Farnham triathlon club history
Our history started in 1985 when the first Farnham triathlon was held. It was based around the Farnham sports centre and was organised by Ian Phillips then manager of the sports centre The distances were a mile swim, (Ian was a keen swimmer), a 23-mile cycle and a 10-mile run. It was a very hot day around 100 people completed the triathlon.
A few people thought it would be a good idea to form a triathlon club. At the triathlon, invitations were handed out to the triathletes for a meeting the following week. Ken Wood announced the meeting on the local radio. About 12 people turned up to the inaugural meeting and Farnham Triathlon Club (FTC) came into existence.
Ian strongly supported the club through the first precarious months. Our first pool hire was on a Sunday morning. £10 for an hour’s swim. In those days we divided the pool costs by the number of swimmers. On one occasion there were only four of us! From there, the club went from strength to strength even though we had little money. A committee was formed and gradually through newspaper reports and word of mouth the club grew.
In those days, membership consisted of a pretty mixed bag, mostly runners, a few cyclists, and even fewer swimmers! Training outside of swimming tended to be fairly ad hoc. Probably the biggest breakthrough came when swimming sessions became more organised and that drew in more members when Wednesday and Friday sessions were added at Farnham Leisure Centre. The existence of the fledgling British Triathlon Association (BTA) as a slightly more organised body also helped.
Over the years, the club organised a number of triathlon events principally a Sprint triathlon of a 400-metre swim, 17-mile cycle and a 4.5-mile run. Additionally, they found a long course triathlon, remembered by some people for painful reasons, this included a 1600 metre swim followed by a 37-mile cycle and a hilly 10-mile run. These ideas helped to generate interest in the club through local publicity. The Farnham triathlon was halted as it was difficult to have a public triathlon with a cycle route through an increasingly busy Farnham town centre.
Since the demise of the Farnham Triathlon, the club has continued to be involved in the race organisation by assisting Paul Weavers and Hart District Council with one of the most popular early season triathlons in the South, the Hart Leisure Sprint triathlon in Fleet. For many years, FTC supplied a race director and stewards to run the event. Chris Roberts used to organise a buddy weekend a week before for athletes new to triathlon.
Sadly, the last Hart Leisure Sprint triathlon was held in 2024.
Everyone should appreciate that the club has been run by a small number of people, and it would not exist if it wasn’t for their efforts. The general membership does not see the work which goes on in the background or the deliberations on finance which ensures the club survives.
Ken Wood and Graham Wilson were the two people significantly responsible for the conception and early years of Farnham Triathlon Club. Ken’s vision and association with the BTA combined with Graham’s army coaching skills in swimming and cycling provided the foundation on which the current club was built. Graham Wilson moved to America in 1993 where he carried on training and racing for triathlon and subsequently became a USAT Certified Coach and continues to run a successful triathlon training company.
Dorothy Cooper became the swimming coach and formed Team Dorothy. Dorothy was a great character and had been the Head Coach for Hart Swimming Club.
There was a significant step when the Aldershot Garrison Sports centre was built, and the 50-metre pool became available to FTC as soon as it opened in 2000. The 50-metre pool was much more suited for endurance swimming.
Everyone remembers Chris Roberts as Chief Coach, a position he held for 20 years. Chris gave the coaching team structure and recruited more coaches. The British Triathlon Federation (BTF) required coaches to qualified. Chris became a BTF coaching official and used his knowledge to drive the club forward. Training sessions were fully planned. We had training events such as the ‘IronmanTM ’ Weekend. It consisted of half or full distances. The swim (1900 or 3800 metres) was on Friday evening, the bike (56km or 112km) was on Saturday along the A31, and the run was on Sunday half or full marathon along the Basingstoke Canal. Hard work but good training.
Cathy Roberts became the membership secretary, but she did more than that she ran the club back office.
Chris Roberts started bike training sessions at Blackbushe Kart Track in 2010. These sessions on a 600-metre track were (and are) very popular. The track is very smooth and of course there is no traffic.
By 2018, the traffic density in Farnham became worse and really even club triathlons in the middle of Farnham became untenable. Equipment such as bike racking was bought and triathlons and other events were run at Horseshoe Lake in Sandhurst. David Pinkney’s aim was to have club triathlons which were comparable with commercial events. The idea spread and other club events were held at Aldershot Garrison, Mytchett Lake and Bourne Wood. The relay triathlons were fun.
Like other sport clubs, Covid hit FTC hard in 2020. Triathletes’ training schedules went and of course there were no events and no travel. The coaches devised training routines that could be done individually. When the regulations allowed, the club put on some training under strict supervision. In 2021, FTC managed to put on a triathlon at Horseshoe Lake.