The Isle of Wight Triathlon Club held a club aquathlon this week coinciding with The Royal Life Saving Society Drowing Prevention week to try and help raise awareness of the dangers of the sea.

23 members of the club, in ages from 8-18yrs varying in their swimming abilities enjoyed their first 2021 club aquathlon in Totland Bay on Wednesday evening. They swum distances from 100m to 600m then ran distances of 1km to 3km. All did amazing well, including three new younger members who had never done an open water competitive swim before. After watching the more experienced stronger swimmers no one hesitated jumping in and giving it a go…..

One thing they never enter the sea without, is a tow float – these are the most unobtrusive pieces of swim kit no open water swimmer should ever go without, regardless of their abilities or the conditions. The swimmers do not feel them nor do they interfere with their swimming, but they are a life saving piece of kit for many reasons -wearing a brightly coloured tow float makes swimmers easier to locate and increased the chances of being found quickly, helping swimmers mitigate the risk of hypothermia, as we all know, conditions can change rapidly. They also help increase confidence, which is great for inexperienced or younger open water swimmers as they can hold onto the tow floats whilst help is coming. If by doing this the club has saved just one life, we have done a great job.