Runnin’ with Rani: Remembering Ironman’s early years

Ahh, those were the days…

There are only a handful of athletes who can actually say that they were here when the first Ironman World Championships were held on the Big Island in 1981.

Many of our local stars today weren’t even born then, and a few who were, too young to fully comprehend the enormity of what it meant to have a world championship race in their own backyard.

While other Big Island athletes recall hearing about the event, at the time they lived on the mainland or elsewhere, too far for it to feel real, and too new for it to be realized as a “lifetime dream.”

But for a few, like Kona’s Sean “Peaman” Pagett, and Lavaman race director, Gerry Rott, reminiscing back to those first years felt more like it was yesterday — certainly not four decades ago.

This week I had the pleasure of catching up with both Peaman and Rott amidst an eruption of smiles and a few tears as they reflected on some of the lasting memories from Ironman’s early era.

Sean “Peaman” Pagett

Peaman was only 16 years old when he first read about this crazy new triathlon race called Ironman. At the time, Peaman spent most of his days before and after school swimming, surfing and hanging out with his friends down at the beach, until he came across the 1980 edition of Sports Illustrated.

“My first thoughts were, I want to do this!” the Kailua-Kona resident recalled after he read all the details about the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run that happened over in Oahu the two previous years.

Having three different endurance sports completed back-to-back, seemed intangible, almost impossible to wrap his head around yet it immediately roused an unmistakable desire, that one day, this would be his destiny.

The following year while on his way to go surfing, a friend giving him a ride asked if he wanted to hang out at the pier to watch this event called Ironman.

“I didn’t know it had come to Kona,” Peaman said. “It was February of 1981 and I was super stoked because I still thought it was in Oahu. So we sat on the seawall to watch it and it was at that very moment that I knew, I was hooked. It just looked like something so unique and so fun, and the combination of having to do three sports looked like a great challenge to do.

Peaman was determined to get himself to the start line and began training for months for his debut. But then he broke his femur a few months prior to the February 1982 race.

“I was bummed,” he said. “Since I couldn’t do the race in February, I trained and got ready for October. I was only 18 years old. It was an adventure of a lifetime and I remember that I was really slow. I think we had a 18-hour cut off and I did it in like 17 hours.”

Peaman laughed and remembered one of the first “sport drinks” they served at the aid stations was called ERG, along with his first Bianchi road bike.

“They would mix it in all different consistencies, so sometimes it would be too thick or too thin, mixed in trash cans with a broomstick and dirty hands,” he recalled. “And then they would refill dirty bottles that were thrown on the road, by dunking it back into the trash can. It would make you sick. So back then, basically everyone would throw up. It was just nasty.

“And back then, nothing was aero like it is now. The bikes weighed a ton and we all had shifters on the downtube. There were no triathlon bikes or aero bars.”

Peaman said that when race organizers moved the event to October, it was a smart decision based upon logistics and the waning tourism economy during that month of the year.

“October was dead,” he said. “So people who had businesses were so happy when Ironman came and that was one of the reasons why Ironman moved to October, during the slow season. It also helped the Europeans to have more time to train in better weather. When the event was in February, they would have to train during the winter months for a February race. So the main driving force was to boost the economy during the slow season.”

Since then, both equipment and nutrition have improved dramatically. Bikes and clothing are now designed for speed, and nutrition caters to just about everyone’s individualized tastes. But of the more significant changes Peaman has seen over the last four decades, is how the athletes and community embrace the Ironman World Championships in general.

“Back then, there were so much excitement around Ironman that you were really treated like a hero,” said the 4-time Ironman World Championship Finisher. “The cheering and effort put out by the volunteers and organizers, I mean everyone put out every ounce of energy they had to make this race. And I think that’s what built the foundation of Ironman – the contagious spirit of everyone on the outside of the race willing the athletes to keep going. People were really passionate about Ironman and the Aloha spirit was at an all time high during those first couple of years.

“I would say back then 99 percent of the community loved it, I mean you never heard a bad word about it. It felt like a real community event. There were so many repeat people. All the same people who competed during those first few years always returned. But no one really cared about their time, winning wasn’t important. It was always about finishing.

“It’s a little different now. The race has grown dramatically and athletes are more concerned with their times and overall placing. Now, the focus seems to be more individualized instead of everyone cheering and supporting each other as a whole.”

Gerry Rott

During the late 1970s, Gerry Rott said that her late husband, Nick, had a passion for cycling and together they opened Kona’s first bike store — B&L Bike and Sports.

Initially located in the Old Industrial area, the quaint bike shop catered to cyclists from near and far but was primarily frequented by local cyclists who were part of the Hawaii Cycling Club.

“The Hawaii Cycling Club was a very active group back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s,” Rott said. “I feel that they were a lot more active than they are now in terms of state cycling races. Nick, Bud Quitiquit, Dennis Haserot, Jeff McDevitt, and Roy Fagan — they raced in all the state races. They would hold the state race on the Big Island, and later, Dennis became the US Champion in the Time Trial for veterans over 40 years old.”

Upon hearing the news that the Ironman World Championship was relocating to Kona, Rott said that everyone was excited because they knew it would be a boost for cycling.

“I honestly didn’t know very much about it, it was more my husband, Nick,” Rott said. “Nick asked if I could get involved with Ironman because it was something very exciting for the bike shop and for all the guys who were cyclists here.”

Rott said that during Ironman’s first year in Kona in 1981, no one knew what to expect. She was in charge of an aid station but didn’t know how long she would be there. Ironman gave them supplies and instructions on what they were suppose to do. She and her crew ended up being there all night long with the last runner coming through at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

“Back then, there were no time cutoffs,” Rott said with a laugh. “I think his name was Walter Stack. He was an older gentleman and he was drinking beer and getting massages at all of the aid stations. But we knew we couldn’t leave until the last person was through. It was a couple of years later that they made a cut off time.”

Rott added that after it got some television coverage on the Wide World of Sports, it just snowballed from there — everyone wanted to be involved.

“Since we were the only bike shop, Nick would bring in mechanics from all over,” she said. “This was before Ironman had their big expos, as back then there were no expos, just a bunch of mechanics from HED wheels, Cannondale, and Trek doing a little expo in the back of our tiny bike shop. Crystal Nylin, who started Zoot, would make all of her clothes in the back room of B &L. It was a fun time.”

As the event grew and attracted more people to race “Kona,” Rott remembers the drastic changes in equipment. From the helmets, to what they wore, and even their bikes in the first years were so different. There wasn’t such a thing as a trisuit. Even with the nutrition, there were none. Rott recalled athletes eating real peanut butter sandwiches during a race.

“Then when they introduced prize money, obviously that brought more to the race,” Rott said. “When they broadcasted it on TV, then that brought some international attention. Then it just got bigger and bigger where they had to create qualifiers for the race, and then it just got more and more competitive. Higher quality of athletes were now interested. People used to be just a swimmer, biker or runner, and then with Ironman, they became all three.”

As for the future of Ironman, both Peaman and Rott hope that Ironman will always keep the world championships in Kona.

“It has grown at such an accelerated rate that I think it needs to catch up to itself a little,” Peaman said. “Instead of having it growing bigger and bigger every year, it just needs to settle into itself and it should remain in Kona.

“I would like to see the spirit and camaraderie between the athletes grow closer like the way it was in the beginning. Everyone was there for each other. Everyone cheered for one another. There were a lot of long-term friendships created out on the Ironman course. Now it’s become so individualized.”

“I hope that Ironman will keep Kona the way it is,” Rott said. “Kona has made Ironman what it is today, people want to come and it’s still the granddaddy of the sport. I also hope that they keep someone who is actively living in the community as the race director, like it always has been. It was Valerie Silk, then K. Reed, Debbie Baker, Steve Borowski, Sharon Ackles, then Diana Bertsch — all who have been involved in the race from early on. I hope they keep that going so that the community continues to support and feel for the event. They need someone who understands the community’s involvement with Ironman. I still feel that the community views Ironman as, ‘this is Kona’s proud day.’”