The Ironman triathlon was created in 1978 by combining events with the longest distances for races then contested in Hawaii in swimming, cycling, and running. The Half Ironman triathlon was formed using half the distances of each of the events in the Ironman. The Olympic distance triathlon was created by combining events with the longest distances for races sanctioned by the major federations for swimming, cycling, and running. The relative importance of each event in overall race outcome was not given consideration when determining the distances of each of the races in modern triathlons. Thus, there is a general belief among triathletes that the swimming portion of the standard-distance triathlons is underweighted. We present a nonlinear Bayesian model for triathlon finishing times that models time and standard deviation of time as a function of distance. We use this model to create \"fair\" triathlons by equating the standard deviations of the times taken to complete the swimming, cycling, and running events. Thus, in these \"fair\" triathlons, a one standard deviation improvement in any event has an equivalent impact on overall race time.
","abstract_html":"<p>The Ironman triathlon was created in 1978 by combining events with the longest distances for races then contested in Hawaii in swimming, cycling, and running. The Half Ironman triathlon was formed using half the distances of each of the events in the Ironman. The Olympic distance triathlon was created by combining events with the longest distances for races sanctioned by the major federations for swimming, cycling, and running. The relative importance of each event in overall race outcome was not given consideration when determining the distances of each of the races in modern triathlons. Thus, there is a general belief among triathletes that the swimming portion of the standard-distance triathlons is underweighted. We present a nonlinear Bayesian model for triathlon finishing times that models time and standard deviation of time as a function of distance. We use this model to create "fair" triathlons by equating the standard deviations of the times taken to complete the swimming, cycling, and running events. Thus, in these "fair" triathlons, a one standard deviation improvement in any event has an equivalent impact on overall race time.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Curtis, Steven McKay"],"institution":"Brigham Young University - Provo","degree_name":"MS","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:27:16Z","subjects":["Bayesian estimation","nonlinear model","triathlon","Statistics and Probability"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/32","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Curtis, Steven McKay"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2004-05-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Brigham Young University - Provo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Selected Project"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bayesian estimation","nonlinear model","triathlon","Statistics and Probability"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/32","https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/context/etd/article/1031/viewcontent/ETD_CISOPTR_130.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Statistics"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The Ironman triathlon was created in 1978 by combining events with the longest distances for races then contested in Hawaii in swimming, cycling, and running. The Half Ironman triathlon was formed using half the distances of each of the events in the Ironman. The Olympic distance triathlon was created by combining events with the longest distances for races sanctioned by the major federations for swimming, cycling, and running. The relative importance of each event in overall race outcome was not given consideration when determining the distances of each of the races in modern triathlons. Thus, there is a general belief among triathletes that the swimming portion of the standard-distance triathlons is underweighted. We present a nonlinear Bayesian model for triathlon finishing times that models time and standard deviation of time as a function of distance. We use this model to create \"fair\" triathlons by equating the standard deviations of the times taken to complete the swimming, cycling, and running events. Thus, in these \"fair\" triathlons, a one standard deviation improvement in any event has an equivalent impact on overall race time.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application:pdf"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Brigham Young University - Provo"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The \"Fair\" Triathlon: Equating Standard Deviations Using Non-Linear Bayesian Models"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Curtis, Steven McKay"],"dc:date":["2004-05-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Statistics"],"dc:description.abstract":["The Ironman triathlon was created in 1978 by combining events with the longest distances for races then contested in Hawaii in swimming, cycling, and running. The Half Ironman triathlon was formed using half the distances of each of the events in the Ironman. The Olympic distance triathlon was created by combining events with the longest distances for races sanctioned by the major federations for swimming, cycling, and running. The relative importance of each event in overall race outcome was not given consideration when determining the distances of each of the races in modern triathlons. Thus, there is a general belief among triathletes that the swimming portion of the standard-distance triathlons is underweighted. We present a nonlinear Bayesian model for triathlon finishing times that models time and standard deviation of time as a function of distance. We use this model to create \"fair\" triathlons by equating the standard deviations of the times taken to complete the swimming, cycling, and running events. Thus, in these \"fair\" triathlons, a one standard deviation improvement in any event has an equivalent impact on overall race time.
"],"dc:format":["application:pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/32","https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/context/etd/article/1031/viewcontent/ETD_CISOPTR_130.pdf"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:publisher":["Brigham Young University - Provo"],"dc:source":["Brigham Young University - Provo"],"dc:subject":["Bayesian estimation","nonlinear model","triathlon","Statistics and Probability"],"dc:title":["The \"Fair\" Triathlon: Equating Standard Deviations Using Non-Linear Bayesian Models"],"dc:type":["Selected Project"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:27:16Z"}