The shortest form of triathlon at an event is generally the super-sprint distance triathlon or what can be called the ‘Starter Triathlon’.

　　Why you should do a triathlon

　　What are the different triathlon distances?

　　How fit do you have to be to do a triathlon?

　　Held at a wide number of beginner-friendly races, a super-sprint triathlon involves the following:

　　Swim: 400m

　　Bike: 10km

　　Run: 2.5km

　　Free 8 week supersprint triathlon training plan

　　You can also find Try-a-Tri/Starter Tri races, often with an open-water swim at the start of the race. At the Castle Triathlon Series events, for example, the Starter Tri consists of:

　　Swim: 200m

　　Bike: 15km

　　Run: 2km

　　There are, however, triathlons that can be shorter than the above distances, including the nationwide GoTri events created by British Triathlon. These will invariably start with a pool swim and an example format is:

　　Swim: 100m (four lengths of the pool)

　　Bike: 5km

　　Run: 1km

　　If you want to increase your race distance from the above formats, the next challenge would be the sprint-distance triathlon. These involve the below distances and often include an open-water swim at the beginning of the race instead of a pool swim.

　　Swim: 750m

　　Bike: 20km

　　Run: 5km

　　How to train for your first sprint-distance triathlon

　　Sprint super-sprint triathlons: 14 of the UK's best for beginners

　　More advice for beginner triathletes

　　What's a good triathlon time?

　　What muscles do you use in triathlon?

　　What does ‘economy’ mean when triathlon training?

　　How to train for your first triathlon

　　15 training tips for the beginner triathlete

　　8 lessons I learnt from my first triathlon