About | Level 1 | Level 2 | Recertification | Continuing Education
USA Triathlon presents organized educational opportunities for race directors each year.
On-Demand Race Director Certification
Race Director Certification is a 14-hour education course that addresses the latest in race directing methods, insurance/risk management trends, and USAT sanctioning compliance. The program is designed for the seasoned event director as well as those that are new to the industry. Race Directors will now have the opportunity to take the certification course online and at their leisure within an 8 week period. The certification course costs $350 and will come with Free USA Triathlon Annual Membership.
Register for the course at Triathlonlearning.com.
Register for the Level II course at Triathlonlearning.com.
Paratriathlon Race Director Certification
USA Triathlon is proud to present the first-ever Paratriathlon Certification made specifically for Race Directors! The goal of the course is to better prepare our race directors for para athletes at their events. We will be discussing course design, marketing efforts, and best practices you can implement at your next event. Race Directors do not need to go through Certification to qualify, however the Paratriathlon course will offer attendees 4 CEUs toward their next recertification.
The only prerequisite to enter the course is that the race director is up to date on Background Check through NCSI and SafeSport Training.
The course itself will take about an hour of your time. Register at Triathlonlearning.com.
Race Director SafeSport and Background Check Requirements
If you are hosting an event with athletes aged 17 and younger, you must have an active SafeSport training and cleared background check. SafeSport training must be completed on an annual basis and only SafeSport Trained, Refresher 1, Refresher 2 or Refresher 3 meet the annual requirement.
Race directors must submit and receive a cleared background check every two years. Background checks take an average of 10 business days to process once the application has been submitted to NCSI.
Race directors should complete their annual SafeSport training and submit background check requests through their USAT member hub account. Please contact trisafesupport@usatriathlon.org with questions.
Find a Certified Race Director
Certified Race Directors have completed a 16-hour educational training class. This course includes information on the latest in race directing methods, insurance/risk management trends, and USA Triathlon sanctioning compliance. While the certification course is not mandatory for race directors who sanction their events with USA Triathlon, the program is extremely valuable to both new and seasoned event directors. Completing the Race Director Certification course shows that an event director is mindful of keeping in touch with the latest industry trends that will in turn allow better events to be produced. While this course is not required for everyone, athletes should expect more from race directors who are certified.
Misconduct Reporting Procedures
USA Triathlon requires reporting of sexual misconduct or ethical misconduct by any coach, race director or support staff and strongly encourages reporting boundary violations, red flag behavior or any other inappropriate conduct. Child abuse and child sexual abuse is a crime. If USA Triathlon receives a complaint of sexual misconduct involving a minor, we will report it to the proper authorities and we urge all individuals to do the same. Out of respect for the importance of this issue and to encourage honest and effective reporting, knowingly providing false or vindictive reports will not be tolerated.
Providing specific information regarding abuse or suspected abuse helps USA Triathlon to investigate the complaint, and when appropriate, enforce consequences.
To report a violation or ask a question, contact the USA Triathlon SafeSport team at trisafe@usatriathlon.org.
Fatalities Study
USA Triathlon views the safety of our members as a core imperative. Event-related fatalities have captured the attention of our community, raising safety concerns among athletes, family members and other supporters, event organizers, sponsors, community leaders, and the medical community. We have conducted a careful review of the collective experience with fatalities at USA Triathlon-sanctioned events from 2003 through 2011. Our objectives were to attempt to bring clarity, identify potential patterns and underlying causes, and investigate opportunities to make any future improvements in event safety.