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05
Jul
The Ripon triathlon club championing the sport
The Harrogate District is home to a wide range of sport, from cricket and rugby to diving and cycling.
But compared to some of these sports, triathlon is somewhat overlooked.
A sport brought to the forefront of British interest by the Brownlee brothers, triathlon combines running, swimming and cycling.
With the sport seeking more attention, Ripon Triathlon Club are trying to champion the sport for the future generation of athletes.
Previously the North Yorkshire Police Tri Club, the triathlon club merged with the junior Tri Stars team and rebranded last year.
Ripon Triathlon Club were previously NYP Tri Club. Picture: @ripontriclub on Instagram
Now, they are looking to put triathlon back into the Ripon spotlight.
The Stray Ferret recently spoke to Andrea McAuslan, chair of the club. She joined the club in 2021 as chair of the junior team but now oversees the entire club.
At its peak, the former NYP Tri Club had over 200 members. However, as was the case with many sports clubs, the covid pandemic took its toll on membership numbers.
Now, though, with the merge of the two clubs, membership numbers are starting to regenerate.
Currently, there are 60 junior and 108 senior members at the club. McAuslan said that they hope to get back to pre-covid numbers in the long term.
She told us why they decided to merge the two clubs. She said:
There’s a real sense of community and the kids get that. That’s what’s nice about the clubs joining forces. The adults support the kids, and we have a lot of adult club members marshalling the junior events.
It’s important to keep kids moving, give them a sense of achievement and get them to do something that they wouldn’t normally do. It gives kids the confidence to try more things, whether that be triathlon or something else.
The Ripon Triathlon Festival is a widely popular event. Picture: @ripontriclub on Instagram
Ripon Triathlon Club collaborates with the Brownlee Foundation to host an annual triathlon event. It usually attracts over 1000 competitors.
McAuslan said that it has a massive impact on grassroots development, and that “having the Brownlee name is a massive help for getting people involved”.
She added that triathlon can seem inaccessible for some, and that the event helps to break down those stigmas.
The club offers a range of weekly training sessions for junior and senior members.
Seniors do two open water sessions a week, at the Ripon Racecourse lake. They also do a coached pool session at the Jack Laugher Leisure Centre in Ripon.
Juniors do a coached pool session at Ripon Grammar School and a bike/run session a week.
Picture: @ripontriclub on Instagram
So why should you join a triathlon club? McAuslan said:
Triathletes are really passionate about their sport and about helping each other so we want to introduce as many people to that as possible. We want people to come in and not see it as an intimidating environment.
The chairwoman added that triathlon was previously a male dominated sport, which can be intimidating for females interested in starting.
Working with British Triathlon’s women and girls’ group, though, McAuslan has looked at ways to make the sport more accessible for women.
The Ripon Triathlon Club currently has 49 senior female members, and 66 males. The junior team has 28 girls and 30 boys.
This year’s event will take place on July 12-13. We will release more details about the event in the next week.
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