Mark Allen
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Mark Allen is a legend in the sport of triathlon. To date, he is the only male athlete who won the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii five consecutive times between 1989 and 1993. In his retirement race at Hawaii, in 1995, he won his sixth title and managed to match the six titles won by his biggest rival, Dave Scott.
Before his first win in the Ironman in 1989, Mark Allen came in second six times. The 1989 race saw a fierce battle between the 36-year old Scott and the 31-year old Allen which is still referred to as "The Iron War". Over the course of the whole 8 hour race time, the two were never more that a few seconds apart. In the final marathon, Mark Allen broke away from Scott with just two miles to run. He ran a marathon time of 2:40:04, which is still the current record, to beat Scott and start his incredible winning streak. Allen broke the previous track record of Scott by an unbelievable 19 minutes and 25 seconds. Scott finished only 58 seconds behind him. This day saw the demise of one dominator and the rise of another one.
Mark Allen decided to become a triathlete in 1982, when he saw Julie Moss breaking down meters away from the finish line and crawling across. At this time she was leading the Ironman race and lost it on the final meters. This inspired Allen to start training and one day compete in this event. Some years later, Allen married Julie Moss, the woman who started his triathlon career. In 1995, at age 37, Mark Allen ended his career with his sixth title in Hawaii.