Iron War

by Matt Fitzgerald

  Dave’s closest pursuers in the 1980 Ironman were his parents, Verne and Dot.

  “I keep the intensity high,” said Dave, shown here in 1984, of his training.

  Mark crushed the competition at the 1984 Las Vegas Triathlon.

  Mark found himself in the rarefied company of Scott Molina, Dale Basescu, and Scott Tinley in his first triathlon, USTS San Diego in 1982. Dave won the race; Mark finished fourth.

  Weight management was never Mark’s problem, as he showed during this break in a 1982 swim workout.

  Tom Warren, winner of Iron Man in 1979, apotheosized the new generation of endurance seekers.

  Mark posed with fellow elites Sylvaine Puntous, Scott Tinley, Julie Moss, Kurt Madden, Patricia Puntous, Ardis Bow, and Scott Molina in 1984.

  Dave, shown in 1984, was ahead of his time in his commitment to weight lifting.

  Mark, Scott Tinley, and Dave put their feet up together after a USTS race in 1985.

  Scott Molina liked to run . . . and drink beer.

  Scott Tinley looked ready to win before the 1985 Ironman, which Dave and Mark boycotted.

  Mark claimed his first win at San Diego’s Horny Toad Triathlon on August 8, 1982.

  Dave posed for the cover of Triathlon after winning his fourth Ironman in 1984.

  Before Mark owned a bike, and before Scott Tinley knew who Mark was, they competed against each other in a run–swim–run race hosted by Tom Warren and Tug’s Tavern in 1981.

  Mark and his Mona Lisa smile.

  Dave became the first two–time Ironman winner in October 1982.

  Mark exited the swim-bike transition of the October 1982 Ironman a minute behind Dave.

  Dave fell ten minutes behind Mark during the bike leg of the 1983 Nice Triathlon.

  Then Mark blacked out during the run. . . .

  Mark was left in a stupor, and he still hadn't fully recovered his legs by October at Ironman.

  Scott Tinley came up just thirty-three seconds short of catching Dave in the 1983 Ironman.

  Dave had a few more witnesses for his third Ironman win in 1983 than he’d had for his first in 1980.

  Dave erased a deficit of almost twelve minutes to pass Mark halfway through the marathon at the 1984 Ironman.

  Pat Feeney and Anna Scott were all smiles after Dave consummated his 1984 Ironman victory.

  By 1984 the Ironman start was already a spectacle like no other in sports.

  Dave watched Scott Tinley break his Ironman course record from this seat in 1985.

  As owner of the event, Valerie Silk, shown in 1984, shepherded Ironman from its origins as a cult sideshow to status as a first-class world championship.

  Mark felt that his victory in the 1986 Nice Triathlon came too easily. This feeling strengthened his desire to finally win Ironman.

  By the time he won the Nice Triathlon for the fifth time in 1986, Mark was a hero in France. (It didn’t hurt that he delivered half of his victory speech in French.)

  Dave snarled his way to his fifth win and another course record in the 1986 Ironman.

  The “curse of Pele” culminated in Mark’s suffering two flat tires in the 1988 Ironman.

  The premature cannon shot that started the 1989 Ironman caught many racers—most notably Dave Scott—off guard.

  Dave was accompanied by Rob Mackle, Mark, Mike Pigg, and Ken Glah (not pictured) through most of the bike leg.

  Dave and Mark climbed the tough hill leading out of the bike-run transition side by side.

  Mark claimed inside position at aid stations, forcing Dave to drop back for his drinks.

  Dave surged hard at the run turnaround (marked by the tall inflatable Bud Light can visible in the distance) with ten miles to go. By then a long caravan of spectators on wheels was following Dave and Mark.

  Mark’s brother Gary and father, Ken, seemed almost as happy as Mark after he won.

  Mark chased Greg Welch through the early miles of the 1992 Ironman, which Grip won in course-record time (8:09:08).

  Mark turned in a career-best Ironman bike split of 4:29:00 on his way to winning the 1993 Ironman.

  Dave expected to swim better than he did in the 1994 Ironman, despite being 40 years old and not having competed in the event since Iron War.

  In 1996, at age 42, Dave ran a 2:45:20 marathon to move up from twenty-sixth place at the bike-run transition to fifth at the finish line.

  Dave enjoyed a happy moment with sons Drew and Ryan and wife Anna after taking second place at Ironman in 1994.

  Mark took a year off from Ironman in 1994 to start a family with Julie Moss.

  Mark smiled the smile of a satisfied man after winning his sixth and final Ironman at age 37 in 1995.

  A high-tech Nike skin suit helped Mark stay close to defending champion Greg Welch in Grip’s 1995 Ironman swan song.

  Today Mark has a succesful online coaching business, and draws both fans and accomplished athletes to his in-person triathlon clinics.

  Shaman Brant Secunda has had a big effect on Mark’s life.

  When Dave talks Ironman, as he did in Kona before the 2008 race, people listen.

  Dave’s father, Verne, made his own mark on triathlon as the cofounder and leader of its first governing body. In 2009 Verne was inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.

  PHOTO CREDITS

  FIRST PHOTO SECTION

  1: Carol Hogan; 2: David Epperson; 3: Mike Plant; 4: Diane Johnson; 5: Mike Plant; 6: Mike Plant; 7: David Epperson; 8: Tracy Frankel; 9: Tracy Frankel; 10: Mike Plant; 11: Tracy Frankel; 12: Mike Plant; 13: Tracy Frankel; 14: Mike Plant

  SECOND PHOTO SECTION

  1: Mike Plant; 2: Mike Plant; 3: Tracy Frankel; 4: Mike Plant; 5: Mike Plant; 6: Mike Plant; 7: Tracy Frankel; 8: Mike Plant; 9: Tracy Frankel; 10: Tracy Frankel; 11: Tracy Frankel; 12: Tracy Frankel; 13: Tracy Frankel; 14: Tracy Frankel; 15: Tracy Frankel; 16: Mike Plant; 17: Tracy Frankel

  THIRD PHOTO SECTION

  1: David Epperson; 2: Tracy Frankel; 3: Tracy Frankel; 4: Tracy Frankel; 5: Rich Cruse; 6: Tracy Frankel; 7: Rich Cruse; 8: Rich Cruse; 9: Tracy Frankel; 10: Rich Cruse; 11: Timothy Carlson; 12: Tracy Frankel; 13: Tracy Frankel; 14: Rich Cruse; 15: Timothy Carlson; 16: Timothy Carlson; 17: Timothy Carlson; 18: Timothy Carlson

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The inspiration to write this book came from my father. Also a writer, Tom Fitzgerald started work in 2002 on an epic fable about Benjamin Franklin. At the outset, he anticipated that it would take him about a year to complete it. One year turned into two, two became three, four, and more, and still he was not satisfied. Tom held the manuscript close to his vest through this long incubation. Finally, after six years, he decided that Poor Richard’s Lament was ready to be shared with a small number of critical readers, among whom I was lucky to be included.

  I expected it to be good. I did not expect to discover that my own father had written one of the best novels I’d ever read (and I read a lot of them). I had known, of course, that he was a capable writer. I’d just had no idea he was capable of such unalloyed brilliance. Nor had he. The book showed me what is possible when a man of mortal gifts makes a total commitment to doing the very best he can. No sooner had I read the last page of Poor Richard’s Lament than I began to search for my own way of giving 100 percent.

  The debt of gratitude that I owe my dad for his contributions to this book begins with the mentoring he offered when I was 9 years old, after I told him I wanted to be a writer too, and does not end with his ardent championing of my most challenging project all the way to the printer more than thirty years later. But I am most grateful to him simply for achieving something great on his own and inspiring me to try to do the same.

  The first thing I did after deciding to write this book was to walk fifteen feet from my desk to Bob Babbitt’s office at the Competitor Group building in San Diego and ask for his help. Bob had given Iron War its name, after all, and had done more than anyone to build and sustain the legend of the greatest race ever run. He was the unofficial
curator of the Iron War Museum, if you will. An eyewitness to the race who was close enough to both of its heroes to have ghostwritten two books for one and served as an agent to the other, Bob knew more about the 1989 Ironman, Dave Scott, and Mark Allen than anyone, and infinitely more than I did. I would need him on my team to make my telling of the story all it could be.

  Bob provided invaluable help in the form of stories and memories; relationships and contacts; and cold, hard documentation of the race, the rivalry, and the lives of the rivals. Beyond that, working with Bob made the project immeasurably more fun and fulfilling for me than it otherwise would have been.

  Iron War is unlike anything else I’ve written. Put another way, I had no idea how to write this kind of book when I started it, and my unpreparedness showed in my early drafts. Every writer needs a good editor, but I needed a great editor to avoid disappointing myself, and I was extremely fortunate to have such an editor in Renee Jardine at VeloPress. It would have taken years of fumbling along on my own to get the manuscript to where Renee quickly brought it with her incisive critical readings and spot-on suggestions. What’s more, although her name does not appear on the cover, Renee dedicated herself to the book as fully as if it were her own. As a result, it is very much hers too.

  Nearly every person whose name is to be found in this volume granted me one or more personal interviews. I am profoundly grateful to all of these men and women for so generously sharing their time and recollections. Scott Molina, Julie Moss, Mike Plant, Anna Scott, and Dave Scott deserve special mention. Others whose names are not seen in these pages made contributions that were no less valuable and are no less appreciated. I am especially thankful to Ted Costantino, Jaime Gamboa, Steve Gintowt, Linda Konner, Connie Oehring, and Dave Trendler for their efforts and support.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  As a boy in New Hampshire MATT FITZGERALD watched ABC’s coverage of Ironman every year throughout the 1980s. He was already a competitive runner, having started at age 11 after running the last mile of the 1983 Boston Marathon with his father (who of course had run the whole thing). Partial to underdogs, Matt rooted for Mark Allen.

  In 1995, Matt was hired as an editor at Sausalito, California–based Multisport magazine by Bill Katovsky, who twelve years earlier had founded Triathlete magazine. Bill chose Matt over the only other candidate for the position because Matt knew who Dave Scott was, and the other candidate did not. Several months later Matt met Mark Allen at the Competitor Sports Awards in San Diego, where Mark was named Triathlete of the Year. Matt gushed like a schoolgirl in the presence of his childhood idol.

  Matt’s first contact with Dave Scott was equally awkward. He was working at Triathlete in 1998 when he carelessly described Dave as a “five-time Ironman champion” in an article. Dave later called Matt and gently corrected his error.

  In 2003 Matt’s first book, a triathlon training guide, was published. Mark Allen contributed the foreword. By then Matt also had a professional relationship with Dave Scott, who was sponsored by a sports nutrition company that Matt served as a consultant. Matt enjoyed the opportunity to ask Dave every question he’d ever dreamed of asking him as the two of them killed time in a few trade-show booths. It was this experience, which left him as great an admirer of the Man as he’d ever been of Grip, that gave Matt the idea to write the story of Dave Scott and Mark Allen’s greatest race.

  Matt currently lives in San Diego with his wife, Nataki, whom he admires most of all.