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What Happens at a Competition
Generally, competitions are held over a three-day period, with each division completing all five events in one day. The women might do all four (or five) sports on the first day, with the men competing on the second day. The third day would be devoted to team competitions.
If there are a lot of competitors, the competition might extend over four or five days.
Pentathlons compete according to their division and gender. Generally, pentathletes compete in their age group – kids age 12 to 13 compete in Youth C; kids age 19 to 21 compete in Juniors, etc. However, some competitions don’t have Youth C or any youth divisions at all, so you would compete in a higher division. And sometimes, coaches move more talented kids up to higher divisions to compete. Here are the usual divisions:
Youth and Junior Divisions
Age Division
10 years & under Youth E
11-12 Youth D
13-14 Youth C
15-16 Youth B
17-18 Youth A
19-21 Junior
Scoring
Pentathletes score points in each discipline. In running and swimming, there is a chart for each division that shows an optimum score or time. For each second (or fraction of a second) faster or slower than optimum time, points are deducted or added. (See Rulebook)
OK. Now let’s make it a little more difficult. There’s a reason why running is usually the last event. That’s because the run is usually handicapped. After the first three (or four, if you ride) events, the scores are tallied. The person with the highest score gets to start the run first. Then the person with the next highest score gets to go next, and so on. The number of seconds between each runner is tabulated on the difference between the runners’ total scores at that point.
So, let’s say Mary is ahead with 3,000 points. She starts the race at 00.00 seconds. Karen, who has 2,500 points, starts at 00.30 seconds. Jill, who has 2,000 points, starts at 01.00 minute. Here’s the kicker: Whoever wins the race wins the pentathlon. That means that if Jill really hauls and passes Mary, Jill wins.
Smaller competitions sometimes don’t use the handicapped start. But most of the larger ones do.
Arrival
Pentathletes should arrive the day before to get settled and enjoy a good night’s sleep. Usually, you will turn over your pistol when you check in. Be sure to keep a key to your gun case in your fencing bag and give an extra one to your parent or coach. Go through your fencing bag the night before and make sure everything you need is there. Also keep all your paperwork there, such as your AntiDoping permits (if you have any), your fencing association card, copies of your competition registration papers, etc. Get up in time to have a small breakfast before shooting. Avoid caffeine. All you need is a shaky shooting hand!
Organizers can arrange the events in any order they choose but usually you do shooting first, then fencing, swimming and running. If you’re in a division that rides, the riding is usually the fourth event.
Shooting: Shooting usually begins around 7 a.m. Please see the Rulebook for information about equipment and dress as well as rules. Arrive at least 10 minutes early to check in and get your pistol. You will be given time to warm up. Then you will shoot 20 shots, each on separate targets. You have 40 seconds per target. There will be a chair where you can sit and rest. Take your time.
Parents will sit behind the competitors. It’s quiet like a golf match. Cell phones should be turned off and people talk in low tones. No flash photography is allowed. Spectators cannot talk to the competitors.
A bull’s eye is 10 points so the best anyone could score would be 200 points. The optimum score is 172 for 1,000 points. For every target point above or below 172, you gain or lose 12 pentathlon points.
Fencing: Fencing has a lot of complex rules so please check the Rulebook for details. Always take three epees to a competition. That way, if an epee breaks, you have backups. You fence with epees which have electronic tips. Each time a hit is made, the electronic tip causes a red or green light to go on. The fencer opposite the light is the one who won the bout. If both lights go on at the same time that means it’s a tie, which is registered as a defeat for both pentathletes. The target for epees is the whole body, so you could score by touching a hand or a foot. Pentathletes fence round robin, which means every pentathlete fences every other pentathlete in his or her division. Winning 70 percent of your bouts is considered an optimal score for 1,000 points.
Swimming: In swimming, the pentathletes are seeded in heats and compete for the best time. There are different distances and different optimum times for each division. See the charts for the optimum time for your division. Again, the optimum score is 1,000 points with every .33 of a second either adding or subtracting 4 pentathlon points.
Riding: Pentathletes who compete in Juniors or Seniors are required to ride. Pentathletes in the lower divisions do not compete in riding. The organizers provide horses that the pentathletes have never ridden before. The horses line up on one side of the arena and the riders line up on the other. The horses each have numbers painted on their left front hooves corresponding to numbers in a hat. The riders, starting with the pentathlete in first place, each draw numbers out of a hat to determine which horses each will ride.
Each pentathlete has 20 minutes to warm up on the horse. During that time, he or she can only jump five times. Then the pentathlete has to go into the arena and jump a course of 12 obstacles in the allowed time. Each pentathlete starts with an optimum score of 1,200 points. From this score, there will be deductions for a variety of errors, including faults, refusals, knockdowns and going over the allowed time.
Running: The scores are tallied for all the pentathletes in a division and if the race is handicapped, each pentathlete gets a start time based on his or her overall score. In a handicapped race, each pentathlete starts at a time determined by how many points he or she has. In a handicapped race, the first person to win the race wins the entire competition.
In a regular start where all pentathletes start together, points are deducted from the optimum 1,000 depending on the seconds off the optimum time. In the regular start, the pentathlete with the most points wins, regardless of who won the race. The number of points added or deducted to the optimum score at the end of the race depends on your division. Seniors, Juniors, and Youth A and B gain or lose 4 points per second. Youth C, D and E gain or lose 8 points per second.
Most competitions also have relay races which have their own rules.
In shooting, points are tallied according to how accurately you shoot. And in fencing, winning 70 percent of your bouts is considered an optimum score of 1,000 points. The number of points added or deducted from that optimum depends on how many pentathletes are fencing.
Please see the Handbook and the Pentathlon Rulebook for more details.
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