How we rate triathlon races

The 1 to 5 scale

Every score runs from 1 to 5, and 5 is always the better, easier or nicer end. Windy courses score low on wind, so a 5 means sheltered. Hilly courses score low on flatness, so a 5 means flat. We show the score together with a plain word for it, never a “low to high” label, so you do not have to work out which way a bar points.

Example: calm water

1. 1
   Rough
2. 2
   Choppy
3. 3
   Some chop
4. 4
   Mostly calm
5. 5
   Glassy

A few traits are shown on each race and can be sorted on, but are not part of any score, because athletes disagree on whether they are good or bad. PR potential, bike speed and course ease are examples: a fast course is a plus for one racer and boring for another. These also follow the rule that 5 is the nicer end, so course ease of 5 means an easy course and 1 means an extreme one.

Every measurement is shown in metric and imperial, for example 21 °C (70 °F), 2,164 m (7,100 ft) and 180 km (112 mi).

Categories and weights

The overall score is a weighted average of six category scores. The weights blend how much attention each area gets in race reviews and forums with what published race rankings emphasise. On top of that, 30% of the final number comes straight from the racer satisfaction rating, so races that athletes love despite hard weather or awkward logistics are not buried by those scores. The other 70% is the weighted average below.

Each sub-rating also carries a confidence: high, medium or low. Within a category, a low-confidence rating counts for about half as much as a high-confidence one, and a medium-confidence rating for about four fifths. If a race has no information on a sub-rating, it is left out and the rest are re-weighted.

Evidence adjustment

A race with two glowing press pieces should not outrank one with fifty detailed race reports. So before anything is shown, the race’s score is pulled toward the average of all races, and the pull is strongest when there is little evidence. With n separate reviews, the shown score is n parts the race’s own score and 6 parts the all-race average, divided by n + 6.

For example, with an average of 3.7: a race that scores 4.4 on 2 reviews is shown as 3.9, and one that scores 4.4 on 20 reviews is shown as 4.2. Reviews from the same forum thread count once. Races with thin evidence carry a dashed score box and a provisional note on their page. Rankings sort on the full unrounded value, even though scores are shown to one decimal.

strong

10 or more separate reviews and reports

moderate

5 to 9 separate reviews and reports

thin

Fewer than 5 separate reviews, so the score is pulled toward the average

What the overall score means

The overall score is calibrated against the whole field. The average race shows 3.4, and each standard deviation above or below the average is worth 0.55 points. That spreads the races out instead of letting nearly all of them cluster around the middle, so a 4.5 really does stand apart. Next to every overall score we print where it sits among all races, such as “Top 3%”.

Category scores are calibrated the same way, with a slightly wider spread. Because of this, a race that is good at everything can score above its single best category: it sits further from the field average than any one category does. If a race has an overall of 4.9 and a best category of 4.7, that is expected, not a typo.

In short: the steps are the weighted category average, the 30% racer-verdict blend, the evidence adjustment, and then calibration against the field. The order of the races never changes in the last step. Only the spacing does.

The wetsuit rule

Under triathlon rules, wetsuits are allowed for age-group athletes when the water is at or below 24.5 °C (76.1 °F). Above that they are banned, and the swim is slower and harder on anyone who counted on one. The wetsuit-legal rating looks at the typical water temperature across past editions and how often the race stayed under that line: 5 means a wetsuit is legal almost every year, 1 means it rarely is.

Where reviews come from

We read race reports on personal blogs, triathlon forums such as Slowtwitch, race-review sites, magazine and news coverage, and hotel reviews for the stay and travel scores. Every race page lists the reviews we used with a link back to the original, the year it was raced, and a short summary. Course facts such as elevation, cutoffs and water temperature come from the race organiser and course data, and the sources are listed at the bottom of each page.

Photo licensing

Race photos come from Wikimedia Commons and other sources that allow reuse, under licences such as CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0 and public domain. Each photo is credited on its race page with the photographer, the licence and a link to the original. We prefer pictures from race day, and say so when a photo shows the venue instead.