Looking Back at the Ironman World Championship Part 2: 1990 to 1999

2018 is the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. Enjoy this count down each year – from my experiences as a participant in the early 80s, to my early years covering the event as a journalist, through my many years covering the race at Competitor Magazine and publisher of the official race program, to the early days of the Ironman LIVE broadcast, and on up to the launch and continuation of the Breakfast with Bob show.

Part 2: 1990 – 1999

1990

After the drama of the Iron War race in 1989, in 1990, the drama came largely from the Big Island and the race day conditions. It was one of those brutal weather days, that took its toll. When I wrote about the race in Competitor Magazine, I titled my article: The Equalizer. At the Hawaii Ironman, you can have the greatest athletes in the world at the peak of their game, but the heat and wind can be the great equalizer. After several years of relatively mild conditions, in 1990 the island threw everything it had at the 1,300 athletes.

Leading into the race, we featured Erin Baker and Paula Newby-Fraser on the cover of Competitor Magazine. In their 1990 race, Erin took the win, out swimming, biking, and running Paula to get her 2nd victory in 9:13:42.

Mark Allen’s 8:28:17 winning time was nearly 20 minutes slower than his 1989 time, but he still had a day’s best 2:52:48 run. But the best performance of the day went to Scott Tinley, who finished only 40 seconds slower than his time in 1989, and ran 2:53:30 (his fastest ever in Kona) to finish in 2nd place.

As Todd Jacobs said: “The rest of us worry about the conditions. Dave [Scott] and Tinley can race in Hell.”

1991

In 1991, Mark Allen won for the 3rd year in a row, this time battling it out with a young Greg Welch. Paula Newby-Fraser also continued her incredible performances at the World Championship, getting her 4th title, beating her Iron Rival Erin Baker, after finishing 2nd to her in 1990.

1991 was also the year Lois Schwartz and I started publishing the Ironman race program.

In my 30 Years of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship coffee table book, I wrote about Mark and Greg’s race. Greg went in to the race feeling confident and ready to go head-to-head against Mark. I titled the story: Checkmate. Here’s an excerpt:

The two are locked together in mortal combat. Sweat beads up on both foreheads as they survey the board and scan the memory banks. They search endlessly, desperately for the back breaker, the killer, the pièce de résistance… the mother of all moves.
Pawns, rooks, and castles are all willingly sacrificed for the win, the only goal that matters. When you are on the other side of the table, the pause, that calm before the storm, can seem like forever. A deep breath is taken and “The Move” is finally made. A smile plays at the corner of the lips of the mover and the word that always follows the mother of all moves is spoken loudly and clearly, ending the game, ending the speculation, ending any what ifs. So goes the game of the Ironman.
In the game of Ironman chess, sometimes the moves are so subtle no one seems to notice. But they’re there. Letting Greg Welch dictate the pace on the bike took that responsibility off Mark Allen’s shoulders. It also put his most dangerous competitor right where he wanted him most: smack dab in his sights. No worries like, “Where is that guy?” or, “How far back is he?”
Allen played the Ironman chess game to perfection for the third time in a row. But he also knows that only three people have ever run a sub-2:50 in Hawai’i: Allen, Dave Scott…and Welch. Even though he had to stop and stretch for who knows how long this year, Welch still ran 2:48:10.
So don’t count the young Aussie out, Ironman fans. He’s learned a few lessons from the Ironmaster. Both Allen and Welch know that this year is history, that the next time around they’ll start from scratch, that they’ll be playing Ironman chess all over again.
It won’t take Welch many moves to turn Checkmate into Check….Mate.

1992

In 1992, Paula Newby-Fraser out swam, out biked, and out ran the competition to win her 5th world title in a course-record 8:55:28, over 30 minutes faster than 2nd place.

Mark Allen went into the race with a cautious eye on Greg Welch and Pauli Kiuru, but soon realized his greatest rival that day would be Cristian Bustos. The two ran side-by-side until just past mile 14, with Bustos giving Allen his toughest battle since Dave Scott in 1989. When it was all over, Allen waited to congratulate a formidable opponent at the finish line.

After covering the race that year, I wrote about Allen and Bustos for our Nov/Dec issue of Competitor Magazine:

One-on-one racing evolves over time in a long race like the Ironman. One move, then another. Allen likes to test his opponent’s resolve on Pay & Save Hill about nine miles in. With the wind at the runners’ backs, the heat can be stifling.
Bustos didn’t budge.
The stark nothingness of the lava fields awaits the runners after a left turn at the hill’s summit. The crowds diminish and self-doubt flourishes. The cheering of the spectators along Ali’i Drive is a distant memory. That was miles ago. Now there are only telephone poles that go forever, aid stations that are too far apart, endless empty black lava and the sound of your feet hitting the scorched pavement. If your inner resolve isn’t rock solid, the lava fields will crack you like a peanut……
“It’s funny,” says Allen. “But in a race of eight hours, it usually comes down to one moment, to a few footsteps. It’s a matter of knowing when to make those footsteps count.”

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This year we’re celebrating IRONMAN’s 40th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s San Diego Triathlon Challenge, aka #TheBestDayinTri As we look back at the 1992 Ironman, a common thread: The great Jim MacLaren. We started CAF for Jimmy, shown here going 10:42:50 in ’92. #TeamCAF @cafoundation

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1993

In honor of the Ironman’s 15th anniversary, we featured Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Paula Newby-Fraser on the cover of the race program, a great photo from Melanie Carr. Inside, I wrote about the trio and the 15th anniversary….

15 Ironman races, 15 Ironman victories. Dave has six, Paula has five, and Mark has four. The three have made their names and built their reputations on the Kona Coast. Dave Scott, the comeback kid, is the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. Paula Newby-Fraser broke down time barriers and became one of the best-known and best-paid women in sports today. Hard luck Mark Allen, who won virtually every other race he entered, finally won the Ironman on his seventh try in 1989 – and he hasn’t lost since.
The Gatorade Ironman Triathlon is rich in history, and memories. In 1978, Navy Commander John Collins staged the first Ironman on Oahu. Gordon Haller won in 11:46:58. Tom Warren’s win in 1979 was covered by Sports Illustrated and captured the attention of the sports world. Then-owner Valerie Silk took the race to Kona in 1981 and changed the race date to October. The 15,000th entrant will jump into Kailua Bay on October 30th, 1993.

1994

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#FlashbackFriday This week for my look back at the IRONMAN World Championship, it’s the 1994 race, and we’re doing 3 parts. Part 1: Paula Newby-Fraser’s 7th win, a tough day for her with Karen Smyers threatening on the run. Here’s an excerpt from my 30 Years of the Ironman World Championship coffee table book…. Paula Newby-Fraser knows better than anyone that lava fields don’t offer even one ounce of forgiveness. Go too hard in one event and you pay in the next. Go easy on the bike and try to save energy for the run… and the sun, wind, and humidity drain it all away. “I don’t know why it was such a tough day, says Newby-Fraser. “I worked hard on the swim, and I had a terrific swim and bike ride. But I paid for it in the run.” “When I got out of town, I stopped at an aid station on the highway and had a talk with myself. ‘Come on, get it together,’ I said. ‘I’m having a hard day….everyone has a hard day.’” When she started running again, she never stopped. “It’s not fun to have someone like Karen Smyers coming up from behind,” she says. “With about four miles to go, I was seven minutes back,” remembers Smyers. “I passed both Scott Tinley and Pauli Kiuru during the run, and that made me realize that you never put this race in the bag. It keeps you humble. You always have to dig so deep.” Last year, Newby-Fraser came into the race undertrained in the run because of injuries and dug into her soul to get her sixth win. This year, Newby-Fraser had to reach inside herself once again to get win number seven. “I kept talking to myself,” she says. “Karen was catching me, but I didn’t think she was capable of making up that much time.” She wasn’t. Newby-Fraser held onto her almost-eight-minute cushion, talking to herself the whole way in. Asked about coming back in 1995 for win number eight, Newby-Fraser shook her head. “Mentally, I don’t know if I can make those kinds of sacrifices. I have to put so much of my life on hold for this race. I’d like to come back and do the race again, but I don’t know if I’ll make the same kind of commitment.” Photo by the great Lois Schwartz

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#FlashbackFriday This week for my look back at the IRONMAN World Championship, it’s the 1994 race, and we’re doing 3 parts. Part 2: Aussie Greg Welch’s Unforgettable Win During the first 17 Ironman Triathlon World Championship events, there were only seven male winners, with Dave Scott (6), Mark Allen (5), and Scott Tinley (2) winning multiple titles. All of those champions were Americans. In 1994 that all changed when Greg Welch from Australia became the first non-American to win the men’s race. Here’s an excerpt from my 30 Years of the Ironman World Championship coffee table book…. Greg Welch’s commitment to Ironman this year had been six solid months of race-specific training. And, after 2.4 miles of swimming in a blender, 112 miles cycling in a wind tunnel and 16 miles of running in a sauna, he discovered all that was only a precursor, an appetizer, a lowly warm up for the gut-check main course. Now, with 10 miles to go, in 95-degree heat, with the six-time winner of the Ironman practically flatting the backs of his racing shoes, Welch was being asked to ante up, to dig down to a place he had never been before. “I could feel him drawing in on me,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to get rid of this guy.’ Dave knows how to race this race. Forget that Dave Scott is 40. It doesn’t matter if he is 40 or 50. He looked awesome.” “When Dave got to within 12 seconds, I knew that I really had to dig,” says Welch. “I said, ‘If you don’t dig now, you never will. You can do anything you want to do.” After taking the right turn out of the lab, he finally allowed himself a quick glance back. He smiled and bounded to his toes. On his seventh try, just like Mark Allen, he knew his fantasy was coming true, and the biggest race in the triathlon galaxy was finally his. “I’ve measured it,” Welch admits. “After you come out of the Natural Energy Lab, it’s exactly 10.67 kilometers to the finish. I knew I could do that.” ▶️ Photos by the great Lois Schwartz

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#FlashbackFriday This week for my look back at the IRONMAN World Championship, it’s the 1994 race, and we’re doing 3 parts. Part 3: Dave Scott’s 2nd Place Finish Dave Scott was the Roger Bannister of the Ironman. In his first win back in 1980 he took nearly two hours off of the existing course record. He was the first person to go under 10 hours, under 9:30, under 9:00, and under 8:30. He was also the first to run the marathon in Kona under 3:00 hours, under 2:55, and under 2:50. During his eight starts during the 1980’s, he won six times and finished second twice. When he took second to Mark Allen in the 1989 Ironwar, ‘The Man’ went an astounding 8:10, took 18 minutes off of his existing course record, and ran 2:41 for the marathon. Unfortunately injuries kept him off the starting line for five years, until 1994. At that point in time, Dave Scott was a 40-year-old dad. In the past he was racing Mark Allen and Scott Tinley. This time he was going head-to-head with someone who never loses, some guy named Father Time. Early in the bike ride Dave Scott surprised everyone but himself by storming into the lead. Off the bike he kept Australia’s Greg Welch in sight and, heading into the Natural Energy Lab, he was only 11 seconds back. Welch was tougher that day and Dave Scott settled for his third second place finish, this time at the age of 40. If you ask Dave Scott today to name his favorite Ironman race, there is a good chance that 1994, even though he didn’t win that day, just might be at the top of the charts. Why? Because his boys, Ryan and Drew, were there to watch daddy race the toughest day in sport, and because he proved to himself and everyone else that in Kona, at the Ironman, even if he’s 40 years old it’s a mistake to ever count Dave Scott out. LISTEN to Dave discuss his 1994 race here: https://babbittville.com/dave-scott-breakfast-with-bob/ Photo by the great Lois Schwartz

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1995

Was it the most dramatic day of Ironman racing since Julie Moss and Kathleen McCartney in February of 1982? It just might have been. In 1995, Germany’s Thomas Hellriegel had a spectacular day and out-split Mark Allen, the five-time champion, on the bike by about 17 minutes, 4:29:37 to 4:46:35. Allen was so far behind he contemplated calling it a day as he ran past his condo. “I’ve won this race five times,” he said to himself, “and the condo is right there.” After taking 1994 off, he wondered if, at the age of 37, if he still had what it took to make up over 13 minutes on the young German in the marathon.

After calming his mind and simply putting one foot in front of the other, Allen put together one of the greatest come-from-behind wins in Ironman history by running a 2:42:09 marathon and catching Thomas Hellriegel with just a few miles left to go.

In his last-ever race at the Ironman World Championship, Mark Allen ended up putting together what he would look back on as an absolute perfect race.

Paula Newby-Fraser was on her way to a typical Queen of Kona Ironman World title: blow the field away on the bike and then cruise the marathon. But 1995 would prove to be different and it would prove to the triathlon world that even the world’s best can melt down on the world’s biggest stage.

Newby-Fraser felt the pressure from Karen Smyers and simply did not eat and drink enough during the marathon. With less than a half mile to go, Newby-Fraser proved that she was indeed mortal and she simply ran out of gas. Karen Smyers ran by her for the biggest win of her career while Newby-Fraser, the ultimate professional, eventually composed herself and ended up walking to the finish in fourth place. Her eighth title would have to wait.

Paula Newby-Fraser had won in Kona seven times. The year was 1995 and, as usual, she built up a huge lead during the bike ride and looked to be on her way to win number eight. But something interesting happened on her way to the finish on Ali’i Drive. Newby-Fraser panicked during the marathon and stopped taking in nutrition. With about a half mile to go, the wheels came off the Newby-Fraser Express and Karen Smyers ran by her for the win, as Newby-Fraser staggered and then collapsed. After getting some fluids in, she walked to the finish in fourth place.

The most decorated Ironman in history showed that she was mortal.

1996

So how do you come back from that? Easy. If you’re Paula Newby-Fraser you decide that you are tired of dominating the bike and going off the front. The bullseye was always on her back. Why not the other girls lead the race for a change? “I wanted to mix it up with the other girls,” she admitted.

During the latter part of the marathon, she was running with Iron Rookie Natascha Badmann. “I was enjoying myself,” said Newby-Fraser. “I knew that I was a good runner, so why not change things up a bit and try to win the race on the run rather than on the bike?” And that’s what happened. Newby-Fraser ended up winning her eighth and final title by flipping the script and ditching her tried and true win the race from the front formula.

“To be honest,” she insisted afterwards. “I didn’t care if I won today or not. Which is probably why I did.”

1996 was Paula Newby-Fraser’s 8th and final win.

LISTEN to the Babbittville Radio interview with Paula here

1996 marked a transition at the Ironman World Championships: from 1980 to 1996, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, or Paula Newby-Fraser were champions in all but three races (81, Feb 82, and 85). Luc, Thomas, Natascha, and others, were part of the next era of champions.

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 22, 2018

1997

#FlashbackFriday 1997
As we celebrate IRONMAN’s 40th anniversary, I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980. This week: 1997. For a storyteller, the 1997 race was a gold mine of incredible stories. I’ll feature a few throughout the day….

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

#FlashbackFriday 1997
After two awesome races in 1995 and 1996, that found Thomas Hellriegel finishing in second place, 1997 was the year he reached the top step, and became the first German to win the biggest race in our sport.
More here: https://t.co/ueBNehdWHn
📸Lois Schwartz pic.twitter.com/QtdHSNgVRF

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

#FlashbackFriday 1997
We called Heather Fuhr’s win in 1997 Passing of the Torch. Heather passed training partner and long-time friend Paula Newby-Fraser in the run. Despite trying to rally Paula, her day was done….and Heather went on to win the World Championship pic.twitter.com/fEkIEG5M6H

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

#FlashbackFriday 1997
After missing the bike cutoff time in 95 & 96, in 1997 John Maclean easily made all the cutoff times and proved that a paralyzed athlete could finish the toughest day in sports, and that anything and everything is possible at the Ironman World Championship pic.twitter.com/iMyP9Aa4ej

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

Aussie Chris Legh won north of 60 races in his career including Ironman California & Ironman Coeur d’Alene. But he is best known in Kona for collapsing within 50 yards of the finish line in 1997. Chris is shown here early on the run in 97
📸Lois Schwartz, 98 Ironman Race Program pic.twitter.com/IbLxfiS3mo

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

#FlashbackFriday
In 1997, the finish line drama also included what I called The Crawl Part 2 in our 2016 Kona Countdown…. pic.twitter.com/rQUMUG0ImE

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

#FlashbackFriday 1997
In a year filled with incredible stories, the 1997 Ironman had one of the most emotional stories ever…
Emily: the story of a very special little girl and the family that she never left 🦋https://t.co/d2rUFp0M5u

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) June 29, 2018

1998

1998 was a brutal wind year. How windy? 1996 champion Luc Van Lierde: “The easiest wind today was worse than the toughest wind in 1996.”
Natascha Badmann and Peter Reid were victorious over the conditions and over the field to each claim their first world titles, with more to come.

1998 was the 20th anniversary of the Ironman, and we featured a collage of classic images on the race program.

And at the awards banquet, race sponsor Isuzu presented the champions with a car for the year (and a really big key).

1999

In 1999, Canadian Lori Bowden became the first woman to run a sub-three-hour marathon at the Ironman World Championship, 2:59:16, and won her first of two world titles.
📷Lois Schwartz
2/5 pic.twitter.com/ONYNmtq0Am

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) July 13, 2018

In 1999, Belgian Luc Van Lierde won his second Ironman World Championship, with Peter Reid in 2nd, a switch in places from their finishes in 1998.
📷Lois Schwartz
3/5 pic.twitter.com/S0JVqXFmyp

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) July 13, 2018

From 1999
Out on the Queen K, an encouraging moment between (then) husband and wife, from one champion (Peter Reid) to another soon-to-be champion (Lori Bowden), captured by Robert Oliver.
4/5 pic.twitter.com/1DtSHZKocs

— Bob Babbitt (@Bob_Babbitt) July 13, 2018

Part 2: 1990 – 1999

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Part 1: 1980 – 1989

Part 3: 2000 – 2009

Part 4: 2010 – 2017

Part 2: 1990 – 1999

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Part 1: 1980 – 1989

Part 3: 2000 – 2009

Part 4: 2010 – 2017

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