With three events, more than 900 children taking part and 72.5 per cent of participants saying that they will take part in more sport and exercise in the future Active Nation's pilot series of TRYathlons were a huge success.

The concept of the 'Active Nation Kids TRYathlon' was to engage children in a series of TRY It activities to help shape their attitudes and enthusiasm towards sport and exercise. The charity worked with 22 schools nationally to deliver a series of three events in 2011 across Southampton, Abingdon and Lincoln.

The recipe for the Active Nation TRYathlon was to provide children with a full day of sport and exercise activities that they might not have experienced before in addition to the main event. Across the events the children participated in dry ski slope tubing, studio cycling, a military style bootcamp, rookie lifeguarding, exercise classes, street sports and much more.

In addition to these activities the main Tryathlon event contained a 60m swim, 900m bike ride and 400m run. Post event, children were provided with free activity vouchers and club pathways to help them continue their new found enthusiasm for sport and exercise.

One of the key objectives for the event was to gain an insight into children's attitudes towards physical activity. A series of questionnaires were conducted pre-event, on the day and post event.

From the children surveyed (aged 9-11), it was determined that:

The majority of them enjoyed sport and exercise because it was fun.

The average for participation in physical activity for 30 mins or more was 5 times per week.
56 per cent of children felt that they would like to do more sport and exercise, but stated that they didn't have enough time to be able to do this.

Active Nation will be running six Tryathlons in 2012, targeting more than 50 schools nationally and 3,100 children.