Entries are now open for the first ever SH2OUT open water swim at the ITU World Triathlon Series Leeds 2018. The event will be part of a weekend of swim, bike and run events taking place on 9-10 June.

The SH2OUT open water swim will have either a 400m or 750m swim available on Saturday 9 June priced at £20. Entry is available at leeds.triathlon.org. The SH2OUT campaign launched by British Triathlon and RLSS UK earlier this year aims to ensure that open water swimming is conducted within a safe environment.

RLSS UK is the leading provider of water safety education and qualifications and seeks to help reduce the figure of 400 accidental drownings in open water each year. The partnership is hosting an open water swim at an event like the ITU World Triathlon Series Leeds to help raise awareness of open water swimming and ensure participants swim safely with a positive introduction to the sport.

SH2OUT will be one of the many events taking part in Leeds in 2018. The event is aimed at participants beginning their triathlon journey and will see participants swimming 400m or 750m in Roundhay Park’s Waterloo Lake.

Adrian Lole, Technical Director at RLSS UK, the drowning prevention charity, said: “As part of our work in drowning prevention, RLSS UK has taken action to make safe open water swimming more accessible to those who want to take part. We aim to lead in hosting more open water swims for all ages and abilities around the UK as well as work to help secure more safeopen water swimming sites to make the activity more accessible to all, including triathletes who want to train or gain more experience of open water swimming.”

The ITU World Triathlon Leeds 2018 will see top athletes line up at Roundhay Park on Sunday 10 June. Age-Group triathletes will also be competing throughout the weekend in sprint and standard races. Alongside the main event, there will be a GO TRI event aimed at introducing newcomers to triathlon the opportunity to experience triathlon for the very first time in Roundhay Park.

Wayne Coyle, Event Director for the ITU World Triathlon Leeds added: “We are delighted to host a SH2OUT event this year at ITU World Triathlon Leeds. Open water swimming is a key element to the triathlon experience and the chance to encourage more people into open water swimming is a great opportunity to reduce one of the main barriers to entry for triathlon in the future.”

The ITU World Triathlon Leeds 2018 is supported by National Lottery funding and is organised by British Triathlon, in partnership with Leeds City Council, UK Sport and the ITU.

For more information about SH2OUT, visit https://www.sh2out.org/

To enter the SH2OUT event, visit http://leeds.triathlon.org/enter_now/sh2out_swim