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‘The most comprehensive research study ever undertaken of the British triathlon community’ is now being undertaken by the Triathlon Industry Association (TIA).
Conducted over an intensive four-month period, the project will aim to collect over 5,000 responses to provide insight into the behavioural and buying trends of Britain’s active triathlete population.
The TIA, formed earlier this year and comprising event organisers, equipment manufacturers, tour operators, retailers, distributors, and media, will be working in conjunction with the sport’s governing body the British Triathlon Federation to pool data.
The TIA said that the figure of 100,000 active triathletes in the UK has been bandied about for some time, with countless articles written about triathlon being the current ‘fastest-growing participatory sport’. The association said the industry is keen to quantify this and how the growth in events is affecting the size of the multisport community, its participation levels and the longevity of participation.
The study will be undertaken on behalf of TIA by MultiSport Research. MD Gary Roethenbaugh said: “In 2008, USA Triathlon commissioned a great study, called ‘The Mind of a Triathlete’, which offered an interesting set of insights into the US triathlon community – particularly into the level of loyalty and dedication felt towards its sport. Triathlon Business International (TBI) & Active have also looked at tri participation in the US. We want to mirror some of this work understanding demographics and participation, and build upon this by looking at expenditure, to create an accurate picture of the total market size in the UK.”
TIA chairman Ryan Bowd added:“The Triathlon Industry Association was created to provide a platform for the industry to work collaboratively for mutual gain. Individually, we all have pockets of data we can access, but only by working together can we hope to understand our community more fully.
"The results of this study will be hugely important in providing the industry’s key stakeholders with the information and intelligence they need to continue to grow this fantastic sport.”
You can find more information here. In addition, we’ve got an interview with the TIA in the December issue of BikeBiz.
