Remembering Valerie Silk

When Valerie Silk’s husband Hank decided to have their Nautilus Fitness Center sponsor the Ironman Triathlon on the island of Oahu, she thought he was certifiably crazy. In 1978 and 1979 the event only had 15 starters and 12 finishers. Even though the event would now be called the Nautilus Triathlon and the entry numbers had soared to 108 for 1980, who the hell cared about an event that showcased 140.6 miles of swim, bike and run nonsense?

But Valerie was a quick study and even though she had no interest in swim, bike, and run, she certainly was great at organization and making things better.

Val took on the Ironman full-time after that 1980 race and made it her own. The first thing she needed to do was to get the event off of Oahu so they could actually block off roads, create aid stations, and eliminate the need for support crews. She moved the event to the Big Island, surrounded herself with people who actually understood the sport and then proceeded to make the Ironman into one of the best endurance sports properties on the planet.

Val was great because she knew what she didn’t know. When they were first designing the Ironman bike ride for Kona, she thought the Queen Highway was pretty dull and felt that the athletes would enjoy heading south towards the Volcano much more than riding north towards Hawi. People on the island who understood cycling insisted that heading towards the Volcano with tons of climbing and narrow roads would make the 112 mile ride take forever and would be dangerous. Val deferred to the folks who actually spent time riding their bikes and were the experts. She knew that definitely wasn’t her.

Val joined me on Competitor Radio to chat about her career and especially about the February 1982 race. ABC Wide World of Sports was filming that day and they were upset that she had also given permission to a group called Freewheelin’ Films to shoot that day as well. As Julie Moss crawled towards the finish line on Ali’i Drive after being passed by Kathleen McCartney in the most dramatic finish in Ironman history, Valerie was being yelled at by the producer of the ABC show who vowed ABC would never cover the event again because she had violated their contract by allowing Freewheelin’ to film. Valerie had missed seeing Julie’s crawl and left the production trailer feeling that the Ironman was done and that ABC was out.

But the opposite happened. The footage of Julie’s crawl made the ABC show great that year and the Ironman ended up staging a second event in 1982, this time in October, which was a way better time of the year for people in other parts of the world to train for the toughest one day event in sport. The event and the sport took off after that.

But as the event grew, Val kept the feeling of Ohana – family – that is still there today. If you raced in the 1980’s you received your lei at the finish line from Val. When your birthday rolled around, you knew you would receive a personalized birthday card from Val. She never, ever forgot. Yes, the Ironman was now big business, but to Val it was also still incredibly personal. That part never changed.

Sponsors from Nike to Timex to Exceed lined up to support her vision of what the Ironman should be and could be. She did not believe in prize money for the pros at first, but by 1986 she realized that, to be relevant, the Ironman needed to have prize money. When she was able to secure $100,000 for that first prize purse, she insisted that it be equal for men and women, which was unique at that time.

Val loved our sport, loved our athletes and loved the Ironman brand that she did so much to enhance. We lost her on Sunday September 7^th, ironically one week before the men’s Ironman World Championship in Nice.

If you are a triathlete like me, can you do me a favor and maybe think of her for a minute or two during your next workout? We all owe a debt of gratitude to this amazing woman who did so much for so many and helped to make the Ironman what it is today.

Valerie was the one who asked me to speak at the Thursday night Carbo party way back in 1984, three years before we launched Competitor Magazine. She saw something in me that I probably did not see in myself.

Val… Thank you for taking on that strange, weird, nutty event back in 1980 and putting your heart and soul into making it great. You will never be forgotten.