A women's triathlon club is looking to counter the rising costs of sport in Canberra by launching a scholarship program designed to open the sport to a new market.
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Females in Training is Canberra's lone women's triathlon club as well as being the largest triathlon club in the ACT, having launched in 1997.
FIT president Sue Lyons says the group has noticed cost can hold potential competitors back, and now the group is looking to tap into that market by offering two fully funded positions to support financially disadvantaged people that would otherwise be unable to compete.
The group is offering two scholarships worth up to $412 each in a bid to encourage two community members to participate in triathlon training programs, that would otherwise be unable to due to associated costs.
"We’ve been running the women’s triathlon training program for 15 to 20 years and we realised it can be quite expensive for some women," FIT president Sue Lyons said.
"What we find is a lot of women who haven’t done exercise before, you do a sprint distance triathlon, or we have what is called a taster, which is a very easy triathlon mainly for people who maybe need to learn to swim, run or ride, or the whole three.
"The great thing is most women join a club and start in it, stay with it. You can come along and do one of the exercises or the whole group. It is quite empowering too. It is a very supportive group of women."
The scholarship will provide registration fees for the FIT women's triathlon training program, entry fee for the Canberra Club Triathlon, and a membership to FIT and Triathlon ACT.
An information session on the program is being held on September 19 at the YWCA Canberra, and applications for the two scholarships close on September 21.
