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Triathlon
It's an oft-bandied sentence - triathlon is probably the fastest growing sport among young women in the UK. Its appeal is obvious, as many people that take up the challenge are already enjoying one of the disciplines, usually either running or cycling.
But what kind of person makes a good triathlete? What kit is really needed? And how is the sport developed in the UK? Peter Holmes of the British Triathlon Federation answered our questions.
SGB: What are the basic kit requirements?
PH: At basic level, a pair of swimming trunks, a rickety old bike, and a pair of running shoes, and something to complete the race in - that means either a pair of swimming shorts or an all-in-one suit as you can't change kit - there's no nudity allowed in transition!
Up to elite level, they also use wetsuits so they can compete in lakes or the sea in summer, as if the temperature is too low it's mandatory to have one, plus a carbon fibre bike which will be quite expensive but nice and light for 40km of cycling, and a pair of racing shoes.
Our elites are riding very expensive bikes, up to about £5000 upward, but you can pick up a basic bike for a couple of hundred pounds from a normal bike shop and still be reasonably competitive.
Most people can swim, most people can ride a bike and most people can run; it's easy to get going with. It's not like you have to buy a horse or a boat to get going, the three components are quite simple in that respect.
SGB: There are set distances for races, is that correct?
PH: Sprint is a 750m swim, 20km cycle and a 5km run; standard, or Olympic distance, is double that and that's the distance used at World Championships, Commonwealth games, major championships... But the beauty of triathlon is that it's quite a variable sport and there are no set distances apart from at championship level; you can generate your own events for your club or local groups. You can have a 500m swim, get out, cycle 10 or 12km... It's very flexible in that way, unlike say athletics where it has to be 100m or 400m; it makes the sport much more accessible as well.
SGB: What's the demographic of the average triathlete? What other sports do they do?
PH: What we're finding now is that rather than people coming into triathlon from running swimming or cycling, there is a new generation that are just triathletes, whose sport from a young age is just triathlon. But the vast majority of people taking it up are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and are coming to it through either cycling or running. Sometimes, if they want to be competitive but are perhaps recovering from injury sustained, say, running, and they want to maintain fitness with other disciplines, or if they're just looking for a new challenge, it has that kind of appeal. It sounds tough, it's a good motivational goal, like a marathon.
SGB: The cross training aspect must make it popular too...
PH: Swimming and cycling are non-weight bearing activities, and the risk of injury is quite low, so you can train quite a lot and work your entire body instead of just training one set of muscles as you might in cycling or running individually.
SGB: What are the key brands in terms of specialist kit?
PH: As an organisation, we have a partner in Orca, who make wetsuits. They make a whole range of tri-suits, the all-in-ones, wetsuits and running kit. They were founded in New Zealand, which is a hotbed for triathlon.
Other companies are coming into it as well, of course.
SGB: What characteristics should a potential triathlete have?
PH: A good sense of humour, a passion for hard work - and for variety, as it requires quite a lot of training to get to a good level. It can be time consuming as there are three sports to train for, but that's also part of the appeal. If it's a nice evening, go out on the bike for a couple of hours, if you don't fancy running go for a swim.
SGB: What are the growth groups in triathletes? Young women seem to be predominant.
PH: That group has developed in the last five years; there has been a number of women-only triathlons which have developed around the UK which has given a lot of women the opportunity to try out the sport.
SGB: What's the purpose of the British Triathlon Federation?
PH: We're the national governing body for the sport of triathlon in the UK, so we sit above our three home nations of Triathlon England, Triathlon Scotland and Welsh Triathlon, and act as the main link between our elite triathletes, and organisations like the British Olympic Association, UK Sports and the International Triathlon Union. We're the guys who enter the teams into elite competition.
Crucially, we also initiate development projects such as coaching referees and dealing with all matters of development and operations, overseeing the structure of the sport in this country.
SGB: How have you developed the sport?
PH: Fundamentally, from a performance point of view there is now a really sound structure for developing young talent into potential medal winners at European Championship, World Championship and ultimately Olympic Games standard. We've brought in structures with our sponsors Corus and Mazda, for example the Corus Kids of Steel series, which allows kids between about 9 and 13 to start triathlon at a very young age so they can see if they enjoy the sport and if they really take to it. There are development projects taking them through from youngsters into youth projects, junior talent academies, onwards into the senior ranks.
On the development side, we have a very sound structure of coaching and tuition to develop a number of quality coaches in the country; alongside that we run coaching and referee courses, so we're really developing the sport throughout, so it gives everyone in the country the opportunity to take part in an event.
We employ a full time equity officer whose job is to take the sport out to ethnic minorities, as the sport is predominantly viewed as a white middle class sport; we want to make it a sport for all.
What success have you had with enticing ethnic minorities over to triathlon?
The vast majority on the Kids of Steel project in Crystal Palace last year were from ethnic minorities, which was wonderful to see; it's getting it into people's heads that any rickety old bike can be used, it doesn't have to be expensive.
SGB: What work are you doing with schools?
PH: In every region of the UK we have a regional development manager who would approach the schools. The cost of hosting Kids of Steel would come through to British Triathlon through our sponsors, Corus. We would put on the event at a local leisure centre, and use those facilities so schools can turn up throughout the day and just take part. We'd supply swim hats for everyone, and bikes for everyone so there's equal opportunity; kids just need to turn up with a pair of swimming trunks and a pair of trainers, and take part. We provide the rest.
