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My First Triathlon

10 Important Triathlon Rules

1. You must behave in a manner which is safe, fair and demonstrates good sports conduct. Be careful, enjoy the race and don't give anyone a hard time.
2. You must have your torso covered on both the cycle and the run [males must wear a singlet, swimmers are acceptable for females] and you must have your race number pinned to your chest or visible on a race number belt.
3. Your helmet must be fastened securely before you remove your bike from the rack and kept done up until after you replace your bike on the rack in the same place. You will be stopped if you do not obey this rule.
4. No riding in the transition area. You must mount and dismount your bike in the marked zones.
5. You must keep to the left at all times, unless you are passing someone in front of you, and even if the road is closed to other traffic. You must obey the road rules - they still apply even though you are racing. You are sharing the road with other competitors and motorists.
6. Don't get too close to the person in front of you on the bike. This is called drafting and is not allowed in Triathlon. You must ride single file to the left and stay seven metres (four bike lengths) behind the front wheel of the competitor in front of you.
7. If you want to overtake someone you have a time limit to do so and you must be gaining on the person in front at all times while you pass. The correct way to pass is to stay on the left, ride up behind the person in front, when you are close enough, go around them [checking behind you first] and once you have passed them immediately move back to the left of the road.
8. You must overtake to the right and not on the inside or left of another competitor.
9. If you get passed, you must immediately drop back so you are out of the draft zone. You may not speed up once someone's wheel has gone past yours to catch up to them again. You must drop out of the draft zone first before you attempt to overtake them. More on drafting rules is in the Competition Rules link below.
10. You may not receive outside assistance of any kind from anyone. If you encounter difficulty in the swim raise your hand to get the attention of a safety canoe. On other parts of the course, talk to a technical official or race medical personnel.

Triathlon Australia Official Race Rules

The TA Race Competition Rules are intended to:

• Create an atmosphere of sportsmanship, equality and fair play;
• Provide safety and protection;
• Emphasise ingenuity and skill without unduly limiting the competitor's freedom of action;
• Penalise competitors who gain an unfair advantage;
• Endorse the principle that triathlon is an individual sport and encourage individual performance and initiative; and
• Promote team competition between TA affiliated associations.

These rules apply to triathlons, duathlon, aquathlon and related events, even where only the name triathlon is stated.

Age Determination

Age determination for all categories, with exception of Under 23 and Junior Sprint, is determined by age on December 31st during the season of the triathlon competition. For the categories Under 23 and Junior Sprint, age determination is by age on December 31st in the year of the coming Triathlon World Championship competition.

Current full TA Race Competition Rules may be downladed from the link below.

Link to the Competiton Rules