Chicago

In celebration of this weekend’s upcoming 20th anniversary of the Chicago Triathlon, the City of Chicago will honor the event by naming a portion of Lake Shore Drive, “Chicago Triathlon Way.” Taking part in the ceremony will be Jan Caillé, event co-founder and organizer; Tim Twardzik, president of Mrs. T’s Pierogies; Jim Curl, co-founder; Lee Katz, co-founder, and Stewart Weltman, founding participant. But there’s more to the story.

The first USTS-Chicago was held on a sweaty hot weekend in August 1983 with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” providing the soundtrack. What most people don’t know is that in June, just two months earlier, there was no USTS Chicago. If it hadn’t been for a ticked-off triathlete named Stuart Weltman, there probably wouldn’t ever have been a triathlon in downtown Chicago.

“After six months of unsuccessfully fighting a new administration at City Hall,” said USTS founder Jim Curl, “Jan and I had finally given up. We could not get even one meeting with the city, or even get anyone from the city to call us back. Although we had over 500 entries by June--which was LARGE in 1983--we had no permits, so we had no course, so there would be no 1983 USTS Chicago. Our event office was in the ad agency where Jan worked and that day we decided to bag the event, I started answering the info phones with the sad news that there would be no race.”

About five calls into the morning, Curl got a call from what he recalls as an “assertive guy.”

“Hey, this is Stu Weltman. Where is the registration gonna be for the triathlon in August?”

“Sorry. The City won’t give us permits, so there won’t be a race.”

“WHAT! Who won’t give you permits? Who'd you speak to at the city?”

“Well, nobody actually. We can’t even get a meeting for the city to tell us 'No,' let alone give us permits for a course.”

“That's Bull! I’ve trained all through this lousy Chicago Winter for this stupid event and I’ll be damned if you guys are going to cancel it! Who are you?”

“Name’s Jim Curl. I run the National Series. But you can speak to Jan Caille who’s in charge of this event.”

“I don’t want to speak to either of you. I’m going to have someone call you back!”

One hour later Curl received another call.

“Are you the triathlon guy?”

“Well, yes, but you see there is no....”

“What time can you be in the Mayor’s Office tomorrow? Can you be there at 10:00am?”

“Uh, yes.”

“OK. Room 130. 10:00AM” Click.

Room 130 was in the mayor’s office. Curl and Caille couldn’t even get into see the precinct cops, and now they had a meeting in the mayor’s office. When they walked in, expecting to see an aide, there were representatives from the Chicago police and fire departments, the Park District, Chicago Streets and Sanitation, and the mayor’s office.

“Some guy looks us over and with a disgusted look,” recounts Curl, “and asks: ‘Now, where the hell do you want to put on this tri-cathalon race?’

“That was it. We were in. We went for broke and asked them to shut down 12.4 miles each way of Lakeshore Drive and give us the most spectacular start and finish area in the country--Solidarity Drive between the Aquarium and The Planetarium--and do it in four weeks. And they did. And then so did we.”

By 1984, the USTS Chicago was the biggest triathlon in the world. From 1986, as Mrs. T’s Chicago Triathlon, it has stayed that way. That is the true story of how Stuart Weltman, the red-headed triathlete attorney who was not going to be denied his race, brought the Chicago Triathlon, the world’s largest triathlon, into being.

(Thanks to Jim Curl for his recounting of the story).