Tewkesbury Triathlon Club are certainly ticking all the right boxes.

The club, formed back in 1990, have created an enlightened, forward-thinking culture that has allowed performances to improve while their numbers are increasing.

And their progressive approach has been recognised by the sport’s governing body as they’ve won the British Triathlon Federation’s award for inclusivity for both the South West region and nationally.  

That is particularly pleasing for club chairman David Taylor who, along with his fellow committee members, has worked hard at breaking down barriers in the sport.

“We are getting more new members than ever before,” he said. “And our new members are increasing diversity both in age and background within the club, it’s very pleasing to see.

“The club is in great shape for the future.”

The club currently have about 90 members and the vast majority of those are active.

“It’s quality over quantity,” said 50-year-old Taylor, who will stand down at the end of his two-year stint as chairman in November.

“We’ve focused more on engaged members, we’ve reduced the number of members on paper. During lockdown we lost members who were less engaged.”

That’s in common with many clubs across all sports, of course, but Tewkesbury Triathlon Club, nevertheless, worked very hard during that difficult time to keep their members involved.

“We held strength training sessions, yoga sessions, all on zoom,” said Taylor. “We wanted to give value to our members.

“We were one of the most active clubs in lockdown and we came out of it in great shape. That helped us to recover.”

And they’re thriving now with performances, alongside the increased inclusivity, heading very much in the right direction.

Taylor, a former captain of Tewkesbury Rugby Club, is one of the more performance-focused members, but he’s by no means the only one.

The club have seven members who have represented Great Britain at age group level this year, a past and future Paralympian and a wealth of Ironman athletes, with Taylor adding: “We’re very lucky to have a group of fantastic coaches supporting that level of performance.” 

Not everyone is as focused on racing, of course, and Taylor is proud of the fact that Tewkesbury Triathlon Club offer something for everyone.

“As well as the race and performance side, we have a very good social side,” he said. “It’s a strong community within the club, inclusivity and increasing participation is very important to us.

“We make sure that we welcome people from all backgrounds, the club gives us all a common bond.”

Taylor’s rugby background means he knows all about the importance of team spirit in sport. Rugby is renowned for its all-together and one-for-all culture, of course, and Taylor is not the only former Tewkesbury rugby player at the triathlon club.

“Three of our younger members – Dan Derrick, Ben Bowers and Brad Maber – all played rugby for Tewkesbury,” said Taylor.

“And Chris Walsh, one of our founding members, is a former captain of Tewkesbury Rugby Club.”

Taylor decided to focus on endurance sport and triathlon in particular in 2014.

“The idea of having three disciplines in one sport is appealing,” he said. “When I stopped playing rugby my body was in bits but now, if I have a calf strain for example, I’m not able to run but I may still be able to cycle and I can still swim. I like that.”

Taylor, who has recently competed for Great Britain at age group level in the sprint duathlon world championships in Ibiza, the European standard distance triathlon championships in Madrid and the world sprint triathlon championships in Hamburg, readily admits that swimming is the hardest discipline for him.

“Swimming has always been a challenge because it’s a sport that I didn’t pick up until later in life,” he said.

“My aim is always to get the swimming done as well as possible and then catch up in the cycling and the running.

“It actually flatters my ego because I usually finish much stronger than I start!”

Taylor, who was educated at King’s School in Gloucester, works as a communications director and, as you’d expect, is an articulate man.

And he is very clear about the benefits of being a triathlete.

“You have to be fit to do triathlon at a decent level,” he said. “The overall feeling of wellbeing is special, being fit is massive.

“If somebody says to a committed triathlete, ’you’ve got to run a marathon tomorrow’, they would be able to do it. That’s a huge buzz and for triathletes like me that’s a big reward for the time you put into training.”

And while triathlon is all about the three disciplines, the club do accept members who focus on just the one.

“We’ve had great success in other sports too,” continued Taylor. “We’ve got channel swimmers and ultra-runners at the club.”

Taylor’s wife Lucy – they live in Ashton-under-Hill – is a keen runner and when Taylor spoke to The Local Answer she was preparing to run the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

She is not a member of the triathlon club but Taylor said: “She understands the sport, although she doesn’t get the obsession! She’s a very understanding triathlon widow!” 

Taylor will continue to be an active member of the club once he has stood down as chair and he is very optimistic about the club moving forward.

“We have got a clear picture of where we are going,” he said. “We want to continue to create an inclusive environment so that more and more people feel they are able to join the club.

“We will continue to push back barriers in triathlon.”