Wetsuit Hump – Throwback Ironman

David O Baldwin - Hawaiiphotoman with Dave Scott at Ironman Kona Hawaii

 

transition area ironman Kona Hawaii - sponsor gatoradeGatorade sponsor ironman Kona at swim start
Once upon a timex I got a gig shooting for the Ironman Triathlon Wetsuit Company. I rented a condo to do the shoot the day after the race, unfortunately no AC, big mistake, I was a newbie.
They scheduled two triathletes, 6-time world champion Dave Scott and that year’s hopeful winner Jürgen Zäck. I had a back drop set up in the stuffy cramped corner unit with a killer view overlooking the Magic Sands Beach (La’aloa Bay). Thank god for that.
Jürgen’s team arrived first, He was unhappy, he didn’t win the championship as anticipated and had to walk, he had a lot to say about that.
It took three strong men to get him into the shiny black suit. We shot that handsome blond blond-haired German under two hot studio lights. He began sweating “like a bad girl in church”. He was pouring sweat, I mean we had beach towels to soak it up. Got the shots. “Next please”
Believe it or not they only had one wetsuit and it weighed in at 55 lbs. of Ironman sweat, so we had to wring out the sweat before Dave Scott arrived. A rush up and down the condo halls knocking on doors to borrow a blow dryer. The tourist thought I was nuts. “Hurry hurry blow blow blow!” Well no hair dryer could ever handle that much Ironman sweat. Should we cancel?
Then Dave shows up, alone, no agents, trainers, managers or personal photographers, like some others I know. “No just me” he says, I apologize profusely about no AC and the wetsuit guys begged to be forgiven but  Dave just said “stop, no problem I got time”. The wetsuit guys continued unsuccessfully to dry it out.
Finally, after an hour of hanging out, in the hottest hour Dave got into the wet wet wetsuit. Never complained, just slipped it on and said “lets go”. Not a drop of sweat. Some say he may be an alien, I just think he is one class act, the face of Ironman, ya but a nice guy first.

No images remain of this event.

Happy Hump Day!

David O. Baldwin
Hawaiiphotoman

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