As the shadow of triathlon's history grows, we've noticed the platforms of nostalgia expanding in sync. One of the more fascinating effects of the sport's growth is the recent explosion of race coverage from the 80s and 90s uploaded to sites like YouTube and Vimeo. With a double click you can be sent back to the days of leather seats, leather hair-net helmets, and leather strapped pedals. Every week new clips exhumed from VHS, Beta, Super-8 and 16 mm film are digitized and published for our benefit. Listed below are a few of our favs. We look forward to hearing from our readers about the under-exposed and hidden nuggets. All we need is a link -- and perhaps a bit of commentary.
1. HERE is part 1 of 2 from FreeWheelin' Films independent coverage of the February 1982 Ironman in Kona. It's even better with the recent success of commentator, Bruce Dern.
2. Frank Day, one of the original 1978 Ironmen, interviews a fellow Original Ironman, Henry Forrest in a crowded Kona bar. This is classic stuff. Link is HERE
3. ABC Wide World of Sports sent a B-level team to cover the 1981 Ironman, the first one held in Kona, and this is what we got. Love the short shorts. Watch HERE
4. For several years in the late 80s the Ultraman was the toughest race on the planet and in this 1985 clip we see a young (mid 60s) Bill Bell just beginning to forge the heavy legend he'd become. Watch HERE
5. I love this clip because it illustrates a young and vibrant Marc Suprenant winning the 1984 CAPE COD ENDURANCE TRIATHLON, the first IM distance event on the Right Coast. Sadly, Marc has left us but we remember him for his vital smile and his embracing of all things fun.
6. If you haven't seen this JOHNNY CARSON INTERVIEW of 1979 Ironman winner, Tom Warren then you have missed a hilarious piece of journalism that says more about what triathlon was like in the mid 70s than we could say in a thousand pages. -- ST