like to have nice paper objects in my hands. I still buy French and German triathlon publications. And I’m thinking of starting my own A5 triathlon zine in 2023.

Away from triathlon, I subscribe to The Golfer’s Journal, Like The Wind, Walden and Bicycle Quarterly. They’re all attractive magazines focusing on longer-form storytelling. Rather than being driven by advertisements, how-to articles and equipment reviews.

I started collecting Tri-Athlete UK in July 1988. Then early editions of 220 Magazine and British Triathlon Scene. On a family holiday to Florida in 1989 I even picked up a few copies of the US version of Triathlete.

To understand the landscape of magazines serving the UK triathlon scene in the 1980s we need to first look at the emergence of two titles in the USA.

In February 1983 the team from Swim Swim Magazine launched Triathlon Magazine out of Santa Monica. The year before they had tested the concept by printing one issue of a magazine they called Swim Bike Run.

Then in May 1983, Bill Katovsky launched Tri-Athlete Magazine (spelt TRI hyphen athlete) out of San Francisco. An investor in Katovsky’s project was Belgian Jean-Claude Garot. He was the publisher of Winning Magazine, a glossy, photo filled monthly magazine focused on European professional cycling. Before long, Garot had bought the Tri-Athlete operation from Katovsky.

Both magazines were fueled by the huge growth in the US race scene and the public awareness of the sport that happened the year before.

The Hawaii Ironman had two memorable editions in 1982. The February race had the TV-famous crawl-off between Julie Moss and Kathleen McCartney. Then the October event saw a comeback win for Dave Scott, ahead of the defending Scott Tinley, as he edged the course record towards 9 hours.

Another factor was the launch of the United States Triathlon Series. Knowing that not all athletes wanted to complete an Ironman, Carl Thomas and Jim Curl launched a series of 5 short-course events in 1982.

The series was due to expand to 11 events in 1983, providing plenty of stories for Triathlon and Tri-Athlete to write.

By 1985 triathlon was also growing rapidly in Europe. The European Triathlon Union had just been formed and the first European Championships were about to be held. Immenstadt in Germany would host the short-course and Almere in The Netherlands the long-course.

But Jean-Claude Garot was particularly interested in what was happening in France. The Nice triathlon was already on its 4th edition and France had a thriving club scene. Their Grand Prix was also about to be re-launched, after a few organisational snafus during the 1984 season.

Image: Tri-Athlete (FR) Juin 1985

So in June 1985 the team at Tri-Athlete debuted a stand-alone French language title to cover the French and Belgian scenes. Issue 1 above. It ran for 35 years and closed at the end of 2020.

Back in the US, despite the growth of triathlon, it was decided that advertising revenue couldn’t support two magazines. So in July 1986 Triathlon and Tri-Athlete merged to create Triathlete (without a hyphen).

Post-merger, production tasks were shared between the two teams before Jean-Claude Garot bought the magazine out-right in 1988.

Although French speakers had a stand-alone version of Triathlete being produced out of Garot’s Brussels office; Triathletes in the UK had to go through two intermediate steps before getting theirs.

Image: Triathlete (UK) February 1987. Last blue edition.

The first move in January 1986 was an eight page, blue paper, UK edition inserted into the middle of the US edition. Importantly, Tri-Athlete could now be found in newsagents such as Menzies and WH Smith. From 1983 until 1985 it was only available in the UK to subscribers.

The last of these blue editions is above.

Then in May 1987 the blue insert was replaced by a colour version but still bundled with the US edition of Triathlete. Below.

Image: Tri-Athlete (UK) May 1987. First colour edition.

Finally, at the end of 1987 Tri-Athlete UK became a 52 page stand-alone magazine. With a German version being launched in January 1988.

Although the US, German, UK and French magazines each had a different editorial team; stories and images were often shared. Note also that the hyphen in Tri-Athlete was still being used in Europe.

Images:
220 (UK) April 1989. Issue 2.
British Triathlon Scene (UK) April 1989. Issue 2.

In March 1989 Tri-Athlete finally had some rivals in the UK. This is when British Triathlon Scene and 220 Magazine were launched. Issue 2 of both magazines are above. British Triathlon Scene closed sometime in 1990. But 220 is still around in 2023. The founder, John Lillie, sold it in 1997.

Here’s a passage from John Lillie’s blog about the beginnings of 220.

In 1988 I came back from Ironman Hawaii with my Total Fitness Tri Club mates Trevor Gunning and Kevin Ferris, satisfied that we had all finished the race, got our medals and T-shirts and had a remarkable experience on the Big Island. I'd go so far to say that we were buzzing!

A month later Tri-Athlete Magazine came out. I read the Hawaii race report with a big smile on my face and then turned to the results page. Nothing. Despite a good turn out of Brits not one was mentioned. I was incensed. 

You'd better start your own magazine, someone half joked to me. It was only a half joke because I was a serial starter of businesses and at the time one was quite profitable. So I had the wherewithal to do it. So I did.

In 1989 Jean-Claude Garot’s publishing company, Offpress, had financial problems. And in early-1990 Tri-Athlete UK disappeared from shops. 

Image: Triathlete (UK) May 1990. The UK Comeback Issue.

But a few months later, in May 1990, the US version of the magazine with the UK cover-mount came back. Above.

Probably seizing the opportunity presented by the disappearance of British Triathlon Scene and the semi-demise of Tri-Athlete; in May 1990 Running Magazine launched a triathlon supplement called Triathlon. Below.

Image: Triathlon (UK) May 1990. Running Magazine supplement.

Several articles in the first issue were written by Karin Zeitvogel. Karin previously worked at Tri-Athlete with Jean-Claude Garot and persuaded the editor of Running, Nick Troop, to let her launch Triathlon. 

Karin also owned the specialist Triathlon shop Wholly Fit in London. I recently had an informative exchange with her on Twitter. It’s not easy finding people who remember and want to chat about triathlon in the 1980s.

I was a big fan of Running Magazine. I thought that they did a great job of covering elite road racing, both in the UK and abroad. But the spin-off quarterly title Triathlon only made it to maybe half a dozen issues before Running Magazine was absorbed into the US title Runner’s World in 1993.

So 220 Magazine definitely won the battle of the late-80s slash early-90s triathlon magazines. I think their low-budget, quirky approach appealed more to the UK triathletes interests and humour.

They covered the big races and the small races. They even organised their own  races so that they had more to write about.

I’ve got pretty much the whole collection from 1989 until 1997. Except the first issue and a few crucial ones I’d love to own. Like October 1991 and September 1992. Every time I flick through a few vintage copies I’m reminded of how good the magazine was back then.

I often like to give myself some homework at the end of an episode. So this time it's to find out more about Tri News which was the British Triathlon Association’s member’s magazine. It was launched A5 photocopied zine-style in January 1983. And Endurance Sports magazine. That. When it came out in the spring of 1985 Was promoted as: 

The only specialist magazine in the UK covering the needs of the long distance swimmer, cyclist, runner and canoeist.

I’m also a big fan of Francophone triathlon magazines such as Tri-Athlete and TED. So I’ll definitely dig into the history of them in the future. 

Links:

1987 Nice Triathlon
Early220 by John Lillie

Sources:

TriHistory: The Birth of Triathlete Magazine. An Insider’s Story
Triathlete (USA) May 2008. Looking Back.
Triathlete (USA): A Look Back At 40 Years Of Triathlete Magazine
Harald Johnson: 36 Years Ago Today.