Cyclists, Runners, or Swimmers: Who is the better athlete?

Although the first triathlon was in 1974, the first Ironman triathlon was in Hawaii in 1978.

The idea for the original Ironman Triathlon arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Running Relay. The participants were runners and swimmers, whose members had long been debating which athletes were more fit, runners or swimmers.

On this occasion, US Navy Commander John Collins pointed out that a recent article in Sports Illustrated magazine had declared that Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded "oxygen uptake" of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more fit than anyone.

CDR Collins suggested that the debate should be settled through a race combining the three existing long-distance competitions already on the island: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi.), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi.; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 mi.).

Collins said, "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Of the fifteen men to start, twelve completed the race. Gordon Haller was the first to earn the title Ironman by completing the course in under 12 hours.

Gordon was a runner. The debate is over.

Or not. John Dunbar, a Navy Seal and all-around athlete, had a chance to win, but he ran out of water during the run and his crew gave him beer instead.