Race opportunities for under 14s

(Tristart to Tristar3) and those new to triathlon

There are many types of triathlon and multi-sport races held across the country for the different age categories. 

You can find a race via the British Triathlon website, filtering by age and region –https://www.britishtriathlon.org/events.  An overview of types of event are below – we recommend the East Region League to get you started!

Ask at the sign-in desk at Saturday training if you’d like to be put in touch with a coach or family that have experience with any of the following race opportunities.

• Triathlon England East Region league events are usually run by clubs from across the region. Most are long-standing races, so are well organised and beginner friendly.  These are swimming pool based (with exception of one or two, which are open water swims) and biking is done off-road on grass.  They are listed here: https://www.britishtriathlon.org/east/take-part/race-series/junior-events. If you are a British Triathlon member, you can gain league points from this series, the sum of which determine the overall league winners (your best 5 results are counted).  Joining the “British Triathlon East Junior Race Series” Facebook page is useful – lots of update information is shared there.
• IRC or Inter-Regional Championship races. These are the National Championships for Tristar2 & Tristar3 triathletes, with only the best from each region selected to compete based on performance at certain regional races during the year (these are labelled as IRC on the league listings for each region). More information is found here: https://www.britishtriathlon.org/events/performance-events/big-weekend/inter-regional-championships)
• ‘Big’ events, such as Castle Triathlon Series and Outlaw Triathlon, often have a children’s wave – and will be well organised. Though, these will normally be open water and not pool-based.
• GoTRI offer beginners level multi-sport events. Most are for adults, but there are also a few for children – https://www.gotri.org
• Other non-league events can be a bit hit and miss in terms of organisation, as some are organised by commercial operations and so cram in lots of competitors. You should look for races that are run by a triathlon club, or similar, as these will usually be better organised and more friendly than commercially run events.

All triathlon races must have an event licence from British Triathlon so you shouldn’t have trouble finding something suitable in their events database.

It is worth noting that many league races, especially those that are also IRC qualifiers, sell out quickly.  You may need to plan ahead and ensure you enter the races you really want to participate in as soon as possible.  Opening dates for race entries are advertised on the league listings page – https://www.britishtriathlon.org/east/take-part/race-series/junior-events – and often reminders of these dates are posted on the “British Triathlon East Junior Race Series” Facebook group.