Swimming at Pinkston
Pinkston Offers a fantastic city venue for open water swimmers. It is close, convenient, and safe, with water treated to ensure the maintenance of bathing quality. For those time-poor open water swimmers and triathletes training for open water events it offers the opportunity to get open water training in without the time required to travel to a loch. For those new to open water swimming it offers a safe environment for that initial foray into the world of open water.
Over the years we have been privileged to play host to Glasgow Triathlon Club’s swimming and aquathon sessions, as well as being the venue for ProEndurance Coaching‘s regular coached sessions. However the timing, or other factors, of these doesn’t always tick the right boxes, and there is an ever growing appetite for accessible and convenient open water sessions. Earlier this year we were approached by Triathlon Scotland about increasing opportunities for participation, and this saw the start of a new relationship. With the support of funding from Glasgow 2018 , Triathlon Scotland and the RLSS supported us in training 2 open water life-guards and purchased a number of swimming wetsuits which are not only available for Triathlon Scotland events but can also be hired for open swim sessions run at Pinkston by any swimming provider. Triathlon Scotland have also now run a number of beginners sessions to support people take that first step into open water. This addition to the offer for swimmers means that open water is ever more accessible to those it may not have been before.
We are now in a position to offer open to the public swim sessions at Pinkston – initially on a Sunday morning and Monday lunchtimes as open life-guarded sessions. If these go well and uptake is good we will look at building on the availability. Sessions are designed to complement the offerings of Glasgow Triathlon Club and ProEndurance Coaching offering increased accessibility. Being able to offer such a variety of opportunities is only achievable by working with others – Triathlon Scotland, Glasgow Triathlon Club and ProEndurance Coaching; a fact that is key to the very ethos of Pinkston. “Community”, “Sport”, and “Social Enterprise” are our 3 key strategic objectives and the collaborative and inclusive base of this new venture fits right in with this. We owe a big thank you to those who made it happen.
http://www.triathlonscotland.org
http://www.glasgowtriathlonclub.co.uk/
www.proendurancecoaching.co.uk
By Pinkston