Ponteland Tri, the triathlon section of Ponteland Runners, have hosted a variety of virtual challenges, competitions and social activities throughout the lockdown period to keep their members active and engaged during a difficult time.
The club’s triathlon coordinator, Elaine Stroud, said: “We have been conscious of the need to keep our members engaged and active throughout all of the lockdowns. To achieve this, we have run a number of activities, ranging from our current ‘Lent Bingo’ to January’s charity fundraiser ‘TriJanuary4Louis’ where we challenged ourselves to complete various different triathlon distances across the month with some very creative substitutes for swimming.
“We have also provided weekly run session suggestions for members in the absence of our usual club runs. We have a club podcast which has been an entertaining way of keeping in touch with what’s going on in the club, finding out more about club members personal stories, gear reviews and virtual racing.”
Many of the club members over the last year have competed in regional, weekly virtual team events made up of speed, distance, and elevation challenges. Stroud even added a selfie competition into the events to keep the social connections going.
“We love our socials and have held all sorts of quizzes via Zoom for club members, my favourite being ‘Catchphrase’ where club members submitted videos acting out various catchphrases for us to guess. Creativity is the key,” said Stroud.
The club’s members are of mixed ability and use different software and equipment when training from home, therefore the competitions and activities organised were designed to be accessible for all.
“One of our challenges saw participants obtain points based on how they improved over the weekly challenges rather than how they performed compared to others. We also organise regular virtual rides and races alongside these challenges for the growing number of Zwift addicts in the club,” said Stroud.
“It’s been a year now since the first lockdown and keeping positive and encouraging activity has been uplifting for many. Everyone has experienced their own personal challenges over the past year and offering club support and encouragement to keep training and keep having fun does help release some of the stress we’ve all encountered.”
After navigating a difficult period of lockdowns and isolation, Stroud is hopeful for future club activity to maintain the momentum built during lockdown, saying: “We plan to restart our run groups as soon as we can in accordance with the government and British Triathlon’s guidance. We were able to offer run sessions when permitted during 2020 and we’re excited to restart these. Our junior section will also restart after Easter and our adult swim sessions will hopefully follow in May.
“We hope to go ahead with our annual coast-to-coast cycle weekend in July and we are already exploring options to put on some GO TRI events when restrictions allow, as well as some bike skills courses for those who are new to cycling or who haven’t been on the road for some time. We’re also planning our first social events for the summer. There’s a lot to look forward to.”
Stroud concluded: “Clubs are all about the members and when members pull together, great things can happen. We’ve been so impressed with how our members have got really behind the club, enthusiastically trying new things and offering to organise all sorts of activity and join in the virtual fun. Many have even taken up new challenges, like taking up road cycling for the first time when the roads were quiet in lockdown one, and that will no doubt help our club grow.”
