Mike Reilly

Mike Reilly, the official "Voice of IRONMAN" worldwide and a member of the IRONMAN Hall of Fame, the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame and the Running USA Hall of Champions, is the only person to have been inducted into all three. He’s called over 180 IRONMAN races around the world altogether and his iconic call of “You are an IRONMAN!” has been heard by over 350,000 finishers. It all started in San Diego, CA, where Mike found his passion for endurance sports while training and racing local events in Southern California. He ran the first of twelve marathons in 1978 and competed in his first triathlon in 1979. That was the same year he picked up a microphone for the first time. Two years later he announced the first ever professional triathlon in Solana Beach, CA. He also called the first ten years of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, the most popular marathon series in the world. At the time, Mike was a middle school teacher. In 1983 he started a running shoe store, "The Swift Pair," with his brother Don. After selling the store, Mike became a sport sales representative for Saucony running shoes. While there he began his long association with Road Runner Sports, which would grow to become the largest running shoe retailer in the world. In 2017, Mike took his place alongside other endurance sports luminaries with a star on the company’s “Run of Fame.” Mike Reilly Biography Mike Reilly with the Swift Pair In 1984 he and his wife Rose started RACEPLACE Magazine in San Diego. Rose ran it for 30 years until it was taken over by their son, Andy. RACEPLACE today is one of the top ten most visited event websites for runners in the United States. In 1999 Mike was one of the first ten members of what was to become Active.com, and headed endurance event sales for that pioneering Internet company for 15 years. Mike is an Ambassador Captain for the IRONMAN Foundation, the charitable arm of IRONMAN that provides grants and funding to the communities in which events are held. He was co-host with Bob Babbitt of the Competitor Endurance Sports Awards banquet for 19 years, and for the past 16 years he has been a lead committee member and emcee for the Running USA National conference. He is also a co-founding member of Triathlon Business International, an industry business organization that is dedicated to promoting the sport and the business of triathlon. Mike and Rose, his wife of 43 years, live in San Diego. They have two children, Erin Paulson (a Boston Marathon finisher) and Andy Reilly (an IRONMAN finisher) and two grandsons.