Watched Hyde Park? Been inspired

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Here at British Triathlon, we hope you enjoyed the action at this year's Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship London presented by Hyde Park. If you have been inspired by the achievements of the athletes, then we have given some top tips below on how to take part in the sport.

About Triathlon

Triathlon involves a continuous race in the three disciplines swimming, cycling and running. A standard triathlon is made up of a swim, followed by a cycle ride and finally a run.  There are no gaps between the disciplines, which is why triathlon is often reported as having a fourth discipline.

Triathlon is a vibrant, exciting and rapidly growing sport that is accessible for people of all ages and abilities.  You don’t need expensive specialist equipment or any experience to get started and there are events all over the country with varying distances.

Events range from short pool based novice events designed to give people a taster through to the full Olympic distance events that Elite athletes race .

There are three race distances:

Super Sprint: 400m swim; 10km bike and 2.5km run
Sprint: 750m swim; 20km bike and 5km run
Standard or Olympic: 1,500m swim; 40km bike and 10km run

To find a registered event which you can take part in visit:

www.britishtriathlon.org/events/index.php


How do I get involved?

One of the best ways to get involved in triathlon is by contacting your local club. There will be opportunities to train and normally a coach to help you along. There are clubs which provide a service for adults and young people as well as clubs for beginners and seasoned triathletes.

All triathlon clubs are incredibly friendly and welcome anybody new to the sport.  The best way to get involved is just turn up and have a go.

All of the British Triathlon affiliated clubs are detailed at:

www.britishtriathlon.org/clubs/index.php


Become part of the triathlon community

There are membership organisations For those that want to get more involved in triathlon after taking part in an event or visiting a club, you can join your home nation:

Triathlon England
Welsh Triathlon
Triathlonscotland

Click here to join

The benefits of membership are that you will be insured while you are training, receive discounts on race entries and have access to a legal claims service. Triathlon is unique in that members of their Home Nation can also represent their sport at an international level, being part of the GB Age Group team. The Age Group competition system means that every athlete from aged 8 to 80 can take part in races in their own age category. This gives you the ability to race people of the same age and sex from the novice event through to National, European and World championships.

And finally
Triathlon is a unique sport. Our aim is to enable everyone to achieve there individual triathlon goals. Your goal may be to complete your first triathlon. Your goal may be to compete at a World Championship event representing Great Britain.

We can help with either of these goals through our structured programmes which we have developed to support you and your personal triathlon challenges.

Competition is not necessarily for everyone and triathlon can be a phenomenal participation experience that provides you with the framework and support to get fit and enjoy being part of a rapidly growing sport.

This weekend

The Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship London presented by Tata Steel.

The event takes place today, 24 July to the 25 July. It encompasses, age group races, a paratriathlon event and, of course the elite races.

If you can attend the event in Hyde Park, then we would encourage anyone from within London to make the journey.

However, if you can't, don't worry.

Follow us on twitter @BritTri

Join our Facebook community

Watch the latest videos from the event

Or tune into BBC2 from 15.00 on Sunday 25 July, and watch the men's event live, with highlights of the women's race.