Becoming a Technical Official

About

Technical Officials (TOs) play an important role in ensuring that all events are fairly and safely conducted giving participants the best race experience. As such, the knowledge and experiences of TOs are the main qualities that TOs at any level must possess.

Pathways

Community Level 1: An understanding of Triathlon and the roles and responsibilities of a TO. Introduction to World Triathlon Competition Rules.

Community Level 2: An advanced level training of TOs. How to take a higher TO role with greater responsibility.

National Technical Official Level 1 (NTO): To become an internationally-recognised TO, allowing you to represent Singapore to officiate in overseas World Triathlon events.

To visit the TO Certification Programme Guide, please click here.

Mentorship Programme

TAS has in place a comprehensive grading system and programme which includes courses and many opportunities to officiate at events to ensure that the TOs constantly upgrade their skills.

With effect from 2013, TAS has implemented a Mentorship Programme where a senior TO is attached to a group of junior TOs and acts as their mentor, supervising, supporting and advising them. This allows the senior TOs to share their experience and for the junior TOs to be guided along their officiating journey and allows them to stay bonded with each other.

Benefits and Welfare

Free education and training

Local and overseas officiating experiences

Opportunity to develop internationally

Interested?

Register your interest with us by contacting our TO Manager Mr. Omar Abu Bakar at: omar@triathlonsingapore.org, or call +65 62277577.

You can find more details about TO courses and activities by clicking here.

TAS hopes to see you at our next TO course!


Experiences

I started with Triathlon as a body marker volunteer. I was tasked to stamp the numbers on the athletes’ arms and legs according to their bib number. Little did I know that doing such a small task was so important. A TO came to us and said that the inks needed to be clear – I was intrigued and jumped upon the opportunity to become a TO. Now that I have completed my TO Community Level 2, I have learnt that many aspects of the race might seem small but they all play a role. I am also a strong believer of educating athletes, especially local and age groupers. We should not penalise them for every mistake they make, but educate them instead. This way, not only will they learn, but they will also not extinguish their interest and passion of triathlon, especially if they just picked it up.

Muhammad Nabil Bin Noor Mohamed
Technical Official Community Level 2

I started joining TAS as a TO in 2010 after volunteering at the Youth Olympic Games. Since then, I’ve learned many things from only knowing Triathlon as a sport where athletes swim, bike and run sequentially. At present, I have officiated in different roles for different races and different countries. I was given the chance under the Self-Fund Programme. Through this scheme, I officiated twice in Cheng Du, China, as well as in Palembang, Indonesia. I learned to work with people from different cultures and backgrounds. We shared knowledge and experience from one another. All these encouraged me to strive on as a TO.

Ong Si Ying
ITU National Technical Official

After attending the ITU Level 2 Technical Official Course in 2010, I gained in-depth knowledge on the technical operations of a Triathlon event/course (swim, bike, run, transition etc). This knowledge was invaluable in giving me a good understanding of the technical aspects to help ensure that Triathlons can be a safe and fair sport for everyone. The exposure to overseas events served as a great platform to make friends and pick up best practices from Triathlon enthusiasts from all over the world. Besides, it is also a great honour to be able to represent Singapore in a major sporting event. I definitely encourage more youths to take an interest in becoming a TO.

Edwin Shi Dalun
ITU Continental Technical Official