2017 Legends

Mark Pringle		Ken Uren
Michael Maroney		Carol Pickard

MARK PRINGLE

A true pioneer of the sport and a renowned swimmer, Mark Pringle contested his first race in 1981 and was the first Australian known to have competed in over 100 triathlons. 

He also played a significant role in raising the profile of the sport, establishing more events and helping make world championship races - and the 2000 Olympic Games - some of the best run triathlons in the world. In an outstanding career as a racer, the popular triathlete eventually competed in over 300 races for 33 elite victories.

In 1985 he was also among the first small group of Australian professionals to compete in the Bud Light USTS series. He placed highly and won several races in the US, most notably at altitude in the California Big Bear Lake series. 

Away from the racetrack Pringle was instrumental in the growth of the sport and the raising of its profile. Legitimizing and garnering acceptance of triathlon as a mainstream sport in Australia in part due to his profile as an actor and his early acquisition of a sponsorship deal. The well-respected waterman and ‘alley boy’ was the face of Chiko Rolls on television, with his famous line ‘you can't knock the roll’. 

He also had a bit part in Puberty Blues, the quintessential seventies Cronulla story and rumoured to have been considered ahead of Mel Gibson for the role in Mad Max.  Along with Marc Dragan, Mark was one of Australia’s first two true professional triathletes with his Carlton United sponsorship. As a race and swim leg director: Mark Pringle also had a significant impact on this sport. He was organiser of the Pier One series on Sydney Harbour with one of his events making the back page of a mainstream newspaper for the first time in Australia.

As CEO of Five Star Sports Promotions [8yrs], he staged the Sports Plus Triathlon Series (The Rocks), St George Triathlon Series and the first All Women’s triathlon. He also worked on such events as the St George Formula One Summer Series and Fuji Xerox Triathlon Tour and directed the swim leg for ITU World Cup and World Championship races, the Brisbane Goodwill Games and the Sydney Olympic Games triathlon. 

KEN UREN

Ken Uren has been competitive and successful in international and domestic triathlons of various distances for numerous years and has actively given back to the sport on and off the racetrack. 

In 1988 he won his age group at the ITU world championships and in 1996 also won his age division at the Hawaii ironman triathlon. He was also the third Australian to finish the gruelling event that year.

Uren won multiple national and state titles and was a regular competitor - and winner - from the sports earliest days. He is held in high regard by the triathlon community at large, and in particular in the ACT. Off the racetrack he has given lengthy periods of service to the TACT Board, including time as its President, and has also been a race director.

He has received numerous forms of recognition, including TACT life membership, and the ACT Masters Sportstar of the Year Award. He will also be remembered for racing to victory in one of the first triathlons ever held in Australia - the Police & Tri Services Triathlon held in Feb/March 1981.

MICHAEL MARONEY

Dr Michael William Maroney OAM is a true pioneer of triathlon with one of the most recognised names in the game. He has been involved in the sport since its birth in Australia in 1982 as a professional athlete, age group, competitor, Sutherland Shire swim coach, race director, volunteer, and administrator.

Maroney's feats on the race track include numerous wins at world titles and national titles, including his 45-49 age group victory at the 2011 world age sprint titles. He represented Australia at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games and in a testimonial to his longevity, won Kurnell Triathlon titles 20 years apart. He worked as Triathlon NSW head coach from 2007 – 2011 and has worked with some of the biggest names in the sport.

He has also been a Triathlon Australia Board member and head of the Age Group Committee, advising the Board on recommendations to help support our age group athletes preparing for ITU and non-ITU championship events. 

CAROL PICKARD

A swimmer, life saver, water polo player and marathoner, triathlon was always going to be a good choice of sport for Carol Pickard who started to make her mark in the mid-1980s. A fourth at the unofficial World Sprint Triathlon in 1987, multiple victories in the Australian Triathlon Championships and three national titles soon established her as one of the best in the game. She was one of the first women to fly the flag for Australia on the emerging international triathlon circuit and quickly made a mark. Her name graces most trophies in Australia as one of the true greats of the early era of the sport.