Combining three tests of endurance into one

By Katherine Nichols
Advertiser Staff Writer

The idea for an Ironman was born over a few beers.

In 1977, Navy Cmdr. John Collins gathered with family and friends at an awards party after the O'ahu Perimeter Relay.

Over a round of Primo, the Collinses debated with friends about which athletes are most fit: swimmers, runners or cyclists.

Later, Collins, who already had competed in several triathlons (shorter distances) in San Diego before the Navy transferred him to Honolulu, grabbed the microphone and announced he would organize a race that combined the Waikiki Roughwater swim, the around-the-Island bike ride and the Honolulu Marathon.

Whoever finished first, his son Michael Collins recalled his father saying, "We'll call him the Ironman."

Michael, a 1980 Radford High School graduate, helped his father that first year by coordinating the finish: It amounted to little more than Michael and his friend sitting in a car at Kapi'olani Park late into the night waiting for people to cross the Honolulu Marathon finish line.

When they did, Michael would lean out and say: "Yo, you in the race? I think you're done."

Twelve people finished. The next year, 16-year-old Michael completed the race in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

"As I was shuffling through the expensive neighborhoods in Kahala ... I remember seeing the paper boy ... it occurred to me then that the newspaper they were delivering contained the results of the race I hadn't yet finished," Michael Collins, a 39-year-old database programmer for the Department of Justice, said in a telephone interview from Salem, Ore.

"I've often had it in my mind that I would return to Hawai'i and do this thing right," he said. "I'd love to finish it in daylight."

The Ironman triathlon moved to the Big Island in 1981 to alleviate traffic issues and allow the race to grow. And it has.

Last year's Ironman in Kona drew 20,000 competitors and spectators, and generated an estimated $14.9 million for the Big Island economy, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The finish line alone is now a 700-person operation (excluding a medical staff of 150), with more than 7,000 volunteers for the entire race.