Charlotte Frazer Cox of Cardiff University tells us about why she wanted to organise a GOTRI

I am a fourth year dental student at Cardiff University, and began triathlon in Autumn 2013 when the university club was founded. One of the best parts of my time at university has been with the club, and for the past three years I have worked on various aspects of the club from social secretary, charity secretary and president. 

This is my second term as president, and I really wanted to improve the club further, and especially increase participation among students. Last summer I was approached by Welsh Triathlon about the GoTri initiative, and the event was exactly what I had been looking for to both get more students involved with the sport and give our club experience of running an event. I decided to host a GoTri event because it was aimed at beginners, and was at a reasonably low price. 

Welsh Triathlon have been brilliant throughout this process. They provided me with a numbered list, detailing what needed to be done, and when, and in what order. Part of the intimidation behind organising an event, is missing out one of the important aspects, and this list was idiot-proof. The event portal was really easy to use, and after submitting our risk assessment, I met up with Welsh Triathlon to discuss our event. They were able to offer lots of advice with regard to distances and transition areas, and their experience was very much appreciated!

The thing I am most looking forward to about GoTri, is meeting lots of eager beginners, and (hopefully) hearing lots of enthusiasm to get more involved with triathlon once they have completed the event - either through signing up to triathlon clubs or taking on a bigger challenge in future. 

If you are thinking about putting on a GoTri, I definitely would recommend it! I had never put an event on before, but Welsh Triathlon have been very supportive throughout the entire process. As students, we don't have a lot of experience hosting events and have a high turnover rate of committee members. Without GoTri I don't think our club would ever have had the confidence to run a full on event. 

 As soon as the event was up, we had tonnes of emails expressing interest, but it will be difficult to determine if they are Cardiff students until they turn up on the day. We have advertised in the University paper and on the TVs around the union though, so I hope we get lots of students! Our Athletic Union have also been very helpful and have been very keen for us to host the event. 

Asking students to volunteer on a Sunday is always going to be a challenge! But all of the committee is very excited for the event, and a few members of our future committee will also be volunteering on the day. 

The Cardiff University GOTRI takes place on 

Sunday 12th March

12:30-4:30

Maindy Leisure Centre, Cardiff

225m Swim

8km Bike 

1.6Km Run

You can enter the GOTRI race by clicking HERE