A family friendly 8km sponsored triathlon for all ages and abilities, raising money for services run by the South Oxford Family Room. In 2022 we raised over £7500. Help us reach our target of £10,000 in 2023!
Latest information: over 200 people took part in the family triathlon for 2023 (article here)! There's still time to help the family room by sponsoring one of the participants or donating online. We'll be back in summer 2024 (date yet to be fixed)!

About
Sponsor someone
Take part
The cause
Supported by
  • An event for all ages

  • Swim

  • Run

  • Cycle

  • A beautiful outdoor course

  • A fun finish

  • Take part as a family

Quotes from previous years

We had so much fun yesterday morning, and my 7-year-old Ella is thrilled to have completed the whole thing!

Helen Johnson

Thank you to you and the team for organising such a wonderful event. It was our first time participating and we all loved it

Lisa Seddon

We really enjoyed the friendly and relaxed atmosphere and the marshals were uniformly brilliant

Andy Humphries

Thanks so much for such a well organised, and kind and inclusive event: it was a lovely thing to do with my teenage son

Fran Townend

My 3 year old completed two laps of the running (shouting “this is really fun!”) and all four laps of the cycling on her own bike. She was SO proud of herself

Juliet Rayment

What a perfect morning...thanks to everyone for a great event

Antonella Surdi

About the event

The event is intended to be inclusive rather than very competitive, so is not timed, and there are no awards for speed. Children of all ages participate: last year we had grandparents participating alongside children aged from 3-16.

The total distance covered is 8 kilometres: 6 lengths of the Hinksey Pool (200m), 3 running laps of Dean's Ham field (1.8 km), and 4 cycling laps of Grandpont Nature Park (6 km). Participants who do not wish to complete the whole course can cover shorter distances (e.g. fewer laps or lengths of the pool), and accomplish the triathlon relay-style with their family group: this allows even small children to take part.

The event starts in Hinksey Pool at 9.30am. Participants drop off their bikes with marshals at Grandpont Nursery School beforehand, and make their way to the pool where the start times are staggered over about an hour (personalised times allocated beforehand). We expect participants to finish roughly an hour later at the South Oxford Adventure Playground. Feel free to look at an online digital map of the course.

More details

In the triathon in 2023, start times were staggered between 9.30 and 10.30 at Hinksey Pool. You can see rough arrangements in the 2023 participant pack. To find out more, please don’t hesitate to email us, or come and find out more either at the Family Room or from the main event organiser, Yan Wong (159 Marlborough Road).

Our standard risk assessment, and our road signs map are also available for download.

Donate here!

Please sponsor one of our teams! To encourage involvement we've kept the same entry price as in 2022, and are relying on extra funds through sponsorship.

We are fundraising through GoodHub and you can donate directly on that page, or sponsor a team that you know from the list of "Our fundraisers" at the bottom of the GoodHub page.

You can also donate directly using the QR code on the right.

Take Part

Sorry, the 2023 family triathlon event has already happened. Thanks to all the participants who made it such a success. Don't forget to sponsor someone if you haven't done so yet. See you next year!

All members of the family can take part in this great event.

Just complete these two steps:

1. Complete an entry form

The donation for entry is £10 for individuals, £20 for a whole family. We have deliberately kept the amount low to encourage you to set up a sponsorship page. To enter, please:

If you would like a Family Triathlon T-shirt, return the form by Tuesday 5th Sept listing the required sizes, or email us to sort out your required size. We aim to keep costs low, just £15 for an adult or £10 for a kid’s top: allow your child to prove they’ve completed a triathlon!

The entry fee helps cover our costs, but if you collect enough sponsorship, you can simply ask us to waive the fee for you. And if you are part of a family fleeing from persecution, e.g. recent refugees from Ukraine or similiar, we would be happy to offer a 90% discount on the entry fee: just let us know when entering.

2. Collect sponsorship:

Most of our work is supported by fundraising, and we are extremnely grateful to anyone who collects sponsorship for their triathlon. Friends and relatives are usually happy to sponsor children to complete impressive events such as this!

Useful info & resources

† You can tackle the course as a team, which means not everyone in your family need complete all the course. Children or other participants who can't, for example, swim a length of the pool, can still take part by running short sections, and very small children can travel on the back of bikes.

The cause

The South Oxford Family Room at Grandpont is a community-led project set up in order to continue providing universal services to families as a result of the closure of our local Children's Centre. We run stay and play activities for parents and young children, and act as a food bank location. We have been open running outdoor activities over much of the the Coronavirus pandemic, opening up our community services as soon as we have been allowed. Do come and visit, meet parents and socialise, and tell your friends about us, or follow us on our facebook page.

Supported by

Huge thanks to the following organisations who have generously supported the Family Triathlon both financially and in-kind. Please email us if you would like to add your name to this list