the.com/triathlon
three sports stapled together because finishing one apparently wasn't suffering enough.
means An endurance race combining three consecutive disciplines—typically swimming, cycling, and running—done back-to-back without rest.
from From Greek: 'tri-' (three) plus 'athlon' (contest, prize), the same 'athlon' buried in 'athlete' and 'pentathlon.' The word follows the ancient Greek naming pattern for multi-event competitions, but the modern triathlon itself is a 20th-century invention—the Greeks gave us the label long before anyone thought to bolt swimming, biking, and running into one ordeal.
- origin
- Invented by San Diego runners in 1974
- the order
- Swim, bike, run — drowning risk goes first
- ironman distance
- 140.6 miles in a single day
- transition zone
- Racers literally race while changing clothes
- olympic debut
- Sydney 2000, only recently legitimate
ironman world championship — annual endurance race in kona, hawaii since 1978, featuring 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run
world triathlon series — international circuit of olympic-distance races (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) held across multiple countries yearly
xterra world championship — off-road triathlon in maui since 1996, combining ocean swim with mountain bike and trail running