Frequently Asked Questions
Hi & welcome to Derby Triathlon Club’s Frequently asked questions page. Here you will find answers to many questions we get about the club and triathlons. There are also questions answered about related multi-sport events, e.g. Duathlon, Aquabike & Aquathlon.
Got a question that doesn’t appear here? Please send your question to webmaster @ derbytriathlonclub.co.uk (please delete the spaces, if you copy & paste it to your email client.
Triathlon is a multi-sport race, where competitors swim, then cycle and finally run, before they finish the race. There are several distances over which triathlons are run, there is a question about these below.
Triathlon is open to all who will turn 8, or older, in the current calendar year. Competitors are grouped in “age groups” as a sub-division, please see the question about this below.
Adult Triathlons vary in length from Super Sprint to Iron, or Long, distance events. Juniors have their own distances and these vary by age group.
Adult Race distances.
| Name | Swim distance | Bike distance | Run distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Sprint | 200m | 10Km | 2.5Km |
| Sprint (pool) | 400m | 20Km | 5Km |
| Spint (open water) | 750m | 20Km | 5Km |
| Standard (Olympic) | 1500m | 40Km | 10Km |
| Middle distance (Half Ironman) | 1900m | 90Km | 21.2Km (½ Marathon) |
| Long distance (Ironman Distance) | 3800m | 180Km | 42.2Km (Marathon) |
The above table has the “Standard” distances for adult races, due to road junctions etc, many races vary up to ±10% of these values.
Junior race distances (NB distances given are maximum distances)
| Age group | Category | Swim distance (Pool) | Swim distance (open water) | Bike distance (grass) | Bike distance (tarmac) | Run distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | TriStar Start | 50m | 100m | 1Km | 1.5Km | 600m |
| 9 or 10 | TriStar 1 | 150m | 200m | 2Km | 4Km | 1.2Km |
| 11 or 12 | TriStar 2 | 200m | 300m | 4Km | 6Km | 1.8Km |
| 13 or 14 | TriStar 3 | 300m | 500m | 6Km | 8Km | 2.4Km |
| 15 or 16 | Youth A | 400m | 750m | 8Km | 20Km | 5Km |
| 15 or 16 | Youth A | Sprint or Super-sprint distance adult events - See Adult table | ||||
| 17 | Youth B | Up to Standard distance - See Adult table | ||||
| 18 or 19 | Youth C | Up to Middle (18) or long (19) distance events - See Adult table | ||||
| Please note - the above are MAXIMUM distances. | ||||||
A swim suit and T-shirt is the minimum clothing that you will need, as well as shoes for the bike & run sections. These don’t need to be “top of the range”, as long as you are comfortable swimming, cycling & running in them, that is all you need.
You may add clothing on top of your swimsuit, BUT you MUST NOT get nude.
Absolutely NOT! Any roadworthy bike can be used for the cycle part of a triathlon. So dust off that bike you’ve not ridden for years, check the mechanicals (chain, breaks, gears etc.) and give it a go.
Membership and session booking is done through SportMember. SportMember provides a platform through a web browser or a dedicated app. The two methods are slightly different and some features are only available in the web browser route.
SportMember is based around teams (originally design for football teams), so we have 2 teams (Adult and Junior). Parents are linked to junior members as having a Parent “Role” (they may be a member of DTC too, but don’t have to be. SportMember allows members to view the “team” calendar and book on to sessions (a junior member’s parent will do this for them).
Yes, as long as they will be at least 8 year’s old in the year that they join. A parent must register with SportMember (see question above) before joining their child or children up to DTC.
Membership last 1 year from 1 January each year. See our constitution page for the different membership types available.
