A quick bit of history
I have not been able to find any official reasons that we swim, bike, run but about one hundred years ago the French did bike, run, canoe events. This is even coming back in the form of run, kayak, bike and other sports as well. The first modern triathlon was raced in San Diego in 1974. There were 46 athletes which included more than a dozen women. The first Ironman was raced in 1978 and won by Gordon Haller, in 1979 the first woman, Lyn Lemaire, became the first Women Ironman World Champion. This a great article to read, https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/dec/11/san-diegans-remember-first-triathlon-40-years-ago/
I am willing to bet that pretty much ever every triathlete has Googled why the order of triathlon racing is swim, bike, run. Well, most of the time it is.
So why do we swim, bike, run?
Swim Safety
The swim is first for safety reasons. Since most accidents, and critical injuries and deaths during triathlon happen during the swim, if we were to swim last or even second most athletes would be swimming exhausted and possibly on an empty fuel tank. This is a recipe for disaster, water and exhaustion don’t mix. You can’t just stop swimming.
Transitions
Putting a wetsuit on is hard enough. Can you imagine if you’d have to put on a wetsuit after biking or running, you’d be tired and sweaty, making the work(out) of putting on a wetsuit even harder and slower.
Bike Safety
Ever watch a grand tour bike race. There always seems to be an accident 1/2 KM from the finish line. This is partially due to the racers being exhausted. Ever try to ride 56 miles or more and then sprint the last 1/2 mile. It’s darn hard. Standing on the pedals seems impossible and controlling the bike in a straight line, for some, may even be harder. Triathlon isn’t really about sprinting to the bike leg finish line (draft legal could come to a sprint) but if you can’t safely control the bike there is a greater risk of crashing.
Startline
If triathlons were to start with the bike can you imagine how much space would be needed to set up corals for the athletes and their bikes? Imagine 2500 people with bikes in a street waiting to start a race. The madhouse that would be and anyone want to guestimate how many startline crashes there would be. Ever see the El Tour de Mesa startline.
Finish line It could also be an issue if the race finished with the bike. This goes back to sprinting for the finish line and accidents but also how much space could be needed to finish 50, 60 or 100+ athletes at the same time and enforcing no-drafting and blocking rules would never work, in fact, they would probably go away. Would that be an advantage or disadvantage? Every bike leg would turn into a massive criterium bike race. That would make for dangerous fun! I would bet that if all triathlons had this format participation would be much lower too.
Traffic control Closing roads in the early morning for most cities and towns is much easier. Keeping the bike earlier makes controlling traffic less challenging.
A potential negative Some say that triathlon favors strong runners. Many triathlons are won by the athlete with the fastest run, even if they were second, third or fourth off the bike. This could help us age groupers too. I have lost a 3rd place finish and podium picture to a stronger runner, even though we did not sprint to the finish line together. Yes, I still call him a friend.
I too believe that yes a triathlon may be won by the strongest runner and that triathlon is more about the run than not. Food for thought, if a really strong runner has a crappy bike she/he may not be that strong of a runner anymore. You must have a strong bike to have a strong run. If you ride 56 miles and are exhausted the run will be awful, miserable and painful. If you can get off the bike feeling like you could go another ten or fifteen miles your run is going to be much better. If you don’t have a good bike you may be setting yourself up for a bad run. So get strong on the bike.
I think it makes pretty good sense why we Swim, Bike Run, but I wonder what the conversations sounded like in the early days of triathlon when the organizers were setting up the first races.
If you’d like to try some other adventurous multi-sport events, Google hybrid sports. Water Volleyball, Canoe Polo and SUPball could be fun.
Be fast, Be safe, Stay healthy
Thanks for reading
Mike