Kevin Robinson, the National League's co-ordinator since its inception, explains how it works:

The UK National Triathlon/Duathlon League is the only league of its kind in the world as far as I know. I proposed it to the BTA in the early 1990s when I was an elected executive officer of that body. The BTA encouraged me to proceed with it as a private venture and the League first functioned in 1994. It has just finished its 14th season.

I founded the League because I saw it, then as now, as a way of providing direct inter-club competition on an annual basis which would promote inter-club rivalry rather than the ad hoc individualism that has always been dominant in world and UK triathlon.

The UK League is the only one that I know of that provides several competitions and classifications for one single fee per person. Clubs and individuals are classed in the various competitions according to their performance in the events in which they participate. It is not necessary for clubs or individuals to enter any of the various competitions specifically, with the one exception of the competition for novices, where the club secretary has to indicate that the novice in question has in fact less than two years’ experience in triathlon/duathlon.

The competitions are:

• The League Team competition
• The League Individual competition
• The Endurance competition
• The Duathlon competition
• The competition for the best 4 results at Olympic/standard distance
• The competition for the best ladies’ team
• The competition for the best novice

There are also awards for the winners of various age-groups up to 70+.

There is also provision for ladies to score for a club’s main team as well as, at the same event, to score for a separate ladies’ team.

There are long service awards for Club secretaries who have served the League well over a number of years.

The League lists events ranging from the shortest duathlons that may be completed in about one hours’ time to full ironman events that may take up to seventeen hours to complete. No other series in the UK does this.

For its annual List of Events, the League selects and in a sense promotes many of what it regards as the best British triathlon/duathlon events, and also various of the best events in other parts of the world. This is intended to encourage British athletes to gain experience of competing abroad. No other series in the UK does this.

Every year, the League receives requests from clubs for certain British and foreign events, and always does its best to accommodate these requests. So the construction of the League List every year is to some extent in the hands of the members. No other series in the UK, or anywhere else as far as I know, does this.

The League permits late entry on the try/tri(!) before you buy principle. Clubs can therefore compete at any early season events to get some idea of the level of competition before formally entering the club squad in the League. Once entered, club squads and individuals in those squads are credited retroactively with the points they would have earned if they had been entered prior to the events in which they competed. No other series in the UK, or anywhere else as far as I know, does this.

The League awards up to 24 trophies every year which, with engraving and postal distribution, take a significant part of the entry fees. These fees are low in relation to the time, work, and costs involved. The fees remain unchanged for years at a time, because the League is intended to serve the triathlon/duathlon community, not to generate profit.

The League communicates regularly with its members. This was formerly done via the magazines, but as this left the League at the mercy of editors, it is now done through the Tri247.com website and, at the end of each season, on the League’s own website.

The League has never abandoned any of its competitions in mid-season because of computer problems or lack of entries. Both these regrettable contingencies have occurred to other series in the UK. The League keeps a paper record throughout the season as a back-up for the computer record.

The League does not act as a marketing resource. It does not encourage the buying of particular kit or other product of any kind.

Finally, the League attempts to provide, and does provide, a service to members that is unique in many respects to the triathlon/duathlon world. Membership of the UK League provides admission to a triathlon family to which clubs and individuals return year after year, where clubs and individuals may flourish at the height of their powers, but also benefit from membership when those powers are still undeveloped or in decline.

Kevin Robinson, UK National League co-ordinator