Yesterday I recorded a podcast about the French Grand Prix. I presented the history of the competition, the format and this season’s races. 

I also spoke about the year I spent racing the Grand Prix for a team in the east of France. GT Vesoul 70. This was 1996.

But I also raced in the second Division with Rouen Triathlon. In this episode I go through that season and have a fun chat with John Newsom from the IMTalk Podcast about the two years he spent racing in France.

The French Grand Prix is the French national triathlon series for teams. Traditionally there are five rounds during a season and sixteen male and sixteen female teams field five athletes each. 

The three highest finishers in each team score cross country-style points. So. One point for first, two for second, three for third etc. 

Therefore the team with the lowest total wins. And it really is all about the team. Since 2002 there hasn’t been an individual classification.

Today I will take you through the history of the event. And talk a bit about the season I raced in the Grand Prix for GT Vesoul 70.

The Heineken Southport Triathlon took place on 18th June 1989 and highlights of the race were shown the following week on BBC Grandstand. It was the first British Triathlon shown on television. 220 Magazine called the event, “a truly historic day in British Triathlon.” 

Although I’d read plenty of triathlon magazines, watching the Southport race was the first time I’d actually seen top athletes in motion. I also recorded the race using the family Betamax. And made sure to push out the tab on the underside of the cassette so nobody could record over it.

Most weekends after that would involve getting home from my Saturday job at Thompson’s Garage and MOT Centre, watching the tape and then heading out on my bike to recreate the day in Burnham Beeches or Windsor Great Park. 

In this episode of The Streak Podcast I look back at the 1988 event, explain some controversy from 1989 and then present my favourite parts of the BBC Grandstand coverage and encourage you to watch it.

In June 1993 the 2 day Trophee SNCF was organised as a kind of proof of concept for sponsors, the federation, the athletes; and towns that might consider hosting a stage of a future France Iron Tour.

The triathlon press presented the organisational problems but also the successes. I went through all of that in episode 7. But the overriding hope was that the race would be back (and longer)in 1994.

Well spoiler alert. It was.

On 31st August 1994 eleven teams of six men toed the line in Vichy to race four times in five days. Scott Molina was there and collaborated with me on this episode to help tell the story of the race.

The France Iron Tour was a triathlon stage race organised between 1994 and 1998. And then a few times in the 2000s. I’m going to look at the race year by year up to 1997. But today I’m covering the 1993 version.

This two-stage event was organised as a kind of proof of concept for sponsors, municipalities, the federation and the athletes. There was a Team Time Trial in downtown Grenoble on Day 1 and a Middle Distance race on Day 2 that finished at the top of L’Alpe d’Huez.

Although the 1993 edition had some organisational problems; the athletes were excited about the future of the format and eager to come back the following year to take part in an event over more days.

Today I’m going to talk about a  piece of equipment that was super-important to me in the 1980s. The Timex Triathlon watch. I remember buying my first one from Argos in Slough. Maybe in 1985 or 1986. 

It really was a technological leap forward at the time. You could store lap times and the buttons were easy to see and press. Features you only previously got on classic hand-held stopwatches.

So here’s a bit more about the history of the device and my plans to go back to using one with a pen and paper training diary in 2022.

I started buying Tri-Athlete UK in July 1988. Then early editions of 220 Magazine and British Triathlon Scene. On a family holiday to Florida in 1989 I even picked up a few copies of the US version of Triathlete.

I recently bought some more vintage triathlon magazines on eBay. From a person involved in the triathlon media and equipment imports in the 1980s. So I started researching the early UK triathlon magazines.

This post is just a gathering of my resources rather than an in-depth historical study. But I hope it sets the scene. Starting in 1983 with the emergence of the first two triathlon titles in the USA.

In 1988 I started buying Tri-Athlete UK magazine to follow the Le Coq Sportif Grand Prix Series. There were 10 events that year. The venues were Swindon, Barry Island, Otley, Ripon, Milton Keynes, Redbridge, Keswick, Wakefield, Leicester and Bedford. 

For the 1989 season the series was sponsored by Carlsberg. I also had club-mates at Berkshire Tri Squad who were driving up and down the country to do as many Grand Prix races as possible. Finding cheap B&Bs or camping at lake complexes and beach towns. 

They wore fluorescent clothing and had the new Scott DH aerodynamic handlebars bolted onto their Dave Russell Bikes. As far as I was concerned they were living the late-80s triathlete lifestyle that I aspired to.

In the spring of 1990 I passed my driving test and bought my first car. A Skoda Estelle. The engine was at the back which left a bike-shaped space under the bonnet.  I was planning to do a mediocre job with my A-Levels to take on the Grand Prix.

In 1987 The Scott DH handlebar became the first aero-bar to achieve popularity in triathlon. The improved aerodynamic advantage from the hands-forward position instantly took minutes from your bike split.

So in early-2021 I bought 4 sets on eBay. Long story. Then I started to trace the history of the bars and how they first made their way to triple-effort start lines in the USA and the UK. 

Thank you to Brad Kearns, Phil Gable and Scott Molina for your help with this episode.