"You are an Ironman!" have become the four most important words that a long-distance athlete can hear. But after 40 years of saying them, the man behind the mike, Mike Reilly, is preparing to call time on his illustrious announcing career, with Ironman New Zealand in December set to be his final event.
Ahead of his final Ironman Worlds race on 8 October – and his 210th Ironman – here he tells us how it all began, about the best 'call' he ever made, and passing his knowledge on to the next generation…
Speaking BS on a microphone
I first got into announcing when a friend put on a 10k race here in San Diego and I had a bad hamstring. The race took off and she said: ‘I’ve got this megaphone and a list of runners names, why don’t you read them out – you know everybody?’
The first thing I thought was: ‘This is so cool, now I can give my buddies a hard time when they cross the line!’ When I saw the reaction when I called the names, I realised if I was racing, I’d want someone to say my name and well done too.
Other organisers started asking me to announce their races. Sometimes I’d say I was running, so they offered me 100 bucks. What?! To speak BS on a microphone! That’s how it got started and it wasn’t long before I gravitated to also announcing triathlon.
Wrestling into tri
I was a college wrestler who’d moved to San Diego and a buddy lured me into a running group that ran out of Balboa Park on a Wednesday night. I used to run to get in shape for wrestling, so joined in for six miles cross-country and couldn’t walk for three days afterwards.
That’s how I got introduced to endurance, and I’ve loved it ever since.
210 Ironmans
I’ve called over 1,000 endurance events and more than 1million athletes across the line, so it’s a wonder I can still talk! I have a hand-written diary of all my Ironman races. Ironman Wisconsin [September 2022] was No 208 and all I’m writing is ‘wet, wet, wet’ because it just rained all day.
Kona 2022 will be 209 and 210 because there’s two of them [Thursday and Saturday].
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The four most powerful words in sport
I think 'You Are An Ironman' are the four most powerful words in sport. This is you and me out there, everyday people battling life, going to work and raising kids.
How it began in Kona
My first year in Kona was 1989 and I never said it. Nor 1990. I was never looking for something monumental to say, but in 1991 a friend from San Diego called Dan was racing.
I met him on the pier racking his bike the day before racing and he said he was kind of down – it wasn’t like him. I said: ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be an Ironman tomorrow.’
The only spotters we had on the course used payphones on the Queen K. They’d call me and say: ‘The leader’s just gone by.’ ‘Who was it?’ ‘I don’t know, I didn’t get the number.’ ‘Well, who did it look like?’ ‘I don’t know!’ We were kind of in the dark.
I was on the tower with the binoculars and suddenly saw Dan. I said to my fellow announcer: ‘I got this guy’ and over the microphone said: ‘You are an Ironman!’ and I pointed at Dan. It was just me saying I told you so, but the crowd roared. So, when the next person came in I said it again.
Ironman or Ironwoman?
I’d just told Dan, so had to tell them as well. Then a woman ran through, and I was unsure whether to say Ironman or Ironwoman, I was looking for affirmation, and said: ‘You are an Ironman’ and she was waving to me like it’s the greatest thing she’d ever heard. The crowd started chanting ‘Say it, Say it’ so I let loose.
Dan came up to me after the race and said: ‘What was all that? You called me an Ironman, and I thought that it was just for me – then you started telling everybody.’ I said: ‘At least you got it first.’
It became a universal language after that. Anywhere I went in the world I brought a bit of Kona, the Big Island, where everybody wanted to go.
The best call I ever made
I’ve many favourite moments, but one that will always stand out, and it’s the last chapter in my book, Finding My Voice, is the best call I ever made – my son in Ironman Arizona.
He was three-years-old when I started calling out those words and 30 years later I’m bringing my son across the finish line calling him an Ironman. There’s nothing that’s topped it.
Now I’ve called my son-in-law, my brother-in-law, our best friends’ son. Family and close friends are memorable because you’ve grown up with them.
Bringing Jon Blais across the line when he was battling ALS [Motor Neurone Disease] and Sarah Reinertsen, the first amputee, will always stand out, but there’s also ones that only I knew the backstory of who were struggling with mental problems or drug addiction, and you see it on their faces: ‘I am going to be okay.’
Time to step back
The No 1 reason to step back is to be with family and friends and not miss special events with them. The other is travel. I can pound through long days but I’m not 45 anymore and it takes a little longer to recover.
I used to come home, and the voice was back the next day. Now it’s three-to-four days later.
I also want to give others the opportunity to do what I did, including bringing more women into the profession which I’ve been trying to do for years.
There are a lot of great commentators and announcers out there, some whom I’ve had the opportunity to mentor. It’s passing on the knowledge so others can say those four words in the future and be as excited about it as I was.
My second family
I’m going to miss being at the finish line. It’s been my second family. I’ll miss the camaraderie, but will keep my podcast going and carry on writing, I’ve read through about 4,000 messages since the announcement and there’s a common theme: Don’t leave us and thank you for calling me an Ironman!
That makes me emotional, but I never said the word retirement. Endurance and triathlon is part of my life and always will be. I’ll miss the people, the age-groupers and the roadies putting on events, the men and women who work 24hr shifts to make sure everything is safe for the athletes.
I’ll miss watching that machine flow and put on fantastic events.
A fitting finale
My final North American event is appropriately Ironman Arizona given that just about everybody in our family has done it! I then get to go back to New Zealand where the March event was postponed until December.
I’ve announced in Australia and New Zealand about 20 times each so to be able to say goodbye to the Kiwis and Aussies is fitting, they are like a second family.
Top image credit: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images for Ironman
