Triathlons: Changing out of swimsuits in public?

Question

There are a number of pix on the Web showing guys changing from trunks to biking gear in public. Googling
triathlon "public changing" OR "public nudity" OR "naked in public"
finds over 9,000 hits, and among the first 100, all relevant cases either prohibit such behavior or specifically require changing inside tents or buildings. Which suggests that there is reason to state an explicit prohibition.
Given the above, my questions are: Did it use to be allowed for triathlon guys to change in public? Are there any races where it's still permitted, and/or where guys still do so anyway? Are the published bans regularly observed and/or enforced?

WakeBoardChick: Interesting data. But do you know the answer(s) to one or more of the questions I asked?

Answer 1

As of 19992, in any USAT Sanctioned event "indecent exposure" is a violation of the rules and will result in a time penalty per section 3.4 article n of the USAT Rules and Regulations. The waiver for a NON-USAT Sanctioned event will usually specify this as being against the rules as well. However, if it is not addressed directly in the race waiver or rules the athlete will abide by the laws governing the town/city/jurisdiction in which they are racing, including laws of indecency and exposure.

As far as I am aware, these laws have not always existed and are rarely enforced outside of USAT events mainly because so few people purposely violate them. With the advantages in clothing technology most athletes don't even change in transition anymore and that eliminated a lot of the cases of exposure that may have occured.

So, in conclusion, in a USAT Santioned event indecent exposure is illegal and has been since at least 1992. I have not come across any earlier sanctions. However, earlier legislation states that all athletes must obey the laws of the juristdiction in which the race takes place, thus any local indeceny laws would be enforced. Outside of USAT events local laws and rules of the race apply as well. Of course there are people who do not obey the rules or accidently expose themselves but it is not a common occurance. An article from ITU history of triathlon states, " In some of the earliest races, tents were provided for changing clothes. In the modern day, however, competition and pressure for time has led to the development of specialized triathlon clothing that is adequate for both swimming and cycling, meaning many racers' transitions consist of little more than removing goggles and pulling on a helmet and cycling shoes." So the tents seem to go way back with the sport.

If we think about this historically, triathlon originated in France in the 1920's and 30's and at that time there was no need to change clothes anyway because they would basically swim, bike and run in a one-piece athletic suit. The specialization of clothing that would lead to having to change came about in later years and made the tents unecessary.

From experience, I've never seen this rule enforced and I have only seen it broken accidently in transition. I have seen it stated on waivers of non-USAT canctioned events that all local laws must be followed.

Hoep this helps, very insightful question!

Answer 2

i'm no longer adversarial to it as long as he's no longer likely finished nude and walking around and such. If he's basically changing his blouse and pants exterior the stalls because of the fact there finished and he's in a hurry, whats up it ought to take place to all persons i assume. As for it being legal. i think of this is going returned to if he's no longer completely nude walking around then i think of so. otherwise if he's basically nude a 2nd properly its a bathing room and all adult men stand at urinals so at last you notice penis, only one those days at that element.

Answer 3

when you do triathlons you can wear special clothes that can be used in the water and on a bike and will work good for running i wood look at pureblueswim.com they will have triatholon stuff there