To help individuals and families in Britain know how to keep themselves and others safe around open water, British Triathlon are supporting RLSS UK’s annual Drowning Prevention Week from 12-19 June.
With swimming one of the three sports included in triathlon, and open water swimming popular throughout the summer triathlon season, British Triathlon are supporting the RLSS UK in their bid to help the nation stay water safe, both during and after lockdown.
The charity hopes that through the campaign, the UK and Ireland will see a reduction in the statistics that see approximately 700 people losing their lives to drowning every year - that’s one every 12 hours – with many more suffering injuries, sometimes lifechanging, following a water-related incident.
Drowning Prevention Week campaign is also aimed at educating those who enjoy being around open water and how to stay safe whilst doing so.
Throughout the week, there will be a range of resources shared by British Triathlon and RLSS UK on social media around being water safe. You can also view British Triathlon’s open water swimming guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic below.
British Triathlon clubs are able to join in with promoting the week and the resources created by RLSS UK by downloading and sharing the supporter resources available on the Drowning Prevention Week website here.
For more information about Drowning Prevention Week and how to get involved, visit the campaign website on the button below and keep an eye on British Triathlon’s social media channels.
Helen Marney, British Triathlon Director of Development, said: “With open water swimming and being around it a key part of triathlon, it’s really important that we know how to enjoy it safely. The RLSS’ Drowning Prevention Week is a great campaign to help educate all of us on the dangers and precautions we should take when around open water.
We have an existing relationship with RLSS to help make organised open water swimming safer through SH2OUT and joining in with this campaign is something that we know is important in promoting the safe enjoyment of open water.”
SH2OUT is a joint initiative between British Triathlon, RLSS UK and Swim England working to help make organised open water swimming safe and promoting safe use of open water areas. To find out more, please visit the website here.
