Sport England will be investing £200,000 in British Triathlon’s Triathlon England division over 20 months as part of its £6.5m boost for Commonwealth Sports to innovate and drive participation.

The investment is in three areas;

• A new Swim, Bike, Run ‘app’ which will seek to engage existing as well as new and more diverse audiences in our sport through a unique digital offer and experience
• New capacity and resource in Birmingham City communities to directly support and facilitate local people to take part in swim, bike, run
• Direct and indirect delivery across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands to enable delivery of swim, bike, run in the heart of communities which is led by local people.

Helen Marney, Director of Development at British Triathlon, said: “The ‘app’ signals the start of a new focus on digital development and delivery for Triathlon England; enabling us to broaden our offer, reach and appeal.

“This investment supports Triathlon England’s wider BIG Active Strategy which aims to both diversify and grow our sport. The investment will enable us to deliver more through our priority places, three of which are in the Birmingham City Region (Sandwell, Birchills Leamore and Billesley) and thereby help to reduce inequalities amongst those from lower socio-economic backgrounds by enabling engagement in swim, bike, and run activities.”

Working in close collaboration with Birmingham City stakeholders as well as other National Governing Bodies of sport, British Triathlon aims to ensure a consistent approach, learning more about how to develop and deliver a joined-up offer for all three of its sports within a specific place.

The investment also means further understanding of the role of major events in supporting the social impact agenda, which combined with learning from other International Triathlon Events hosted across England and Britain this summer, will influence how we work in other key cities to embed swim, bike, run into the way local people live active lives.

The new National Lottery funding is part of Sport England’s overall £35m package of investment to make the Commonwealth Games a success and create a lasting national impact.

The investment, made into 20 national governing bodies of sport that are involved in the Games, will focus on the creation of innovative and accessible opportunities to engage with disadvantaged communities, enabling people from all kinds of backgrounds to take part in sport and activity. Affluence and activity levels are closely linked as evidenced by Sport England’s latest Active Lives Survey.

For more information on this fund, visit the Sport England website here.