Original IMWC podium finisher Dave Orlowski to complete original course for 40th anniversay
February 18th, 2018 marks the original race's 40th anniversary.
The first IRONMAN was held on the 18th of February, 1978. This Sunday, we’re aging up to a new bracket, celebrating our 40th Anniversary! pic.twitter.com/2oQVQ3x0ye
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) February 15, 2018
According to Twitter, Dave Orlowski, one of the original 15 Ironman athletes and the third place finisher of the inaugural Ironman World Championship held on February 18, 1978, is currently getting ready to do the original Ironman course in Oahu, Hawaii on Sunday, February 18 to mark the race’s 40th anniversary.
This Sunday, February 18, marks the 40th anniversary of the original @IRONMANtri on Oahu. 1978 3rd-place finisher Dave Orlowski is currently on Oahu to complete the original course on Sunday. He did the same for the 30th anniversary in 2008.
— brad culp (@bbculp) February 15, 2018
Orlowski, a retired detective who did the same thing for the race’s 30th anniversary, is right now on the island of Oahu preparing for his feat on Sunday (the Ironman World Championship is now held on the Big Island in Kona, where it switched to in 1981). Pictured above is the bike he raced on, a borrowed Sears Free Spirit bicycle that he’d ridden a no more than 30 miles on. He raced in a pair of cut-off jeans was so he could carry some cash to buy some food along the way.
“I tried to keep eating bananas and oranges,” Orlowski said of the race, in an interview in 2011 “But I also stopped at McDonalds. A Big Mac, fries and a shake. There was lots of Coke and Hershey Bars, too.”
 He would finish third to Gordon Haller and John Dunbar in a time of 13:39:13.
There isn’t too much info right now about Orlowski’s race on Sunday right now, but stay tuned for photos and results.