In a spectacular duel that became known as the Iron War, the world's two strongest athletes raced side by side at world-record pace for a grueling 139 miles.ĭriven by one of the fiercest rivalries in triathlon, Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced shoulder to shoulder through Ironman’s 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race, and 26.2-mile marathon. I’ll announce the winner sometime on Halloween.The 1989 Ironman World Championship was the greatest race ever in endurance sports. We’ll run open entries through 11:59pm on Sunday, Oct 30th. Promote this contest by hyperlinking to this post on your blog Tweet the following: “I just entered to win a copy of Iron War by Matt Fitzgerald on blog! You can enter here: ”ģ. Leave a comment here about your favorite race, your rival, or about the Iron War itselfĢ. Like most blog contests, you can earn yourself up to three entries:ġ. I enjoyed Iron War so much, I’d like to pay it forward and give it away to a reader. You can read the first chapter of the book here. Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & the Greatest Race Ever Run by Matt Fitzgerald is available online and major retailers. In short, I really enjoyed this book – regardless of whether it was fact or partially fiction. And for that reason alone, the story was one I could not put down. It’s an insight that casual fans (and perhaps even athletes themselves) don’t often get. The telling of this story gives insight into the race far beyond what we could see on the ABC special (ABC was the broadcaster of the race at that time) back in 1989 or on YouTube today.
The pain and suffering, the strategy, the story arc. The real gem in this book, however, are the robust descriptions of the race itself. I’ve always thought that world-class athletes had a few wires loose the assertions in this book just confirmed for me that my perceptions (based upon MY reality) are likely correct. Frankly, I have to agree with reviewer Dan Empfield that this portion of the book was pretty non-compelling. I suspect that this is where the two athletes took exception. Fitzgerald gives a really good view into the history between these two athletes, and the underlying rivalry that Allen no doubt felt towards Scott.įitzgerald does invest considerable text towards attempting to explain Scott and Allen’s motivations for racing…basically the psychology behind what they did. A pretty compelling sub-plot to the iron war (the race) is the fact that prior to 1989, Allen had never beaten Scott. We are exposed to Allen and Scott’s lives as children, their formative years, as well as how they got into triathlon. Iron War is not just about the most epic Ironman showdown we also get a glimpse into the protagonists’ history. While whether Fitzgerald defamed Scott and Allen is certainly up for debate, the fact of the matter is that this book is good.įitzgerald commences his story at 2:59pm on October 14, 1989…the moment in time where a race that had been a race of equals finally became separated. Interestingly, not all reviewers agree that the book is a work of fiction. All of that said, Allen and Scott clearly feel that Fitzgerald created a work of fiction, and have sued for defamation. This is well evidenced by Fitzgerald’s inclusion of more than twenty pages of citations and references. It’s pretty clear from even a cursory review of the book that he performed a monumental amount of research – including personal interviews with both Scott and Allen, as well as numerous other parties. Matt Fitzgerald is a pretty well-known triathlon journalist. The book is about arguably the best Ironman race in the history of Ironman – the 1989 race in Kona.īefore I get into actually reviewing the book, I think it’s fairly important to lay the landscape for you. A few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive in the mail a copy of the new book, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & the Greatest Race Ever Run by Matt Fitzgerald.
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