PARALYMPIC triathlon champion Andy Lewis organised an event in his hometown on Sunday (July 8) to encourage children to get active and experience the sport in which he has excelled.

‘It’s fun 2 tri’ took place at Freedom Leisure in Lydney and was the culmination of months of work according to the athlete, who took gold in the Rio Games in 2016.

“The event was originally due to take place on Saturday, but we rearranged it at the last minute when we heard that England were playing in a World Cup quarter final game,” said Andy.

“This event has been a brainchild of mine and one that I’ve been planning since Rio.

“I wanted to create a series of events to get kids active and teach them the specific skills you need for triathlons.

“We began back in February with a swimming event, teaching kids triathlon-specific skills.

“The following month we did bike skills. The children worked in groups and we looked at building confidence,” he added.

“In April we focussed on running and in May I put on a small triathlon just for the kids, without adults, so that they could piece together their skills without any pressure.

“The event on Sunday was the culmination of all of that work and we had 58 children taking part with parents and local people supporting them.

“I capped it at 65 so that it didn’t grow too big too quickly, but 325 children took part in the programme overall.

“Most were local, but they came over from Stroud, Chepstow and Gloucester as well as the Forest.

“I’d like to thank Tesco, who supported the event and supplied water and fruit, Carters in Gloucester, who supplied the fencing and Tri Mats Events, who supplied the inflatable gantry at the finish line.

“And charity Arctic One Foundation supplied medals for the children who took part,” said Andy.

“They put on events to encourage people to get active and that was very much what this event was about too.

“I’d really like to thank all the marshalls and volunteers and the people who came out to support the event.

“Without them it wouldn’t have been possible. We’ll definitely be doing it again next year.”

Andy took silver in the World Series in Italy recently and is off to the European Championships in Estonia later this week, before heading to the World Cup in Switzerland in August and the World Championships on the Gold Coast of Australia in September.

To find out more about Andy’s work, including with schools and young people, visit his website at www.andyjlewis.co.uk