Case Study: Finish Lines, Not Finish Times - Triathlon NSW
Overview
The Finish Lines not Finish Times initiative came from a successful women’s only club pilot event delivered by an affiliated club in 2019. The pilot provided an opportunity to build on what had been delivered and create opportunities for other clubs across the state to deliver events for women and girls.
In addition to the operational insights from the pilot event, Triathlon NSW administered a survey to hear from women and girls about their previous experiences participating in triathlons and reasons they may have stopped. Affiliated clubs were invited to apply to run a women’s only events and these insights provided a strong foundation for clubs planning their project delivery.
“so, we put the onus on the clubs to say, how are you going to make this event supportive and encouraging for first-timers?... this was part of the application criteria”.
First touch opportunity for women to try their first triathlon in a safe, welcoming, and low-pressure environment
First timers strategies each club created their own unique option, including goodie bags, Facebook support groups, group training sessions, and gym access around event
Creating brand awareness by marketing events as a series which people wanted to be part of
Connecting to local audiences club pages distributed the collateral to connect with their local audiences.
Results
The project was highly successfully, engaging and delivering multi events for women and girls
- 660 participants with an average age 41 years
- 13 women only events or women’s only wave to an existing multisport events including aquathons, duathlons, triathlons across 11 clubs
- Creating more welcoming and inclusive environments through first timers strategies and club environment experience
- Local clubs delivered events with support from Triathlon NSW both financial and with the day-to-day running of event.
Challenges
- Attracting and engaging younger women and girls (12-25 years)
- Limited number of images available for marketing and media promotion, only our elite athletes.
Evaluation
Staff reflected that the most significant change achieved was how they “tapped into a market we didn’t really know existed.”
- 77% of participants were not members
- 36% had not participated in a multisport event before
- 25% had not participated in a multisport event in the past 5 years.
The female focused events, delivered by local clubs, changed the way clubs engaged with their communities. Having seen the success of the clubs funded in round one, there is an increased appetite to deliver non-competitive but challenging events for women and girls.
“We always say, Triathlon is for all ages and abilities but then our marketing and our media is photos of elite athletes.... once the events started a lot of the clubs got their own photographers… so now we have this huge bank of photos of just women having fun, women of all shapes and sizes. And we just gradually introduced it into our regular communications.”
“A lot of the clubs already expressed that they want to run them off their own back, they want to find funding every year to run a women’s event now.”
Further Information: Finish Lines, Not Finish Times