Sports bodies give guidelines for dipping your toe back in the training water

Today, Wednesday 13 May, has seen some small, but nonetheless welcome, and hopefully solid steps on the long road towards the return of triathlon in England.

Both British Triathlon and Swim England have given guarded welcomes to the broadening of the Government’s social distancing measures, which now allow us to travel further afield, and to take more exercise than had been allowed under the previous restrictions.

And while all public swimming pools remain closed for the foreseeable future, guidance given by the Government on Monday signalled that open water swimming could re-start.

This, coupled with the loosening of guidelines on how far people can travel to take their permitted exercise, could be a lifeline for anyone who wants to re-acquaint themselves with this important part of triathlon preparations.

British Triathlon and Swim England are working closely together, along with the Royal Life Saving Society and public health bodies, to make sure that hard-pressed medical services aren’t put under any extra strain as a result of swimmers being allowed to take to the water again.

They are expected to publish more extensive guidelines intended to ensure safety for open-water swimming very soon – and of course, we’ll pass on these details once they’re available.

In the meantime, urging caution from its members, British Triathlon said: “You should ask yourself whether [open water swimming] is a responsible thing for you to do and if in doing so, you are increasing the risk of being a burden on the NHS or emergency services should you require assistance.

“This includes understanding that you may be putting yourself and others at risk if you do need to be rescued, as any rescue is unlikely to be able to maintain a two-metre separation from your rescuers.”

British Triathlon is also anxious that its members don’t rush to take advantage of the wider freedom, and put extra strain on vital services in areas traditionally popular with swimmers, such as the Lake District and Cornwall.

It also cautioned: “There are differences in parts of the UK [in what’s permitted as exercise] – in Scotland and Wales, open water swimming is not a permitted activity, so you may face police action if you travel across national borders.”

Swim England’s statement also warned all sport participants that the latest guidelines still didn’t allow club members to meet up for what many would think of as their normal training sessions: “The government guidelines state that you can only exercise with up to one person from outside your household.

“This means that any type of club activity would not be permitted,” it stressed.

British Triathlon, meanwhile, asked anyone looking to start, or re-start their open-water training to:

• -Never do so alone
• -Respect all social distancing requirements, including when changing – importantly, it says, these mean that you can’t be helped to get into or out of your wetsuit, and
• -Remember that there are currently no beach lifeguards on patrol

So, it concludes: “If you have not had previous experience in outdoor swimming, please do not do so unless you are in a safe open water swimming venue.

You can find details of these at www.sh2out.org.