Torbay Tri Club was formed in 2013 on the back of the Olympic success in 2012. There were already several local people competing in the sport, and there was clearly a need for a club in the South Devon area.
We were initially attached to Torbay AC, but as the club grew, we decided to move away from the athletics club and set up in our own right.
We are now firmly established as one of the largest clubs in the South West, with a membership well in excess of 220 people.
Their ages range from 18 to 76, and their ability levels cover the complete spectrum. Some people aspire to run a 5k in under 30 minutes, and at the opposite end, we have the current World and European V45 Sprint champion as a member.
Torbay Tri Club aims to be as inclusive as possible. All our subscription fees are spent on our members, and although we keep a very small float each year so our Treasurer doesn’t have sleepless nights, we use any surplus to subsidise our social events. All the coaching is free, except the swim sessions as they require us to hire the whole pool and so these cost £5 to cover this.
We recognise that Triathlon is an expensive sport to take part in. Not just the costs of entering events, but we realise that the initial start-up costs can appear prohibitive. (bike, helmet, kit etc). That is why, as a club, we regularly hold in-house events that are completely free for our members to take part in.
If you have always wanted to do a triathlon but felt that the whole sport might be just one cost too far, please message the club through our contact page – as our members are keen to donate spare kit to anybody that needs it, (sizes permitting).
In addition, if you are a refugee, or housing a refugee/family that has had to abandon everything, don’t hesitate to get in touch as we will try to support you through your difficulties.
We are continually having to train more coaches to meet the demands of the British Triathlon Coach to Athlete ratios, and none of these coaches receive anything for their coaching services. This allows us to keep our membership fee at a rock bottom price as we only need to cover the hire of facilities rather than meet any coaching charges.
Any excess money has been used to provide things that will benefit us and the wider community. For instance, in 2021, we bought and had installed 8 large red buoys. These are a permanent feature in Goodrington Bay, allowing anybody to swim around a 600m course, relatively close to the beach.
We also paid for an outside coach to run a 3 hour ‘run technique’ session, which was free to our members.
We continued to hold in house events throughout the pandemic. As we are based at Torbay Leisure Centre in Paignton, we have been able to use their pool and the surrounding fields to hold our Aquathlons, and we also have ‘Monster Duathlons’ (Run, bike, run, bike run), held on the adjacent Velopark and playing fields. We do not charge for any of these events.
The Velopark is such a massive boon for our club. How many other Tri Clubs can boast their own 1500m closed road circuit? In the evening when daylight permits, we have coached cycle sessions on there, focusing on the transition element. ‘Triple brick’ sessions are always popular. Multiple cycle laps, head into the safe transition area, pop your running shoes on, then short runs off the bike. If you look at any Torbay Triathlete’s race results, they may not have been the fastest athlete, but their transition times are always brilliant!
We have athletes competing at all distances in the sport. Sprint, Standard, Middle and Full distance. In 2022 we had 22 of us competing at The Cotswold 113 event, and made a weekend of it by staying for the Sunday evening for an alcoholic debrief in the pub next to our hotel.
Over 55 of us competed at the inaugural Torquay Triathlon in 2021, and the organisers allowed us a substantial discount as we made it our club championships. The event was cancelled in 2022 but Sportiva Events have taken it over for 2023 and once again we have a substantial discount in place. This will be the club’s championship event.
If you’re reading this far, then you’re clearly interested in coming along. British Triathlon permit three training sessions before they insist on you becoming a member and thus benefitting from their insurance, so please don’t be afraid of taking the next step and coming down to a training session.
We cater for absolutely every level of fitness. We even have a self titled ‘Shuffler’s Group’, who run walk every Tuesday evening, so if this is you….. you’ll fit right in!
If you have any questions, please just click on the contact button, and somebody will reply asap….
Happy Training
