Athlete's Guide to USA Triathlon Age-Group Triathlon (Ages 15+) 2026

Yes. Under section 3.1 you may:

• use any stroke, tread water or float;
• stand on or push off the bottom;
• rest by holding a buoy, stationary boat or other inanimate object.

You may not:

• pull on or push off an object (or a boat or kayak) to move forward (time penalty);
• run along the shoreline to make progress, except at designated entry and exit points.

In trouble? Raise an arm overhead and call for help. If you need more than something to rest on, you must withdraw.

Swim equipment: wear the official swim cap (a second cap goes underneath). No fins, snorkels, paddles or other propulsion aids. A personal swim buoy is allowed only if it stays undeployed; if you inflate it, you must withdraw. Buoyancy shorts are permitted at local sanctioned races (no more than 5 mm thick, top of hips to top of knees) but not at Nationals or qualifiers, and not when wetsuits are prohibited by temperature.

Contact: accidental bumps aren't penalized; continuing to impede someone is a time penalty; deliberately targeting someone is a DSQ.

It depends on the official water temperature, taken about an hour before the start (section 3.4). For local age-group races (not National Championships or World Triathlon qualifiers):

At USA Triathlon National Championships and World Triathlon qualifiers, wetsuits are prohibited at 76.2°F and above and mandatory at 60.6°F and below.

Equipment limits:

• No more than 5 mm thick anywhere. It may cover anything except face, hands and feet; when mandatory, it must cover at least the torso and back.
• Neoprene boots and socks are allowed when wetsuits are permitted. Gloves only when wetsuits are mandatory (or with a medical exemption). Nothing webbed.
• When wetsuits are prohibited, swimwear must be 100% textile, not cover the neck, and not extend past the elbows or knees.

Before the start (section 13.1.1), the race can be cancelled, postponed, rerouted, changed to a duathlon, aquathlon or other two-segment race, shortened (keeping at least two segments), have its swim shortened or cancelled, or change how it starts.

Swim guidance (section 3.4.4), using the official (adjusted) water temperature:

The Head Referee can also shorten or cancel the swim for waves, currents, wind or water quality.

During the race (section 13.1.2), the course can be rerouted, or the race suspended, resumed or stopped. If it's suspended, you restart only from where you were stopped, and your time isn't adjusted for the delay. The rules (including no outside help) still apply while you wait.

Under sections 4.3 and 6.3:

• A bike helmet is compulsory. It must be approved by a testing authority recognized by a World Triathlon national federation, and not altered (including the chin strap) unless the alteration is also approved. Any color or design is fine.
• Wear it whenever you ride at the event: the race, course familiarization and training sessions.
• Chin strap fastened from the moment you take the bike off the rack until it's back on the rack. Age-group penalty: warning and amend; DSQ if not corrected.
• During the swim, leave the helmet in transition with the strap unfastened. An official may unfasten it.
• If you pull off the course, don't unbuckle until you're off the course and off the bike; buckle up before you get back on.
• Put the helmet number sticker where instructed, with space around it so it's visible.

Riding without a helmet in the race is an immediate DSQ.

Under section 6:

• One bike per athlete. Rack it before transition closes, in your assigned spot (on the side showing your number, if numbered). In a draft-illegal race, hang it by the seat, both brake levers or both sides of the handlebar, as the race directs.
• Only race gear in transition. Keep your gear between the rack and the front edge of your wheel. A towel or mat to lay out gear is fine, but marking your spot isn't allowed, and marks or objects used as markers may be removed without telling you.
• Don't touch other athletes' gear. If you knock it accidentally, put it back as it was before you go. Interference that stops someone continuing is a DSQ.
• Don't stop in the flow lanes, and no nudity.
• No riding in transition. Push your bike by hand, and mount only after the mount line with one foot fully on the ground past it. Dismount with one foot on the ground before the dismount line. A poor mount or dismount is a time penalty; riding into or out of transition is a DSQ.
• Losing a shoe during a mount or dismount isn't penalized.

Under sections 4.1 and 4.5:

• Obey all traffic laws unless police or licensed traffic control direct otherwise. Never cross a yellow center line (solid or dashed) unless directed to. Unintentional: warning and amend; intentional: time penalty or DSQ for endangerment.
• Ride single file on the far right (or far left if the course says so), except when passing. Riding side by side, or sitting out in the lane on your own, is a yellow card.
• Blocking that impedes or contacts another rider is a yellow card. Reckless riding or deliberately targeting another athlete is a red card (DSQ).
• In a draft-illegal race, your only contact points are feet on pedals, hands or forearms on the bars, and seat on the saddle (yellow card; DSQ if repeated).
• Ride the whole course. If you leave it, re-enter where you left. You're responsible for counting your own laps.
• Use only one bike, and keep it with all its parts. No mirrors (unless medically exempt), no fairings, and no bottles stuffed in the front of your race suit.

In a draft-illegal race (section 4.5):

• The draft zone is 12 meters (about 39 feet, roughly six bike lengths) measured back from the leading edge of the front wheel of the rider ahead, across the full width of the road.
• Behind a motorcycle it's 15 m; behind any other motor vehicle, 35 m.
• To pass: enter the zone and keep moving through it. Your front wheel must pass the other rider's front wheel within 25 seconds. Age-group athletes may pass straight through the slipstream. Pass on the left (unless told to ride on the far left). You can't drop back out or sit in the zone once you've entered it.
• When you're passed: you must immediately drop back and keep dropping back until you're out of the passer's draft zone. Re-passing before you're out is a blue card.

You may enter the zone without penalty while legally passing, for safety, near an aid station, approaching or leaving transition, at an acute turn, or where officials have exempted a section.

Penalty: drafting, failing to pass in time, or not dropping back is a blue card. Passing on the wrong side is a yellow card.

A Technical Official shows a card and calls your race number (section 7):

• Yellow card: time penalty for a minor infringement (for example blocking, illegal pass or position). Served at the next bike penalty box, or "on the spot" on the run.
• Blue card: drafting, overtaken or re-passing penalty, served at the next bike penalty box.
• Red card: disqualification. Don't stop at the penalty box.

At the penalty box: stop, put both feet down, and tell the official your number, how many penalties and the card color(s). Your time starts then and ends when the official says "Go". No bike adjustments, and only the food and drink you're carrying. Skipping the box or not serving the full time is a DSQ.

With a bike course under 80 km, two or more blue cards may mean disqualification after the race (three or more at 80 km and longer).

Headphones: no. No headphones or headsets of any kind, in any segment, including bone-conduction headphones and earbuds in or over the ears. Smart helmets are banned on the bike. Ear-protection plugs are allowed in the swim (sections 2.4.6 and 3.3).

Phones and watches: yes, but not in a distracting way. You may carry and use a phone, smartwatch or other device for navigation, tracking or data recording. You may not make or take calls, text, play music, use social media, take photos or use radios during the race.

Also banned throughout: glass containers, and hazardous items such as a hard cast or jewelry.

Penalty: warning and amend if possible; DSQ if not corrected.

Only within limits (section 2.4.5):

• Event personnel may give you nutrition, drinks, and mechanical or medical help. Help from anyone else (friends, family, coaches): warning and amend, or DSQ if the situation can't be put back as it was.
• Being told your split times or where other athletes are isn't outside assistance.
• No pacing by non-athletes on any part of the course: warning and amend, DSQ if not corrected.
• Other athletes in the same race may share incidental items such as food and drinks after an aid station, pumps, tubes, tubular tires and puncture repair kits, but can't hand over equipment that stops them finishing their own race (DSQ for both).
• No athlete may physically push or pull another forward (DSQ for the helper, and for the athlete who accepted it).

If your bike breaks, you may push or carry it along the bike course, as long as you don't obstruct others.

Under sections 5.1 to 5.4:

• You may run or walk, and may run barefoot. You may not crawl (DSQ).
• Take your helmet off before you run. Running while wearing or carrying it: warning and amend, DSQ if not corrected.
• Wear your run bib (if provided) where it can be seen, unaltered.
• No pacers: nobody who isn't racing may run with or alongside you.
• Don't grab posts, trees or other fixed objects to swing around turns (time penalty).
• No poles, canes or crutches unless you have an adaptive athlete exception.
• Shoes must meet World Athletics road rules: sole stack height no more than 40 mm and no more than one rigid plate, or you're disqualified.

You finish when any part of your torso crosses the vertical line at the leading edge of the finish line (or by the timing device if no official is there). At USA Triathlon National and World Triathlon qualifying events, nobody else may accompany you in the finish chute.

Under section 15 of the USA Triathlon Multisport Competition Rules, at an age-group race:

• Announce the protest to the Head Referee within 15 minutes of you (or the athlete you're protesting) finishing, whichever is later.
• Submit it in writing on the official protest form within a further 30 minutes, with a $50 fee (cash or check).
• The written protest must state the rule allegedly broken, where and roughly when it happened, who was involved or saw it, the specific facts, and your signature.

You can protest a result error, another athlete's conduct or equipment, or a Head Referee decision. You can't protest a "judgment call" (cycling position, drafting, blocking, obstruction, endangerment, unsportsmanlike conduct) or a time penalty you've already served. Only an athlete in the race with direct knowledge can file; a parent or coach may file only for an injured athlete.

Results become official when the Head Referee signs them. After that they can be changed only by the Competition Jury on site, by the Head Referee within 48 hours (if there's no jury), or on appeal to USA Triathlon.