10 Rules You Need To Know Before You First Triathlon | Race Tips For Beginners

You spent all this time training hard, putting in the hours, so the last thing you want to do is get disqualified. Make sure you know the rules ahead of race day. Because it's amazing, even the obvious ones can suddenly slip your mind when you have the added stress of the competition.

In non-drafting races, you must keep the set distance behind the bike in front of you, but when it comes to the swim, there are no drafting rules. You're allowed to get as close to the swimmer in front and basically, the closer you get, the more advantage you'll have.

That leads us on to the drafting rule and it's pretty clear in most races, but make sure you go to the race briefing as sometimes the distance can vary, but something that isn't always as clear and that's the time which you have in order to drop back if you've been overtaken. So say it's a 12 metre drafting race and you have five seconds, an athlete overtakes you, you then have to make it to 12 metres behind them within that five seconds.

In the cycling, make sure that when you overtake, you always overtake from the outside. So if you're doing a race in the UK, we'd cycle on the left, that means you overtake on the right. And check the rules, even when overtaking, you quite often have to stay within the white line in the middle.

If you're going out for a training ride, or riding with your club, you wouldn't dream of taking a gel out of your pocket, eating it, and then throwing it on the roadside, so the same goes for race day. Make sure you know where the drop zones are and you can leave your litter in these areas. And if you do drop your litter outside of it, it's a violation, and you can quite often be disqualified.

In most big races, and definitely in Kona, you'd be hard pressed to find a bike that's not a time-trial bike. So in non-drafting races, there are no rules as to what you can ride. So if you've got a bike sat in your garage, you have no excuse, why not go and do your first triathlon.

Staying with the bike, and this was actually a common mistake, even if you do know the rules inside and out, it's the helmet. Make sure when you come into T1, the first thing you do is put your helmet on. You're not allowed to remove your bike until your helmet is securely done up. And the same comes when you're coming back into T2. Run in with your bike. Keep your helmet on until your bike's securely racked and then you can remove your helmet and off you go.

Now this rule is an obvious one, but just make sure you know the course markers. So different races will have different colour buoys. Make sure you know on the swim which side you've got to be of them, and the same for the bike and the run. Transition areas are different in every race, so make sure you've checked it out beforehand.

Music: Epidemic Sound

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[WayneWBishop]

What a fabulous video! Attempting my first tri in a few weeks and didn't have a clue about the official rules. This content totally lines up with the rules for my local race. Thanks!

[MrShoji]

The most important rule is have to finish the race before time out!!

[Bogdan_Olszewski]

one pretty crucial mistake during my first triathlon was taking off the heel strap with the tracking chip. I mistakenly took it off after the swim in T1, and ended up being listed on the rankings as DNF(did not finish).Even though i did finish the race, I wouldn't have taken a prize place anyway that day :p

[jeffbrunton]

Last year you could carry your brother over the line, despite the ITU rules implying that was not allowed. And Individual country rules like US saying no. This year it’s really not allowed.

[MateHegyhati]

I only did 2 triathlons in my life, but since I have been watching this channel, I can smile at myself, how not knowingly I managed to finish those races :-D The only rule I checked was the time limit for the swimming, as I am terrible at that :-D

[kevinlavery]

Heather, for 2018, you should do a sprint and Oly and post a vlog series about the differences from long distance races! If nothing else, I'm sure you'll learn something from the experience!

[TsarGaming]

I so want to complete a triathlon, even the beginneer level. I am looking for ways to get fit this looks like an awesome way except the costs of course.

[gtn]

Have you ever had a time penalty during a race? What rules did you break?

[rogersliu]

Question on the drafting rule, if you overtake someone then that guy/girl overtake you again, can u keep doing overtaking alternatively within the time limit (kind of like team timetrial )

[D.Eldon_]

Questions about swim rules:

1 - Are you required to use the crawl stroke for the swim or can you use a different stroke? I've got a fast breast stroke that I can sustain for long distances and would like to use it if the weather is windy and the water surface choppy. Would that be allowed? If other strokes are allowed, has anyone ever used a different stroke and can you offer any advice on avoiding kicking other swimmers with a whip kick? Would taking a line along the outside edge be sufficient?

2 - Are swimmers allowed to temporarily submerge and swim underwater? For example, when circling a buoy to reverse direction in a very crowded field of swimmers, can a swimmer submerge to cut the corner and resurface just beyond the crowd? I'm not talking about swimming inside the buoy -- that would be cheating. Rather I'm talking about getting past the swimmers who are jammed up at the turn.

[criiiis]

Could you make a video about short distance triathlons please?

[lucasantin]

Do you need to be part of groups or subscribed in any organisation to partecipate in a triathlon race?

[benwoodland]

When being overtaken could you move to the other side so you don’t have to actively drop back

[Aniara]

Make sure your bike is race legal, not all bikes are good to go. Especially important in draft-legal races, where the rules mostly conform to the UCI ruleset...

[eaglesbasketball]

If you wish to overtake a cyclist how long do you have to overtake them before falling foul of the drafting rule?

[danmckenzie]

"No rules to what kind of bike you can ride". In all seriousness, does this mean I could ride a penny farthing? Wouldn't do it for anything long but I do have a dream of riding one for a sprint or thereabouts.

[geeman]

Why do some athletes get to hand over their bike to a person and others have to park their own bike?

[davidtyrrell]

Heather you look exhausted. Stunning but exhausted.

[royfr]

After 8 tiathlons here in Mexico, women draft all the time, the rule is no mixed drafting.... unless you are a woman it seems... then the guys on motor bikes just ignore you and shout at the men..

[royfr]

No mixed drafting. Man on man and woman on woman. Women get away with drafting all the time it seems. The last triathlon I did a woman drafted four guys for 6km