Twelve months on from British Triathlon’s History Starts Now campaign, CEO Andy Salmon has provided an update on the progress the national governing body has made towards the pledges announced as part of its campaign to mark Black History Month in October 2021.

“Last year’s History Starts Now campaign had a powerful impact on the work we do as a national governing body, but also as individuals, and I know this extended throughout the swim, bike, run community.

“The reflections and conversations during the campaign, which included the History Starts Now documentary, have been a catalyst for the work we have done and continue to do in our commitment to ensure swim, bike, run is accessible and attractive to the widest audience possible.

“Whilst it has been pleasing to see the progress we have made over the last 12 months, we are well aware there is still a lot more to be done.

“During last year’s History Starts Now campaign, we made three pledges to our community of ways we would work to be more inclusive. The pledges we made were to deliver educational programmes and resources to drive positive culture change; establish the Black Triathletes Network; and develop the merchandise offering to become more inclusive and diverse.

“Now we are 12 months on from making those pledges, it’s only right that we reflect on where we are now and what more needs to be done.

“Ensuring we equip ourselves and our community to develop behaviours that encourage equality, diversity and inclusion has been a key focus. Over the last 12 months we’ve worked with external organisations such as AKD Solutions and Inclusive Employees to offer workshops, educational programmes and resources to clubs, regional committees, British Triathlon staff and board members.

“It’s been fantastic to see so many clubs and regional committees engaging in these workshops and programmes including the launch of the AllTri Programme in England. This programme has been designed and led by AKD Solutions to support clubs and regional committees in diversifying and becoming more reflective of their local community. One of the predominant focuses has been ethnicity and how we as a sport can become more ethnically diverse.

“As we come together to celebrate Black History Month in October, it’s been brilliant to hear how clubs and regional committees in the programme’s first cohort are already planning and implementing their own initiatives at a local and regional level from the learnings and experiences they have had on the programme so far.

“Work is ongoing across the Home Nations to ensure clubs have the support and resources they need, and additional resources will be added to the Clubhouse [online club resource library] so affiliated clubs will have access to support and resources around the topic of equality, diversity and inclusion at the click of a button.

“Establishing the Black Triathletes Network was another of our pledges and, as we mark one-year since the network was created, it’s fantastic to see the network now has over 140 members. It’s become an online community for individuals, not just in Britain but around the world, to promote, share and celebrate diversity and their experiences in swim, bike, run.

“We encourage conversation and celebration, and we are proud to have created a platform for people to share, communicate and celebrate together.

“Developing our merchandise offer to become more inclusive and diverse was another of our commitments as from the conversations we’ve had we know merchandise can be a barrier when participating in swim, bike, run including for individuals within ethnically diverse communities.

“In response to conversations we had around how swim caps needed to be more diverse and inclusive, for the first time at AJ Bell 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds we made large swim caps available for participants to wear, and they’ve also been added as a choice when signing-up for Beyond Swim.

“We’re continuing to develop our merchandise offering and how we can make our offering more inclusive remains at the forefront within this process.

“Black History Month is an important month in our calendar as a time of reflection and celebration, but we’re committed to ensuring our commitment and work is on-going and all year round.

“The publication of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy along with the recruitment of a Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – the first time a standalone full-time staffing position will be responsible for EDI within the national governing body – are both important steps in driving positive culture change.

“But it’s something we, as a sport, all have to take responsibility for. The fact that last year’s membership figures revealed only 2.4 per cent of British Triathlon Home Nation members were from ethnically diverse communities was something we know we needed to address, but this was never going to be just a one-year commitment.

“We want to make our sport truly representative of all sections of society by bringing swim, bike, run to new people, places and communities and I’m confident we can make real and meaningful change and that is what we will continue to work towards and strive to achieve.”

More information about diversity in swim, bike, run, including the History Starts Now documentary, can be found here.