British Rowing and British Triathlon, the national governing bodies (NGBs) responsible for creating the innovative mass participation products Go Row Indoor and GO TRI, have announced a partnership to cross-promote and align their activities.

Helen Rowbotham, Director of Innovation at British Rowing, says: “We are excited to be working with British Triathlon on the integration of indoor rowing within its GO TRI Gym Challenge product. There is a natural alignment between our products, with indoor rowing being a highly effective work out, which is perfect for cross training. We’re confident that this unique partnership will enable us to attract new participants to help grow both sports.”

British Rowing’s indoor rowing strategy, Go Row Indoor, brings together industry partners, addressing barriers to participation and growth, and provides a collective voice and profile for the sport of indoor rowing that hasn’t previously existed. The new programme includes training for fitness professionals, a series of group exercise class models, a wide range of training resources including a tracker and challenge app, as well as national and regional events. The biggest event is the British Rowing Indoor Championships, presented by Visit Sarasota County taking place on Saturday 9th December 2017 at the Olympic Velodrome.

Pitched at a similar audience, British Triathlon’s GO TRI product is designed as a fun and informal way for people to access triathlon for the first time. For those not ready to take on a full outdoor triathlon, the GO TRI Gym product provides in-gym training delivered by triathlon-trained instructors to practice and progress swimming, cycling and running skills. The GO TRI Gym Challenge currently recommends indoor rowing as an alternative to swimming, where there is no pool access or where the swimming element is considered to be a barrier by the participant.

With recent research highlighting indoor rowing training as a key skill gap amongst fitness professionals, this partnership between the two NGBs will ensure professionals have access to high-quality indoor rowing training, both as a stand-alone activity and as a key component of future GO TRI training.

Jenny Vincent, GO TRI Strategic Lead at British Triathlon, adds: “There is great synergy between our brands, and as forward thinking NGBs we have similar visions for mass participation. As part of our agreement with British Rowing, we will include Go Row Indoor components within the GO TRI Gym training product and associated resources. Where appropriate to the setting, we’ll also promote indoor rowing as an alternative third discipline within existing GO TRI events.”

Reflecting market demand, the partnership will also explore opportunities to develop new indoor rowing triathlon challenges, events and other supporting resources.

It is hoped that the partnership will help both British Rowing and British Triathlon achieve their respective participation goals – to increase the number of people indoor rowing by 10% over four years; and to encourage 25,000 people to register for GO TRI by April 2019.

For more information about Go Row Indoor, please visit www.britishrowing.org/indoor-rowing, or to find out about GO TRI, please visit: www.gotri.org.