Irontwit

A triathlon is a multisport event consisting of 3 elements:

• A swim
• A cycle ride
• A run

Each element follows the other without a pause other than to change into the necessary kit. The change from one discipline to the next is known as “transition” with t1 being the transition from swim to bike where you take off your wetsuit, don cycle helmet and shoes and jump on your bike, and t2 being the transition from bike to run where you ditch the bike and swap to trainers.

The swim can either be in a local swimming pool, or a lake/river/reservoir, or even the sea. For openwater swims it is usual to wear a wetsuit (there are temperature rules which make the wearing of wetsuits compulsory below certain water temperatures and illegal above a set temperature).

History

Although the concept of three sports making up a single event is at least 100 years old, triathlon in its current form dates from the mid 70s with the first event taking place at San Diego in California in 1974 (I wish I had known when I visited that fine city). The first running of the iconic “Ironman” event (now Ironman World Championship) took place on Hawaii in 1977. Triathlon didn’t become an Olympic event until Sydney 2000 and then only at Olympic distance (see table below).

For more on the history of triathlon, checkout this excellent page on Wikipedia.

Famous British Triathletes

Despite entering all 3 Olympic competitions, to date no Brit has ever won a medal at the Olympics (despite high hopes in Beijing). Tim Don did win the ITU World Championships in 2006 at Olympic distance, but then massively blotted his copybook by falling foul of the athletes whereabouts system for dope testing by carelessly (and there doesn’t seem to be any question about that) missing 3 tests. The current top British male triathlete is Alistair Brownlee who is a genuine contender for gold at London 2012 and is the current (2009) world champion.

However, dwarfing the achievements of these guys is the triple Hawaii Ironman World Champion and Ironman distance world record holder, Chrissie Wellington. At Kona (Hawaii) in 2009 she broke the 17 year old women’s course record, and in July 2010 she broke her own Ironman world record (for any course) by over 12 minutes. She is the only Brit to have ever won on Hawaii. She is currently undefeated at Ironman distance.

Distances

There are at least 4 standard distances for triathlon listed below, but because events take place on public roads and are subject to local conditions, actual distances from race to race can vary quite considerably so it’s quite difficult to compare times meaningfully between different events. Note: the Ironman bike distance should read 180km, but hey, by that stage, who’s counting?