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The Ironman Triathlon began in 1978 after a naval commander named John Collins (stationed in Hawaii) got in a hot argument over which athletes were in the best condition: runners or swimmers.

Collins was a runner and a swimmer but had been reading about the Tour de France bike race and decided that cyclists were in the best condition of all so he issued a challenge that he felt would settle the argument.

His challenge was a race that combined the Wakiki Rough Water Swim (local race), a bike race around the entire island of Oahu, and the Honolulu Marathon and the winner would be declared the Ironman.

In the first competition in February 1978 only 15 people entered and only 12 crossed the finish line, including John Collins. The winner of the first Ironman Triathlon was Gordon Haller, an amateur athlete and taxi cab driver. His winning time was 11 hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds.

In 1981 the event moved from the island of Oahu to Kona on the western side of Hawaii. Instead of battling traffic, the contestants now battled crosswinds and scorching temperatures as they ran 26.2 miles, biked 112 miles and swam 2.4 miles.

But sport didn't really take off until it started to broadcast on television. In 1982 viewers were shocked, stunned and horrified to watch the women's race leader, Julie Moss, collapse from exhaustion and dehydration a few metres from the finish line. Another competitor passed her but it was that Julie Moss would not give up and crawled the last few metres on her hands and knees.

This inspired athletes everywhere and triggered a boom in popularity in the Triathlon event, proving that just finishing (and not winning) was a great accomplishment of its own. This was followed by the setting up of several similar events worldwide.

The water leg of the triathlon.

In Rhodes

Two clubs exist in Rhodes who organise training camps for the Greek National team as well as the local competitions.

The Triathlon will be held in the Aegean sea on the west side of Rhodes and the circuits for cycling and running have been designed in and around the town centre of Rhodes.