Craigavon 1982: The First Triathlon in Ireland

By Tony Bagnall

When I wrote my book entitled The Irish Triathlete I didn’t have any information on the initial triathlon in Britain and Ireland – apart from knowing the first three male winners.

But I have that information now.

The Craigavon Triathlon was the first in Ireland and before then there were also no triathlons in England, Scotland or Wales either.

The first triathlon took place in Craigavon (between Portadown and Lurgan) on September 25, 1982 and recently Fraser Buchanan, who was tenth in the event, kindly sent me the programme and results.

It made interesting reading. The maximum entry was 200 and that was the number who registered. But on the day only 143 started. And of those, seven failed to make the finish line.

Entries rolled in from all over Northern Ireland – from Belfast, Lisburn, Omagh, Newtownabbey, Downpatrick, Derry/Londonderry, Ballyclare, Banbridge, Moneymore, Carrickfergus, Limavady, Magherafelt, Bangor, Enniskillen, Ballymena and Armagh … plus there was even an entry from Limerick – Liam Bohan, from the Kings Hospital, Swimming Club.

Bizarre Distances

The majority of the competitors though came from Craigavon which was scarcely surprising. But what was surprising, was there wasn’t a single entry from Newry, later to become a hotbed of the sport.

I knew the distances of that first triathlon were bizarre but until I read the programme I wasn’t sure just how it worked. It was quite complicated. In that triathlon there was one run, two swims and two bike rides.

Brownlow Leisure Centre was to be the start and finish. There were four starts with 30 minutes between each. So in effect the first four had actually crossed the finish line before the last group had even begun their race.

These new sportspeople, called triathletes, began the race with a five-mile run from Brownlow to Portadown Swimming Pool where they picked up their swimming gear at the ‘Recorder’s desk’ before doing 24 lengths of a 33-metre pool (half mile swim).

After the swim it was outside to their bikes. And it stated emphatically on the race instructions that bells or horns must be fitted to those bikes. Furthermore, for some participants it was even more complicated as it also said on the instructions that bikes should be immobilised with a padlock and chain!

Also the competitors needed to take with them their swim-caps and goggles. I would say quite a few never removed their swim-cap as then cycling helmets were not used at all. And most competitors probably rode their bikes with their swim goggles around their necks.

Anyway it was then a seven-mile bike ride to Lurgan Swimming Pool where the triathletes had another 24 lengths of a 33-metre pool to complete.

After that it was a short two-mile ride to Brownlow Centre … and the finish line.

Craigavon’s Cyril Norton was the race director but he was advised by Con O’Callaghan, who at the time was employed in Northern Ireland’s House of Sport.

Incidentally for the first few years of the sport all triathlons in the north of Ireland were organised by district councils, with the House of Sport and Con O’Callaghan supplying the know-how.

Indeed Wee Con, as he was known to almost everyone, was the man who did most to get triathlon up and running in Ireland and he also played a big part in bringing triathlon to Europe as he was voted in as Chairman of the European Triathlon Union.

In 2019 he was also voted into the Triathlon Ireland Hall of Fame.

Heaney and Sloan Win

But back to Craigavon. That day 17-year-old Tom Heaney, who was to become one of the top triathletes in the nation, won the event in 1.28.55 … but he had just a single second to spare over the second-placed Noel Munnis with Mervyn Betts (from the Bangor Swimming Club) a close third, a mere seven seconds adrift. Interestingly the top three were all swimmers.

Tom recollected: “One evening I was in the changing rooms of Bangor Swimming Club and I heard these guys talking about this new event called triathlon, that involved swimming, cycling and running. I kinda knew I would be ok at it because I was swimming competitively, I was running a lot and I was cycling with a really good cyclist. The event was tailor-made for me. So I did the race and was lucky enough to win it.”

That Craigavon race had many people who never did another triathlon but there were quite a few who became household names in the sport.

For instance, Desi McHenry, an Irish Triathlon Hall of Fame recipient, and who was still racing around the world before lockdown, was fourth. He and Tom Heaney were to become fierce rivals and in fact in the Ulster Championship in 1983 the pair shared the title.

Con O’Callaghan, as well as helping to organise the event, was one of the oldest to compete and he won his O45 age-group.

In those early eighties’ days women generally didn’t take part in sport but strangely there were 24 who did the Craigavon race.

The winner that day, and a ladies’ champion for quite a few years after that, was Diane Sloan (now Mulvenna) who was timed at 1.40.10. The Bangor lady was an international swimmer and and a hot-shot cyclist so the sport was made for her. Diane finished 13^th overall.

Speaking to her lately, Diane remembered the event. She told me someone advised her to do it. She borrowed her brother Leonard’s bike (he was a top Ulster cyclist) and she said (modestly) that one of the reasons she won was because she had better gear than most of her competitors. She recalled that many of her rivals had bicycles with straight handlebars and there were even some who had bikes with baskets on the front.

Diane also remembers Tom Heaney and herself being interviewed by Downtown Radio.

Jacqueline McEntyre, a Bangor swimming clubmate of Diane’s, was just over one and a half minutes adrift in second place. But I don’t remember her doing any other triathlons.

However, I do remember that the third woman, Sheila Orr (1.44.48), a Portadown hockey player, did do quite a few triathlons in later years.

On the other hand Kilkeel’s Violet McBride, an MBE who represented both Great Britain and Ireland at hockey and who also represented her country at golf did that first race. But I don’t think she participated in triathlon again.

Other ladies who did that first race and who competed regularly after that were: Liz Irvine, Eileen Kelly and Sheila McAvoy, the latter being the wife of notable triathlon swimming coach George McAvoy who also did the Craigavon event.

Eileen Kelly was near the back of the Craigavon race and in fact there were only seven behind her at the finish. But the Belfast girl worked hard, learned quickly and less than two years later she finished the 1984 Dutch Ironman race in Almere in 13 hours 20 minutes. And not only that but Eileen was fourth woman overall and won £125 for taking second place in her age group.

Meanwhile Liz Irvine won several races in the eighties.

In 25^th place overall, and behind Wee Con and the first three ladies, was a man who was destined to create quite a stir in the sport. Erwin Cameron, from Carryduff who came from a rowing background, was to become a good friend of mine.

Erwin was regularly a top three finisher in the Irish Championship in Sligo and one of the first Irishmen to finish the World Championship in Hawaii – along with Dublin’s Dave O’Connor, Drumbo’s Desi McHenry, Portadown’s Trevor Jones and Newry’s Kookie O’Hagan.

Also participating in that first triathlon in Craigavon was Bobby Gardiner. The Lurgan man, a great character, was the first man to wear a tri-suit in Ireland. Bobby also became a good friend of mine and was an Irish team-mate in the Almere Ironman triathlon in Holland in 1985.

Sadly Bobby died when he was riding a bike in Lurgan with his son on the bar. That was before cycling helmets were used and he perished when he braked and fell off, hitting the ground with his head.

Others who competed in Craigavon and went on to become enthusiastic triathletes were Ballymena’s ace cyclist Brian Cooper, Greer Poots a funny man from Dromore who was a fine cyclist, Neil Grainger, a committee member of the Ulster Swimming Association and a man who was joint race director of the World Triathlon series of events in Portaferry.

Then there was Newtownabbey’s Chuck Russell, good at all three disciplines, Belfast man and journalist Ed Smith who wrote and produced Triathlon Ireland, the first magazine on triathlons in Britain and Ireland and Billy Wallace who was then a member of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association. Even today the Newtownabbey man is heavily involved in the ILDSA and in fact in 2021 he is still the Chairman of that Association.

Others who made triathlons a way of life after Craigavon were Omagh’s Bill McCausland who won quite a few triathlons in the mid-eighties, Pat Waters, who was a regular contributor to Triathlon Ireland and swimming coach Noel Munnis who won an Ironman race in Malahide in 1989.

Pat Waters was another lively character who finished the 1984 Brighton Quadrathon, an event billed as the World’s Toughest Race. It was an Ironman with a 30-mile walk thrown in for good measure.

They were the good old days.

The good old days when entry fees for triathlons didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Back then it the early eighties, triathlon was a cheap sport. In many races lots of the competitors had bikes with three-speed gears, that were often borrowed … while swimming wet-suits hadn’t been invented. And there were no tri-suits (that was until Desi McHenry’s wife Janice began making them at home).

No helmets either.

In fact all that was needed was a pair of running shoes, shorts, a T-shirt and perhaps a pair of goggles … and of course that borrowed bike!

But what about entry fees?

It was £2.50 for most council-organised races in the North of Ireland while the Ulster Championship final was free … and the competitors were well looked after by the councils they represented.

Also free was the Irish Championships in Sligo, sponsored by RTE and Premier Dairies. In fact not only was it free to enter, but all competitors in Sligo were given running vests and shorts plus a goodie bag. Indeed even the sumptuous after-race banquet didn’t cost a single penny.

Definitely the good old days!