SWIMTAG will be returning to Active Net in 2018 for our second year. The two day networking event takes place at Eastwood Hall near Nottingham on the 14th and 15th March and it’s a great chance for suppliers to the fitness industry to meet with operators.

Business Development Manager Colin Scott said “our experience at Active Net last year was great, we met lots of fantastic operators who were keen to find out more about SWIMTAG, so we’re delighted to be heading back to showcase our latest developments in 2018."

“Most leisure operators have a rough idea of who we are and what we do, but not all have had a full demonstration, so they may not have realised how much SWIMTAG could benefit their pool. It’s a great opportunity to sit down with them one on one and show them the impact we’re having on participation and revenue generation at sites already using SWIMTAG."

“The product is always evolving as well, last year we had just launched our new lane displays, this year we’ll be showcasing the improvements we’ve made to the challenge feature which now allow us to set up Team Battles and Pool Battles, allowing pools to set up teams to compete against each other, at one pool or across multiple sites."

For further information on active net please visit http://active-net.org/

SWIMTAG has completed its 13^th installation in Norway through its Nordic distribution partner, SWIMTAG Nordic AS.

The most recent install at the Gamlingen Pool in Stravenger on the West Coast of Norway is already attracting a significant number of users every month and helping the operator to deliver an enhanced user experience.

Speaking about SWIMTAG, Rasmus Gjesdal, General Manager at Stavanger Svømmestadion, Gamlingen, says : “We introduced SWIMTAG as a new offer in August 2017. After 3 months of use, we already have 450 users, of which, several participate in our local challenge and competitions. The system is easy to use (we offer SWIMTAG as self-service) and feedback from our users is exclusively positive. We also want to add that, the follow-up from SWIMTAG Nordic AS is of very high service, and I can, without doubt, recommend the product to other swimming pools. "

The first install in Norway took place in 2014 and since then there has been a steady increase in interest from various operators. Eirik Aksnes, SWIMTAG’s Nordic distribution partner, says: “In Norway, swimming is largely viewed more as a holistic pastime than a serious fitness solution but this is starting to change with more operators beginning to see the value regular pool based activity can have on a community’s health and wellbeing.

“Most operators investing in SWIMTAG are doing so because they see the added value the system offers to recreational swimmers. For the first time, pool users are able to log activity and build a record of their swims and performance improvements. This is extremely motivating. Add to this the chance to take part in a range of cloud based challenges, introducing an opportunity for social interaction with likeminded people, and suddenly the whole pool experience becomes much more engaging. This will keep swimmers returning to the pool for longer.”

Most operators in Norway offer SWIMTAG free of charge to pool users, viewing it as an opportunity to add value rather than drive revenue. Eirik, adds: “SWIMTAG is now installed in more than 200 pools worldwide and there is overwhelming evidence to prove that the system is most successful when this approach is taken. Some operators still insist on passing on the charge to the swimmer but this always results in lower engagement. The financial value in SWIMTAG results from the increase in swimmer retention and the positive influence this has on income rather than the increase in revenue generated from a point of sale approach.”

SWIMTAG Nordics AS operators across Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Germany. Across the territories there are now 24 pools offering SWIMTAG with a growing pipeline of installs planned for 2018.

Larkfield Leisure Centre is seeing a resurgence in swimming after becoming the first pool in Kent to offer fitness tracking technology for swimmers.

tmactive, which runs the centre on behalf of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, installed the awarding-winning SWIMTAG technology at both Larkfield Leisure Centre and Tonbridge Swimming Pool. Like a Fitbit for the pool, the wristband allows swimmers to track their training in the pool from calories burned and distance swum to personal bests.

More than 400 customers regularly use the fitness tracker, notching up an impressive 5,945 swims and a total distance of 7,021km between them. In total, users of SWIMTAG have spent 161 days and three hours in the pool with the average swim lasting 32 minutes.

The technology also allows swimmers to take part in a wide range of challenges to help keep them motivated, as Sarah King, a tmactive trustee and mother of two from Mereworth testifies.

“I enjoy swimming but it can get a bit monotonous. An old school friend who lives in Ashford had posted her plans to swim the distance of the English Channel for charity. I’d heard about SWIMTAG and discovered that you could sign up to swim a lake, river, estuary, channel, sea or ocean anywhere in the world. I found the English Channel, signed up and became a virtual swim buddy for my friend.”

The friends motivated and supported each other over the next eight weeks during which time Sarah spent 18 hours in the pool swimming a total of 1,408 lengths. The 47 year old also burned 8,951 calories. And now she is hooked.

“Taking part in the SWIMTAG challenge has certainly helped improve my fitness and flexibility and stopped any backache. Swimming is a great stress reliever and I feel much more toned in my core area and around my waist and I’ve also shed the half a stone I wanted to lose. The challenge feature and having a friend to compete against motivated me to swim as much as I could in a week.

“I love the graphics which show how far you have progressed across a stretch of a water, the number of lengths you’ve done, your stroke type and speed. Wearing SWIMTAG has made me chat to other users at the end of my swim, so it has made the pool much more sociable for me,” she says.

Since completing her 22-mile English Channel swim, Sarah has swum the distance of the Bristol Channel (11 miles) and signed up to a number of competitions including a ‘500m of any stroke’ challenge with fellow Larkfield swimmers and a UK-wide Swimmers Mile event.

“You can see a list of the other people you are competing against, their profile photos and which leisure centres they are swimming at across the UK.”

Larkfield Leisure Centre and Tonbridge Swimming Pool both feature the SWIMTAG lane displays which allow swimmers to get feedback on their swim while in the water. Swimmers just raise their wristband to the screen at the end of the lane to display all of their data.

For more information, please visit www.tmactive.co.uk

Due to popular demand we are pleased to announce we will soon be adding Team Challenges to the website, these will allow swimmers to team up and take on even bigger swim challenges as a team. In addition to this we will also be allowing you to take on another pool in a team challenge that we will be calling a Pool Battle!
Pool Battles will work in a same way as a team challenge where each team represents a pool, there will be a limited number of places available on each team and as soon as all teams have enough swimmers the battle begins, first team across the finish line wins the battle!
The updates will be available on your operator accounts before Christmas and we will be looking for good ideas for new routes to add to the website so get in touch and let us know what you think.