FROM THE VAULT ISSUE 19

With the Ironman World

Championships in Kona, Hawaii, just a matter of weeks away, we thought it was prime time to rediscover this 220 gem from November 1990 featuring Erin Baker and Paula Newby-Fraser in the two-piece.

Unlike today’s carefully-managed pro press conferences, the athletes – two of the greatest to have ever graced pro triathlon – really were bitter rivals and, Baker anyway, didn’t even attempt to hide it.

Much of the bad blood seemed to stem from Baker’s well-documented hatred of the apartheid regime in Newby-Fraser’s home country of South Africa. The rivalry, however, produced some of the greatest battles on the roads of Kona, with Baker taking the 1990 title featured in issue 19, but Newby-Fraser coming out 3-2 up in their Hawaii head-toheads on her way to producing a record eight Kona wins.

Elsewhere in the issue, Mark Allen is seen taking the Hawaii men’s title after being given an almighty fright by Pauli Kiuru; the 220 Winter Biathlon Series kicked-off at the Thame Sport and Arts Centre in Oxon; while resident columnist Ken Maclaren reports on the first positive drug test in British tri history (by a man taking Sudafed). There’s also the most revealing tri-suit in history on page 17… look out for it on our Twitter page.

“The athletesathlete really were bitter rivalsl and didn’t even attempt to hide it”