Triathlons

Triathlon is a multidiscipline sport, combining swimming, cycling and running in sequence.There are five official distances: Sprint Distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km bike); Olympic (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km swim); ITU Long (3km swim, 80km bike, 20km run); Half/Middle-Distance/70.3/Half-Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run); Full/Ironman (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run). There are other unofficial distances, such as super-sprint triathlons or ultra-triathlons. Multisports have been growing in popularity in the UK over recent years, particularly triathlons. The UK now has over 1,000 triathlon events each year with over 200,000 participants. Some triathlons take place in cities, with the swim section in pools or manmade lakes, and the cycle and run elements through cities and past landmarks. Alternatively, some triathlons require open-water swimming in the sea, and take the cycling and running sections off-road onto trails and difficult terrains. There are multisport variations of triathlons such as duathlon, aquathlon, and aquabike, which focus on two of the disciplines but not all three.