What is a junior triathlon?

What are the junior distances? What does it involve?
What is a triathlon event? Maybe you've seen some triathlon events on tv or even seen guys and girls take part in some local triathlons - but you're a little confused about what a triathlon involves and what the normal distances are for juniors. This article is for you.

Three sports in one.
A triathlon has the word tri in it. Not the try as in try your best, (although this very important in this sport) but the tri as in three. Well three of what? It's three different sports combined to make one sport called triathlon.

The three different sports are swimming, cycling, and running with time in-between so that you have time to get changed at certain areas - called transition areas. A transition is basically a fancy way of saying a place where you change clothes from swimming into cycling and then cycling into running.

Let's look at all the basics you need to know as a junior thinking of taking part in a triathlon event.

Swimming

Where do you actually swim?
It depends on the triathlon, they can be either in a swimming pool, lake, river or even the sea. What doesn't change are the distances, which are pretty much set for each age group. These are most often the distances depending on the event:

Distances
Ages 13-14 = 300m.
Ages 14-19 = 400m.

25m is often the length of your local pool. So if you're 13-14 and you're swimming 300m, then that's 12 lengths of the pool, any stroke you like. This means that if on the day you're finding front crawl tough then you can always do some breaststroke or tread water to get your breath back.

How does the triathlon begin?
There are two main ways. A mass start and staggered start. Mass start basically means a lot of people starting at the same time - like what you see at the London marathon or a Parkrun. This can be a little daunting so often when there are 'mass starts' there aren't actually that many at a time.

The other type is called a staggered start, which means people go one at a time and you have a lot more space to swim. It's worth checking what kind of start the event you're signing up for is.

What do I need to wear?
For the swim, there isn't any rule on what you can wear. The only rule will be that on some events with an open water swim, (which means any swim which is not in a pool) you will need to wear a wetsuit for safety because it’s too cold without one.

You can get special wetsuits deigned for swimming which actually make you swim faster than without one because they are more buoyant, (which means they keep you afloat easier) so don't think you'll be slower with one!

So unless you need a wetsuit, you just wear your normal swimsuit and a pair of goggles. The race event will give you a rubbery swim hat to wear, which is colour coded so that they can recognise you and know what race you're in.

How about finishing the swim?
When you finish your swim, well done, you'll be a third of the way there to becoming a triathlete! You will now approach a transition area, (place where you get changed) often called T1, which is short for transition 1 because it’s your first moment where you get changed from swimming to cycling. You'll be walking or jogging from the exit of the swim towards T1.

Sometimes covering the distance may even take a couple of minutes as the swim exit and T1 aren’t always right next to each other. You will have already prepared your cycling clothes and have your bike in the transition area before the race start. Your bike and clothes will be next to each other in a specific area of transition (you often get a box to put your clothes and towel in).

So you arrive at your bike dripping wet. What next?
Dry yourself down with your towel. Then, either put some shorts on over the top of your swimsuit - or as I'd recommend, don't bother at all and just cycle in your swimsuit because your shorts will just flap in the wind and will actually slow you down (it's a bit like having a mini parachute).

What you will need to do first before you touch your bike is put your helmet on first. It's a rule triathlon has to keep you safe. So once the helmet is on, all you need to do now is put your socks and shoes on. You will also need to put a t-shirt on, unless you swim with a swim top on (this is why people wear tri-suits because you can wear it for swimming, cycling and running, and you can wear it underneath a wetsuit). It just makes things easier, and a tri-suit dries quickly.

Collect your bike and walk or jog it over to the bicycle start line where you can get on and ride. Simple!

Cycling

Where do you do it?
Junior triathlons are held on closed roads, which means that no cars will be on the road with you. Often it is held on some kind of race track, or local park which makes it even safer. Sometimes, you'll get an off-road bike course, so not on a hard surface like tarmac, but on grass. This makes your speed slower, so they often reduce the distance a bit so the total time you're cycling is about the same. How kind!

Distances.
Ages 13-14 = 7.5km.
Ages 15-19 = 15km.

How long will it take me? Will I finish in time?
Maybe you're a bit unsure about how long each of these will take you. Let's say you are 13-14 years old - your bike distance will be 7.5km. A normal average speed (an average speed is a little bit like the middle speed of your fast and slow bits) would be to go at 15kph which is travelling 15 kilometres every hour, meaning you'd complete 7.5km in 30 minutes.

If you have a circuit nearby that you know the distance of then you can always work out your average speed there or ask an adult to help you with this. You might even have a fancy sports watch which tells you your speed and average speed!

You don't have to cycle non-stop, if you're finding it hard then you can always stop for a bit and carry on once you get your breath back. You won't be penalised for this. Sometimes there is something called cut off times - which sounds pretty brutal but it's not. They will often give enough time to do the whole thing at least two times over if not more. It's just the organisers do have to pack up and go home at some point!

Remember, it’s all about participation and having fun and the organisers know this – they’ll give you time to finish!

Cool, but my bike isn't very good.
It doesn't matter! There's no rule on how fast your bike must be, as long as the gears and brakes work and there are not any major mechanical issues which makes it unsafe to ride, you can take part and enjoy the sport.

Most juniors are first timers anyway or have only done a few triathlons - very few have fancy looking bikes. Even when you are an adult, it's pretty much the same story. We're all taking part for enjoyment - even those with fancy bikes - they might just be a little further on in their triathlon journey.

If you don't own a bike, don't worry either. Often you can rent a bike for the event at one of their event stools or hire from an external bike hire company.

Now, you will be overtaken by people on the bike, this is normal and shouldn't put you off - everyone will be at a different level. Just don't worry about the speedy ones, (there aren’t many anyway) just focus on yourself and your enjoyment of the event. This is so important, at Swim Bicycle Fun, we want to show you how much fun it is to take part in these events, meet new friends and have a huge sense of achievement.

Just enjoy the cycle, be safe and have fun.

Approaching T2
You'll then be approaching the bike finish, and then transition 2 (T2). This is where you'll need to change into your running clothes. The good thing about this is there isn't actually any changing. You'll put your bike back in the same place, (called racking your bike) take your helmet off and then run in what you wore on the bike (running shoes). You just simply walk or jog out of T2 and there's just a run to go before you're a triathlete.

Running

Where do you run?
Well like the bike, it can be on grass or tarmac. But this time the run isn't shorter if it's on grass. Oh man... that's because there's very little difference between the two surfaces in speed when running. Ah kind of fair enough really then I suppose.

Distances.
Ages 13-14 = 2.5km.
Ages 15-19 = 5km.

Cool, but how far is that? What if I'm thirsty or hungry? What if I need the toilet?
As a 13–14-year-old, you'll have to run 2.5km. This is basically half a Parkrun or for most about 15-20 minutes of running. Age 15-19 this is a Parkrun and often the distance of a cross country at school.

Like the bike, you can stop and take breaks. Often there are tables of water and snacks along the run course (called aid stations) where you can refuel or take in some water if you're thirsty. There are very often cabin toilets along the course (those blue toilets you see on building sites).

Before you know it, you'll be crossing the finish line. Every finisher will get a medal and you'll often be treated to some freebies like snacks and event merchandise like a t-shirt.

Finishing!
You'll be able to celebrate finishing with your family and friends and you may just enjoy it so much that you want to do it all over again!

What can I do as a 20 year old?
By the way, if you're already thinking about adult triathlons and wondering what the shortest distance triathlon there is for when you're 20 years old, (although most some events allow 18 and over to enter adult races) this is called a Sprint triathlon which is a 750m swim, 20km cycle and a 5k run.

You've already done the run, you've done 3/4 or 75% of the bike, so the biggest jump is almost doubling the swim distance. But that's still pretty achievable given for most juniors it's only about 15-20 minutes of swimming.

Something to look forward to!

Have fun! :)