Triathlon is an athletic competition that includes three disciplines:
swimming, cycling and running.

Events in early 20th-century France are considered the beginnings of triathlon. The earliest record dates from 1901 when the event “Les trois sports” (Three sports) was held in Joinville-le-Pont, Val-de-Marne, and consisted of a running, bicycle and canoe segment.

In time, the canoe segment was replaced by swimming, and for the event in Joinville-le-Pont on June 19, 1921, the newspaper L’Auto stated that the race consisted of 3 km of running, 12 km of cycling and swimming across the Marne, all consecutively and without rest.

During the 1920s, similar events occurred in other cities in France: the “Course des Trois Sports” in Marseilles and the “La Course des Débrouillards” in Poissy. These events continue to slowly spread and grow in popularity. An interesting event “Les Trois Sports” took place in 1934 in the city of La Rochelle, and consisted of swimming across the canal (200 m), cycling around the port of La Rochelle (10 km), and running at the stadium André-Barbeau (1, 2 km).

How did Johnstone and Shanahan come up with the idea of ​​a triathlon?

Jogging as a form of recreation in the 70s in America is experiencing great popularity and expansion. Despite being a member of the university swimming teams in 1957, Johnstone was a mediocre runner. In 1973, he participated in his birthday biathlon – a kind of aquathlon – by his colleague Dave Pain (4.5 miles of running and ¼ miles of swimming).

The following year, after a second participation and placement among the top 10 competitors, Johnstone wanted to organize a race like this himself and asked Bill Stock, president of his San Diego Track Club, to add the race to the club schedule. Bill Stock referred Jack to Don Shanahan, who also had similar “weird” races in mind, and suggested that they make a joint project so that there weren’t too many weird races on the calendar. Jack called Don who suggested he include a bike section as well (because there were already similar run-swim races in town). Jack Johnstone wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea because he didn’t even have a bike, but he agreed.

When naming the event, the pair used an unofficially agreed naming system for a multi-sport event, using the Greek triassic number for the event number (three) and the Greek athlos suffix for the competition, hence the event called the Mission Bay Triathlon.

The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the 1977 Oʻahu Perimeter Relay awards ceremony. Participants included representatives of both mid-Pacific runners and the Waikiki Swimming Club, whose members have long debated which athletes are more willing, runners or swimmers.

On that occasion, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins noted that a recent article in Sports Illustrated magazine reported that Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx had the highest recorded “oxygen intake” of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more prepared than anyone.

Collins and his wife Judy Collins participated in triathlons organized by the San Diego Track Club in California in 1974 and 1975, so Collins suggested that the debate be resolved by a race that combines three existing long distance races already on the island:

• The Waikiki Roughwater Swim – swimming in the open sea at Waikiki Beach (2.4 miles or 3.86 km),

• the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles or 185 km; originally a two-day event) and

• Honolulu Marathon (26,219 miles or 42,195 km).

and in a practical way they solve the question of who is the most prepared athlete: a swimmer, runner or cyclist, and whoever passes the finish line first I will call him a man of steel – IRONMAN.

Before the race, each athlete was given three sheets of paper with a few rules and a description of the track. On the last page, this incentive is handwritten: “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life” – Brag for the rest of your life! – today’s trademark of the race!

The competition was held on February 18, 1978 (at 7:00 am) which is the beginning of the first modern length triathlon – the Ironman triathlon. This is the most respected triathlon competition since the Olympics.

Organizing the race cost John Collins $ 25, so he agreed to organize the race the following year as well. As early as the following year, 50 participants registered, but due to bad weather conditions, only 15 competitors took part. That 1979, Tom Warren won by improving Gordon Haller’s score by more than 30 minutes (11:15:46). Among them appeared the first woman – Lyn Lemaire as the first Ironwoman – 6th overall with a time of 12:55:38.

Great credit for promoting the race goes to Barry McDermott, a Sports Illustrated journalist who followed the golf competition and read the news of the race in a local newspaper. He looked for John Collins and while driving in the car he watched the whole race and wrote an article. His article prompted the ABC leadership to contact Collins and make a report that would intrigue the crowd and mass the race.

Just as the race begins to grow into something big John Collins is moved from Hawaii and leaves the race to the Silk couple who run a local fitness club. After the divorce, Valerie Silk gets the right to organize the race. Valerie decides to move the race from tame Oahu Island to the lava-ravaged Big Island in 1981, where winds coming from Mauna Kea volcano reach speeds of up to 80 km / h, and the air temperature through the lava fields through which the marathon runs can be as high as 50 ° C. . In 1982, the race date was moved from February to October; as a result of this change two Ironman Triathlons took place that year.

Thanks to the miraculous power of Ironman television on Big Island, it became planetarily popular (1,000 participants were already competing that year) and grew into the Ironman Triathlon World Championships. So, due to the great interest of athletes from all over the world, a number of qualifying races are being introduced on all continents.

The number of athletes trying to qualify each year has climbed in recent years to 50,000 competitors of all ages (18 to 80).

In 1990, James P. Gills bought the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation, owner of the Ironman brand from Silk. With the Ironman brand, Gills founded the World Triathlon Corporation.

Dejan Patrčević
(born 02.11.1975; nickname: Anakin)

He is the first Croatian professional triathlete with significant successes in the ITU World Triathlon Cup and Ironman. He is also the first Croatian licensed ironman trainer (licensed by Ironman U University). He is the founder and trainer of Adriatic Coaching. He is a graduated architect by profession.

2004 first Croatian ITU ranked triathlete (top 20 at the ITU World Cup – 19 after the cup in Rio de Janeiro)

In 2008, Dejan Patrčević placed 23rd at the Ironman World Championships, which is the best result a Croatian has achieved at the Ironman World Championships. That year, Dejan was 11th European in the standings at the World Cup.

2011. Dejan Patrčević set the Croatian Ironman record 8:12:18 h (KMD Challange, Copenhangen)

2016 – It is worth noting that Patrčević won the road race Wings for Life World Run in Zadar by running a distance of 56 km

Željka Šaban Miličić

Željka started training triathlon in 2005, and finished her first Ironman race in 2009 (Ironman Austria). She is the first Croatian to do Ironman in less than 12 hours.

10/06/2019 set the Croatian record in Ironman 9: 19h (Ironman Barcelona).

In 2016 she was the winner of the Wings for life Zadar race.

Željka Šaban is a former swimmer. She is a professor of kinesiology by profession. Currently employed as a trainer at the Swibir Triathlon Club.

Andrej Vištica
(born 31.05.1983. in Ljubuški).

Triathlon competitor since 2006, and professionally since 2014. He is a multiple Croatian champion in medium-length triathlon. He holds a degree in electrical engineering and computer science.

Significant results:
1st place European Long Triathlon Championship (Ironman distance), 2013, Vichy, France
1st place Embrunman, France 2015 (one of the toughest triathlons in the world)
1st place Challenge Vichy, France 2014
2nd place Ironman Wales, Tenby 2015
2nd place Embrunman 2016, 2017, 2019
3rd place Ironman UK, Bolton 2016
3rd place Ironman Italy, Cervia 2017
3rd place Ironman Italy 2017
3rd place Embrunman 2020

At the World Ironman Championships held in Kona, Hawaii, USA in 2016, Andrej took 36th place in a competition of 2,316 competitors.