[speedskater]

Apropos "echt".
Echte Typen wie UltraJoe
und echte Rennen wie Ultraman
samt seinen aussergewöhnlichen Regeln u. Distanzen
mit Anpassung an die Natur
gefallen mir.

Mit besonderen Distanzen,
speziellem Spirit,
grosser Experimentierfreude,
Abenteuerflair,
und Kameradschaftsgedanken (ohana beim UM)
hat unser Sport mal angefangen.

In den Anfängen gab es in D nur sehr wenige Trias.
Selbst ein paar Jahre später (1987-1990) gab es dadurch bei den seltenen Begegnungen
im Regelfall automatisch ein Kameradschaftgefühl mit sehr viel Hilfestellung und Interesse aneinander.
(Anm.: Da hat sich eine Menge zum Negativen geändert.....)

In diesem Zusammenhang ist auch zu erklären,
dass wir Outdoorsportler nach meinen persönlichen Erfahrungen
unter den Mono-Schwimmern, -Läufern, -Radfahrern
als Exoten und Outlaws angesehen wurden.
Wie einige sich erinnern dürften, hiessen Langstreckenläufer früher deshalb häufig Yetis...., äh Waldläufer
(Sie mieden den harten Asphalt, waren wenige und Wettkämpfe in der Stadt gab es kaum).
Zumal es in D. ja auch fast keine speziellen Vereine u. Medien u.ä. zu unserem Sport gab.

Dan Empfield schreibt folgenden lesenswerten
und auf die Distanzen u. Gegenden bezogenen Beitrag
über "subversive Tris" auf Slowtwitch.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Su..._Tri_5573.html

IMHO der bemerkenswerteste und auch bildende Abschnitt ist dieser:

"As with the original (Greek) marathon, the distances of the Hawaiian Ironman's swim and bike weren't divinely, but geographically, inspired. The 2.4-mile swim leg is the distance from one end of Waikiki Beach to the other; 112 miles is the distance around the island of Oahu (by bike).

Once the race moved from Oahu to the Big Island in 1981 we were in a new multisport reality where, like the modern marathon, the geography a place granted you (Kona) was subordinated to the geography of some other place (Honolulu) when designing a course and a race.

From 1981 forward triathlon has followed one primary track: ever-increasing conformity to distances and disciplines that are not in any way relevant to the geography in which these races take place. I'm not complaining, just noting. I don't mind this, but what I regret is that the spirit of Ironman – the reason it was first conceived and raced – is not always obvious. Ironman was subversive 35 years ago. Is it still?

....

The Hawaiian Ironman appealed to me when I first heard of it. Triathlon wasn't a sport yet, really. There were other 3-event races but not many were called triathlons. In California there was The Sierra Mountain Race; Eppie's Great Race; The Human Race. Attaching the word triathlon to a multisport race or calling a race <i>something</i>-man was atypical between 1974 and 1980.

The lack back then of a coherent, recognizable sport was a gift I have only recently begun to appreciate.

As with the original (Greek) marathon, the distances of the Hawaiian Ironman's swim and bike weren't divinely, but geographically, inspired. The 2.4-mile swim leg is the distance from one end of Waikiki Beach to the other; 112 miles is the distance around the island of Oahu (by bike). Once the race moved from Oahu to the Big Island in 1981 we were in a new multisport reality where, like the modern marathon, the geography a place granted you (Kona) was subordinated to the geography of some other place (Honolulu) when designing a course and a race.

From 1981 forward triathlon has followed one primary track: ever-increasing conformity to distances and disciplines that are not in any way relevant to the geography in which these races take place. I'm not complaining, just noting. I don't mind this, but what I regret is that the spirit of Ironman – the reason it was first conceived and raced – is not always obvious. Ironman was subversive 35 years ago. Is it still?]

What makes a race subversive? The refusal to play by the rules of mainstream sport. Ironman was subversive in 1980 because it was spectacularly outrageous, and neither the governing bodies of swim, bike nor run could exert any governance pressure on it.

What else? Our early races were produced out of passion, not for money. Now that is subversive. The Wildflower Triathlon had 83 participants its first year. Most of the races begun between 1980 and 1983 needed to be produced; obvious courses provided by Nature were turned into social celebrations of pain and achievement because the geography demanded it. The Idea many of us brought home once we competed in early editions of the Hawaiian Ironman wasn't to reproduce the distance, but to convey to those in our hometowns the spirit.

I raced Ironman in February of 1981 and promptly produced my first triathlon in September of 1981. Our races didn't conform to distances. There were no distances to conform to. That which would become the Olympic distance was not yet established.

What are the subversive races today? Those produced out of passion, and that do not obey convention. Savageman, Ötillo, American Triple-T and, chief among them, Norseman and it's highly subversive set of values: True, Basic and Unique. Nothing Norseman does is logical. None of it makes any financial sense. It is simply beautiful. And it's spreading."