Not at all. The festival includes events suitable for beginners through to experienced athletes.

Yes. Many clubs and groups attend each year, taking part across multiple events and race formats.

Many participants choose to stay locally and enjoy everything the English Riviera has to offer before and after race day.

The festival includes triathlon, aquabike, aquathlon, sea swimming, 5K running and 10K running events.

Klarna is now enabled for all our events. Fill in the registration form and then click the dark blue ‘Pay in Full’ button. On the next screen select ‘Pay another Way’ & you’ll see the Klarna option.

If you’re buying a British Triathlon Race Pass!
Unfortunately Klarna does not work for bookings where you are also buying a British Triathlon Race Pass. This is because the funds for Race Passes go straight to British Triathlon. In this instance please answer YES in the ‘I am a BTF member’ box & type KLARNA in as the licence number. You can then complete your booking with KLARNA.

After you’ve booked you can add one or more Racepasses to your bookings. You can view your bookings (via the link in your confirmation email). You then click to ‘Add items to booking’, then select and pay for the race pass to link it to the correct triathlon booking.

Please see our Withdrawals Policy

The detailed race information including maps, details on parking, registration, baggage and start times will be e-mailed out to participants the Tuesday before the event. This sometimes ends up in junk mail so please keep an eye out for it! You can also find it on the relevant event page under Race Manual. See full list of events here

We allow ebikes at all our cycling events, except for the Exeter Gravel Races which are classified as races under British Cycling rules. ebikes are also allowed at all our triathlon and aquabike events as we are keen to make our events as inclusive as possible. We just ask you to let us know that you are riding an ebike.

The best way is to click the link in the confirmation email you received. There are then options to ‘add items to booking’,  to change your booking or to transfer your entry to another person. There is an admin fee of between £8-£15 to change to a different event plus any difference in price.

We’re doing our best to minimise our environmental impact. and use of single use plastics. Initiatives include

• In 2026 we are transitioning to fully cupless events. Any cups we do provide are uncoated paper & designed to be recycled. We also encourage people to bring their own cups to events, both to take on liquids during events & if you want to buy a hot drink from any of our event caterers.
• All medals are optional & we make a charity donation if you opt out
• No dates on medals to minimise waste. We still put dates on medal ribbons though.
• Any left over food from our events is taken to a local food bank.
• We minimise use of single use plastics: we only use reusable zip ties & wherever possible use 5mm line instead of barrier tape.
• For cycling events we now supply waxed cotton twine to attach numbers to bikes instead of single use plastic zip ties.
• Swim hats are reused where possible & given on request at our pool based triathlons.
• We encourage car sharing & offer discounts at some events for people who arrive on foot or by public transport.

 Read the Sustainability & Reducing Plastics Use article on our website for the full programme.

We now have a loyalty points system at Sportiva Events to reward people who take part in lots of our events. You accrue a point for each £1 you spend on events with us. Points can be swapped for Event Gift Vouchers at any time as follows

100 points    £10
150 points       £20
250 points       £35
350 points       £50
400 points       £60

We also have double points on selected events. Unless otherwise stated points are turned off two or three weeks before the event date to encourage people to enter in good time. More details here

Race manual are now on the individual event pages. Please note that Race Manuals may be updated until the week before the event. See our full list of events here

Headphones are not allowed at any of our triathlons or duathlons. You can search the full British Triathlon Competition Rules here

Yes, we normally have age group prizes for veteran categories in ten year bands. We’ll award a prize to any age group that has at least three entries, three weeks before the event, when we order our trophies & prizes.

We operate a one prize per person rule so if the first overall finisher is a vet he/she will only receive the overall prize and the 1st vet prize will go to the first eligible vet. 

Have a look at these two articles on our website.

Guide to Junior Triathlons
10 Tips for Beginner Triathletes
Top 10 Duathlon Tips
10 Tips for Junior Duathlons

We normally post these out on the Friday nine days before the event, so they should arrive by the Tuesday before the event. In the meantime you can read all the relevant information about the event including maps & the Race Manual on the event page. Click here for the full list of events.
If you’re not sure if you ordered your pack by post, please log into your account, using the link in your confirmation email. Then go to the relevant booking & if you ordered pack by post you will see it listed in ‘Purchases’ with other products you’ve ordered, such as camping or a race belt.

This depends on the water temperature. As from 2025, British Triathlon rules state that wetsuits are mandatory if the water temperature is 15.9C or below. If the water temperature goes over 22C, which is highly unlikely to happen for an open water swims in the South West, then you’re not allowed to wear a wetsuit for Sprint or Standard distance races. For 70.3 or Iron distance events, the water temperature would have to reach 24.5 before you were not allowed to wear  wetsuit.

Sleeveless or shorty wetsuits are permitted but competitors should be aware that they offer less protection against the cold.

Yes they are. However you should be aware that they offer less protection from the cold.

At most triathlons, and all open road triathlons, ‘drafting’ is not allowed. All competitors are meant to stay 12 metres behind the next competitor on the road. But at the Olympics and at Age Group sprint championships and qualifiers, triathlons are run with drafting. People come out of the swim in groups. They are then permitted to work together on the bike leg, taking turns on the front in a peloton, to keep speeds high. On a bike the advantage of drafting can be 30 percent or more.

For safety reasons triathlon or TT bikes are not permitted in a drafting race. You must ride a standard road bike. You also need to ride well to the left if you are on your own to allow faster groups to pass you safely.

We organise two types.

Mixed Relay Triathlon, as seen at the Olympics, where mixed teams of four (two female and two open participants) all take it in turns to complete a super sprint triathlon before tagging their teammate. We organise these twice a year at Torbay Velopark

Standard Relay Triathlon
In this format, offered at most of our triathlons, a team of two or three people each take on one or two of the triathlon disciplines.

 See the British Triathlon website for more about relays

As part of the British Triathlon Competition Rules, when taking part in a British Triathlon permitted event, individuals are required to become a member of the sport, hold a race licence and third-party Public Liability insurance. A Race Pass is for individuals who are not annual members of British Triathlon who live within the UK. 
Swim Bike Run programme participants do not need to purchase a Race Pass. A Race Pass is included within the entry price of a Swim Bike Run Programme event and is not required to be purchased additionally. 

More info here – https://www.britishtriathlon.org/race-pass

Absolutely not. For many people a sprint distance or supersprint distane is the first triathlon people do as the distances are relatively short and manageable. At the Sprint Triathlons we organise there’s a fairly small number of people going flat out & a lot more who are just aiming to finish. Actually we think the term ‘Sprint Triathlon’ is not helpful & maybe it’s worth considering a new name for them.

Yes, we keen to get more clubs, companies & charities taking part in our events. If you buy six or more places in any of our events a 10 percent discount will automatically be applied to all the places. We’re also happy to  invoice your organisation instead of people entering individually. In that instance we will also waive our booking fees. If you’d like to be invoiced please email enquiries@sportivaevents.co.uk

Yes all our events & road sportives are fully marked. The only exception is our gravel sportives, the Haldon Heroic and Devon Grit. On the gravel sportives only the short routes are fully marked.

During 2026 we are transitioning to fully cupless events. We now have collapsible TPU cups on sale if you don’t have one of your own or we will of course refill bottles or soft flasks on request. We also strongly encourage people to bring hot drink cups with them for any drinks they plan to get from our event caterers. During the transition period we will have a limited supply of uncoated paper cups available.

There is a unique reference & a link in your booking email if you opted for Refund Protect. Alternatively you can log into your Eventrac account.

No, normally race belts and other merchandise are ready for you to collect at registration.

Overseas residents can not purchase a Race Pass.

Overseas residents are exempt from becoming a member of the sport and holding a race licence when taking part in a British Triathlon permitted event. However, to take part in a British Triathlon permitted event, overseas residents must have their own Public Liability insurance (sometimes referred to as personal liability insurance) in place for the duration of the race the individual is taking part in. The recommended minimum level of cover is £5 million.

By entering a British Triathlon permitted event, overseas residents do so confirming that they will have Public Liability insurance in place for the duration of the race they are taking part in. Proof of valid Public Liability insurance may be requested at the event and in the case of any subsequent third-party claims.

Unfortunately, British Triathlon are only able to provide Public Liability insurance to UK residents. If an individual lives abroad permanently (out of the UK for more than 6 consecutive months in a year) Public Liability insurance cannot be provided by British Triathlon through either annual membership or through a Race Pass. Overseas residents are encouraged to contact their national federation for guidance.

See the British Triathlon website for more information

Unfortunately not. However we have teamed up with Zone3.com who offer wetsuits for hire and for sale.

You can use the code SPORTIVA & get 15 percent off all their wetsuits, goggles & other accessories

They also do a great season hire deal for wetsuits with an option to buy at the end of the season for a discounted price. The SPORTIVA code does not apply to hire suits.

On events where we do a tshirt there is a three week lead time to print the tees. So if you enter less than three weeks before an event t-shirts will not be available.

What do you mean you haven’t read 7.1 point z in the British Triathlon rule book? New for 2026, you are now allowed to lay out towels in transition. Here’s the relevant paragraph

‘Towels may not be used to mark space. but a A single small flannel-sized towel no larger than 12” x 12” (30cm x 30cm), which may be used in Age-Group at any non-elite (Senior, U23, Junior and Youth) events only, that include a swim element. The flannel must be placed either in the competitors shoes at all times, or if they are using the same shoes for all elements, must be rolled up and then placed directly under the horizontal bar of the transition racking, or box if supplied. Larger towels are permitted but must be kept in the competitors bag and placed back inside the bag after use, otherwise a time penalty will be applied.’

If you’re new to triathlon it’s worth scanning through the British Triathlon Competition  rules in full, particulary section 7 on transition