An Aberdeenshire triathlon club which has grown eightfold in little more than a year has won a national award.
TrYthan, which has its roots in the Ellon and Oldmeldrum areas, is the Triathlon Scotland Club of the Year for 2020.
In early 2019, it had only 10 members, all men, but now boasts a roll call of 80, including 32 women, and 25 youngsters aged between eight and 14.
Founder member David Horne is thrilled that the north-east club’s efforts have been recognised at the national level.
The TrYthan name, which is a nod to the prominent river which flows through the heart of the Formartine countryside, first appeared on the local racing circuit in 2016 when Horne and four friends – Ian Orme, Alan Taylor, John Soutar and Jonathan Cordiner – came up with the idea.
“We were training together and felt it would be a good idea to set up a race team to compete mainly in the Aberdeenshire duathlon and triathlon series,” David said.
“By 2019, a few other guys got involved and we decided it was time to take the next step by formally setting up a club and affiliating to Triathlon Scotland.
“More people joined and now we have 80.
“To begin with they were mainly from Ellon, but we now have members from the Oldmeldrum area, Pitmedden, New Deer, Peterhead and Aberdeen. We also have members in Abu Dhabi as Ian Orme and Alan Taylor moved out there with their work,” he added.
“Our juniors go under the name of TriStars and they meet at Oldmeldrum Academy on Monday evenings when they join up with others from the Three Peaks Triathletes and at Ellon Academy for swimming coaching on a Tuesday.
“Over the past year the club has had three members successfully complete British Triathlon coaching qualifications and we now have six qualified coaches.”
Triathlon Scotland’s Calum Reid said: “The club has done a great job of engaging people of all abilities and backgrounds from the local community.”
