The Triathlete Hour Podcast: What Ironman Head Referee Jimmy Riccitello Wants You to Know

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You can also listen to past episodes with Gwen Jorgensen, Holly Lawrence, Tim O’Donnell, Ben Hoffman, Flora Duffy, and Sarah True.

This week, we talk to the global head of officiating for Ironman, Jimmy Riccitello. Jimmy started out as a pro triathlete in the late 1980s and through the ’90s and into the early 2000s.

His annoyance with some of the rules early in his career prompted him to get involved in trying to get them changed—and led him to find out how much work goes into developing rules for a race. Now, as Ironman’s head referee he’s been working on global consistency in the rules. He talks to us about his officiating philosophy and some rule issues he wishes people knew about.

We used to do a column with Jimmy called Ask A Ref, and here he answers some common issues and tricky situations we’ve all had to deal with in races. Plus, if you have a ref question for us to bring the column back, leave it in the comments or send it to letters@triathlete.com.

Read all the ‘Ask A Ref’ columns.

Remember: Officials aren’t the bad guys. You want them out there.