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Triathlon Information
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Triathlon is a multi-discipline event that involves swimming, cycling and running in that order.
The race starts with the swim and does not end until you finish the run.
In addition to the three obvious disciplines there are the transitions from the swim to the bike and the bike to the run. These transitions are part of the race, many races have been won or lost due to the time taken to get through transition.
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Race distances range from a Super Sprint to Long or Ironman™ distance. There are also shorter novice events and ultra distance triathlons covering multiples of long distance races.
The actual distance will depend on the locality and facilities available to race organisers, but as a guide the common distances are:
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| Super Sprint |
400m |
10Km |
2.5Km |
| Sprint |
750m |
20Km |
5Km |
| Olympic or Full |
1500m |
40Km |
10Km |
| Middle Distance |
1900m |
90Km |
21Km |
| Long / Ironman™ |
3800m |
180Km |
41Km |
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Triathlon started in the USA in the mid to late 70's and crossed the Atlantic to the UK in the early 80's and is now one of our fastest growing sports. The result is that most races reach their entry limit weeks before the race date, there are few, if any, races that allow entry on the day.
British Triathlon (still known by most triathletes as the BTA) is the governing body for UK triathlon. For obvious reasons there are strict safety standards covering triathlon, these are administered by British Triathlon.
Race organisers need to obtain a race sanction from British Triathlon who will also provide a race referee to ensure the race meets the required safety and organisational standards. If you are not a member of the BTA you will have to pay a one day membership fee to cover insurance and sanction costs, this usually costs between £3 and £5 per race.
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What do you need to take part in triathlon?
Obviously a costume is essential for the swim, nudity is a disqualifiable offence in triathlon!
A decent pair of goggles is a must, swim caps are usually provided by the race organisers.
If the swim is in open water then a wet-suit is strongly advisable and often compulsory due to the distance and water temperature.
If you are not an experienced cyclist don't rush out and buy an expensive bike. You can pick up a reasonable bike package for around £500 from most bike shops (see our links page) Alternatively check out EBay or other small ads for a second hand bike.
You can even convert you mountain bike by changing the tyres from the cross country type to slick road tyres, this will suffice for your first couple of races. The key thing is to ensure the bike is the correct size and properly set up.
There is not a lot to say about running shoes other than consider getting lace locks or elasticated laces to save time tying the laces in transition.
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There are lots of websites with information regarding race kit, rather than reproduce them here the following links will take you some of the most useful sites:
The top UK site for Tri information and race details
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The governing body for UK triathlon
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A USA based site with lots of useful information.
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Trent Park RC is primarily a running club, therefore our training sessions at the club are running based. However we also have informal bike and swim training sessions, see our Tri Training page for more details.
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