Cover for all volunteers at club races for negligence and protection for all club members from a damages claim if the club is responsible for an accident.

The public liability cover includes claims arising from club activities while at home or abroad, social functions/meetings, sporting activities of swimming, cycling, running, transition and core strength training, triathlon, duathlon and related multisport events, such as aquathlon and cross triathlon.

Following a review of the Insurance Cover for Clubs it has been decided that the policy needed to be enhanced.

Most clubs are not set up as limited companies, which would mean that if the club is found to be responsible for an accident then all members of the club are responsible for the damages that may be claimed by a person injured in a accident.

This why club insurance is so important – this element of cover protects club members whether or not they are themselves members of Triathlon England.

However, in order for club officials and other members acting on behalf of the club to be covered personally for their own negligence (rather than the negligence of others within the club), they must take out personal membership with Triathlon England.

This requirement may discourage club members from volunteering to assist at club races and therefore, all volunteers at club races can now benefit from the insurance in respect of their own negligence provided that the race is registered with Triathlon England if it is open to triathletes who are not members of the club.

Some individuals are also reluctant to take up positions of responsibility within clubs because of perceived potential financial liability in respect of club funds. To help combat this; the club insurance has been extended to provide “Directors and Officers” cover for committee members and other club officers.

The final enhancement of the club insurance policy is that the amount of public liability cover has increased from 1 October 2011 to £10m.

We consider this to be important given the potential damages that are now awarded in serious personal injury cases and this level of cover is often required by venues and facilities (such as swimming pools) that clubs may wish to hire for training purposes.

One of the conclusions of the review of club insurance arrangements was that all triathletes who join a triathlon club affiliated to Triathlon England should not incur unnecessary financial risk by being a member of that club.

From 1 November 2011 all clubs that are members of Triathlon England will have the benefit of the club insurance. This means that when clubs renew their membership for 2012 there is a single membership cost, which is equivalent to the combined 2011 cost of membership and the insurance option.

Any club with membership open to the general public which considers that it is disadvantaged by this change should contact us at info@britishtriathlon.org.

There is a common misconception relating to the club insurance cover. Triathletes who join clubs that are affiliated to Triathlon England may be aware that they receive the benefit of some insurance cover as a result of their club membership. They may assume that they also benefit from the public liability cover for accidents that they cause personally when training with the club and that they would be able to claim on the personal accident cover for certain types of serious injury that they may suffer. These assumptions are incorrect – to gain the benefit of these elements of cover they would need to join Triathlon England as individual members as well. This is particularly important for individuals who do their bike training on public roads.