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Swans flock to virtual activity through lockdown

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From ‘Flying through February’ to ‘Marching on Together’, Swans Tri Club in North Yorkshire have made the most of lockdown activity to keep the community united through swim, bike and run.

Founded in 2018 and being awarded their Trimark Club Silver in July 2019, Swans Tri Club have spent the lockdown period keeping their members engaged with themed monthly challenges, with Club Chair, Susie Foster saying: “The idea came from our event coordinator who wanted to get members connecting and outside again after the winter. When Goole Triathlon was cancelled in October 2020, we had about 20 members signed up, so we all did a virtual sprint instead and we based it on that.”

“Over the weekend there were various challenges, a squat challenge, different run and bike distances for all ages and abilities, a turbo challenge and a family walk-a-half marathon. Non-members were welcomed and lots of people tried several challenges. We had a virtual presentation on the Tuesday evening with prizes, some donated by local businesses.”

For the month of March, the club created ‘Marching on Together’ to once again motivate members in preparation for the sport’s return to activity.

“One of our members came up with this idea, he felt he was lacking motivation and that others might too, and it’s been really popular. Every weekend adults completed 31km of any discipline or combination of disciplines, juniors did 7km or 14km depending on age and the final weekend was a duathlon.”

The club challenges have proven to be incredibly popular, with around 20-25 members taking part in each event. With Swans being a club of only 48 members, this is a huge success.

“Most of us have struggled without the training but more the lack of community as we are a very social club. We have had online training sessions, quizzes and bingo but nothing replaces being together for real,” said Foster.

“Community and exercise is so important. We will treasure our time together so much more. We have tried to hold to our values of being an accessible, inclusive family club all through lockdown and will continue this into the post-Covid era.

“We always hoped in 2021 we would be able to put on an actual event. It will be 2022 now but we are paving the way.”

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