Designed as a 'Sport for All', Biathle has been practised for over 50 years and is the most recent of the UIPM products. The first Biathle World Championships took place in Monaco in 1999 and the Biathle World Tour started in 2002 now includes 6 cities staging a Tour event every year.
Through Biathle, the UIPM has established a competition comprised of the two fundamental components of Modern Pentathlon and most practised sports in the world - run and swim. It is a fun sport to take part in and a fun sport to watch The competition begins with a pack start of runners who complete one-half of the total running distance before entering a 50 meter transition area. Athletes then dive into the water and swim the required swimming distance before exiting the water, putting on their shoes and running the second leg of the run to the finish line.
Capable of being organised in any season, indoors or outdoors, Biathle competition distances differ depending upon age category. Senior, Junior and Youth A athletes run 1500m, swim 200m, and run 1500m. Shorter distances exist for Masters and Youth B, C, D and E categories.
Biathle permits more involvement for the smaller countries in the world of sport, allowing UIPM to introduce the world's youth to the sport of modern pentathlon and to instil the values of sport for all, culture and education through sport.
In 2005, the UIPM launched a new competition - World School Biathle. The swim is conducted in a 25m or 50m pool and the run is conducted preferably on a standardised track. The swim is conducted first and the run is mass start. The Final result is the sum of the swimming and running times.
World School Biathle is intended for schools and all institutions who are interested in the well being of children. The originality of the project is that schools will take part to this World competition by entering their results in a database using the UIPM website (www. pentathlon.org) directly from their location. Therefore this global competition does not require any funding for transportation or lodging. All can be made ‘at home’ by the teacher or coach. The results are calculated at the end of each year and awards given to the winning athletes. UIPM has a philosophy linking all its activities in order to achieve an Education through Sport.
World School Biathle, by using the internet as a tool to enable schools to participate in friendly competition, is easy to organise and inexpensive to practice. UIPM has the wish to collaborate with the appropriate institutions in order to contribute developing an access to Sport for All for a better education and communication between youth around the world.
