On Monday 3 June 2024, triathlon lost a real leader in the development and advancement of the sport in the UK, with the death of Ian Pettitt.
The Club President of Deal Tri, at the age of 68, Ian’s passing followed a significant heart attack at the end of May.
Lasting Legacy
If you are reasonably brand-new to the sport, then Ian’s name might not be an rightaway familiar one. However, the sheer volume of remarks and memories shared on Facebook and inotherplaces by those of us who haveactually been in and around the sport in the UK through the late 80’s till the present day, inform you simply how much Ian contributed, to so lotsof, in so lotsof various locations of the sport.
Pioneer, pioneer, motivation, legend and more are simply a coupleof of the referrals that haveactually been revealed with authentic heat and loss, by so numerous.
Initially motivated by an early TELEVISION program about the Nice International Triathlon, Ian went from forming a group of similar people within his regional running club, to go on to be the veryfirst ever staffmember of the British Triathlon Association (BTA), as it was recognized at the time.
From the notorious broom cabinet ‘office’ in Dover in 1990, he set in location lotsof of the structures that still exist to this day. Athlete, occasion organiser, administrator, trainer, coach and Team Manager are simply a little sample of the structures that he put in location. His work in developing the age-group group structure for Great Britain was tremendous, setting the designtemplate that continues to see British professionalathletes racing in such volumes, worldwide.
Indeed, so comprehensive haveactually been Ian’s effects on the sport in the UK, that I desired to get an insight from somebody that understood him so well, and hasactually been a part of that journey for lotsof years. For that, I called Paul Groves, another name that numerous might be familiar with, through his lotsof years in triathlon as a technical main, occasion analyst, Team Manager and media officer at ETU/Europe Triathlon.
As pals, work coworkers, club mates and much more, they haveactually shared numerous times together through our wonderful sport. I couldn’t think of anybody else muchbetter put to pay regard to the tradition of, and offer insight to the life, of Ian Pettitt.
Mr. Organiser
“Ian was one of the guys who simply organised things. He would arrange his work as a instructor, he arranged the kids – and handled to discover a method of integrating it all with his training when required. When he was arranging himself to run a marathon, he developed that in to the mentor he did, taking the kids on cross nation runs and runs around Deal. Couldn’t be done nowadays… however some of them actually takenpleasurein it, and some went on to endedupbeing runners themselves.
“He got into triathlon by seeing the Nice Triathlon on Eurosport. Being influenced by that and being a member of Deal Striders as it was in those days, he formed a group within them that liked using lycra and that might swim, bike and run. Ian constantly was a remarkable monster in the water… in all the years I swam with him, I just ever beat him twotimes; I might neverever get anywhere near him!
“So Ian got into triathlon, and that was where our courses crossed. I signedupwith the triathlon group within Deal Striders, discovered that swimming was rather easy, and so naturally Ian and I invested more time together. I got included with Deal Tri, endingupbeing the Chairman, and that was when the concept of having a celebration at swimming the Channel began.
“Lots and lots of long swims were put in – onceagain, Ian arranged it all – and he arranged both of our Channel swims.
“It was likewise Ian who chose that we would have a go at this London to Paris concept. So that was Ian’s organisation, along with Deal Tri, Cycle Force Durham and East Grinstead. Cycle Force finished it and there’s a Guinness World Record certificate someplace in a store in Durham – that was all Ian’s work.
The right guy, at the right time
If you are beginning from scratch, history hasactually revealed that Ian Pettitt was a smart consultation when he began as the BTA’s initially worker back in 1990.
“Ian arranged whatever with triathlon. Had he not been there at the right time, triathlon merely wouldn’t have come to England when it did, or in the way that it did. He was running whatever from a shoebox, a extremely small workplace at Dover Leisure Centre. It was an amateur sport, and Ian ran whatever on a small.
“The method that the age-groupers went to the World Championships, that was all Ian. It was him driving it.
He developed the structure that now sees thousands of British age-groupers takingatrip around the world, taking triathlon to other nations and feeding that back into their own clubs. The format of age-group racing in Britain is coveted around the world, since of Ian.
“Ian g