History of Salford Triathlon

With the sport of triathlon becoming increasingly popular, in 2000 Greater Manchester’s councils created a role for a Triathlon Development Officer who would encourage the sport at a grass roots level in schools and the community. The interest was incredible and it was from here that the Millennium Waterfronts Triathlon was born.

The MWT combined the north west regional championships and national championships for under 21s - with 500 people competing for the titles, including Richard Allen, Richard Stannard, and Jodie Swallow.

The success of that first event was proved when Salford won the right to hold the National Triathlon Championships in 2001 - attracting 1000 competitors from all over the world, including a host of big names for the elite races, like Simon Whitfield and Leanda Cave.

It was the first time the nationals had come to the North of the country - John Lunt, Race Director, said at the time, This has been the best course in the country for competitors. Having a closed city centre course is very rare and lets athletes go right into the heart of Manchester - creating a fantastic atmosphere between them and the spectators."

Those national championships also proved to be an important rehearsal for the Triathlon events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester - which ran over the now tried and tested course. Over 100,000 spectators lined the route to view one of the few free Games events and the atmosphere they created was amazing as Simon Whitfield and Carol Montgomery raced to gold!

World Cup

A legacy of the Commonwealth Games event was the awarding of a leg of the 2003 World Cup to Salford. Further successful events in the following years allowed promoters Salford City Council and event operator Human Race to bid to host the 2010 ITU Triathlon World Championships. The bid however was unsuccessful.

The event was not held in 2008 because of its proximity to the Olympic Games, the absence of BBC Sport coverage, and major building work (part of MediaCityUK) close to the area usually used for transition.

  In 2013 it’s back!!

The history of triathlon

1974
Triathlon roots can be traced back to 1974, Mission Bay, Southern California where a group of friends began training together. Amongst the athletes were runners, swimmers and cyclists who began having informal races

1978
Hawaii hosted the Waikiki Rough Water Swim, the Oahu Bike Race and the Honolulu Marathon. Originally events in themselves, they were rolled into one to become the Hawaii Iron man

1982
The Hawaii Iron man gained extensive coverage on ABC World Wide Sport and participation levels had increased to 580 competitors

1983
With triathlon's popularity growing, it reached British shores in 1983. The British Triathlon Association was established the same year

1989
International Triathlon Union established in France

2000
Triathlon becomes an Olympic event in Sydney

2002
Triathlon will make its Commonwealth Games debut in Manchester