TSP20: The 1991 St Croix Triathlon

·48 min·3 clips

Jan Ripple crashes at the Hot Corner and Frank Shorter describes the chain jam and road rash.

The episode opens on St. Croix after Hurricane Hugo. The island is described as having gone from green to brown, with homes destroyed and power and telephone service out for months. That damage gives the race's return extra weight. Jim Simpson welcomes listeners from St. Croix, his home, to the 1991 America's Paradise Triathlon. Hugo is behind the island now, the triathlon is back, and the island is back together as volunteers and spectators. Top competitors from around the world are there, and the setting makes a strong case for a triathlon. The broadcast then turns to how the sport was changing at the time. Les McDonald is mentioned as pushing toward the Olympics, while some races were still using terrain-based courses and distances that had not yet settled into Olympic standard. The hosts suggest the organizers probably built around the bike course and balanced the rest to it. That opens into a nostalgic look at old race kit. Erin Baker and Rick Wells are seen chatting on the beach. There are no modern tri suits; athletes have sew-on patches and wear sponsor gear rather than national uniforms. The hosts clearly enjoy that older look, joke about patches in a wind tunnel, and note how little interference there seemed to be from national governing bodies. You could use reputation or just show up. The swim start gets a laugh too: Frank Shorter calls it straightforward while the graphic makes it obvious the course weaves through boats and letters in the harbor. The finish is where the race really becomes the beast. The hill is treated as the defining feature of St. Croix. The hosts say the toughest part of a triathlon is usually the last couple of miles, but here the beast is the hardest part. Mountain bike gearing comes into play, the climb rises 600 feet, the Washington Monument is used as a comparison at 555 feet, and many athletes end up pushing their bikes and walking the last 300 to 400 yards. The whole race stays easy to picture: history lesson, course preview, and a reminder of an era when triathlon still felt less packaged. The island setting, hurricane recovery, uneven race distances, patchwork kit, and final climb all point to the same story.

As heard by us

A hurricane-rebuilt race where the course, the era, and the hill all matter.

The episode treats the 1991 St. Croix Triathlon as more than a race. It folds in the island's recovery after Hugo, and that backdrop gives the whole thing a rough, lived-in weight.

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Why you'd press play

You want a St. Croix triathlon story with Hurricane Hugo, a harbor swim, and the Beast of a hill.

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