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TMActive pool users in Kent have been enjoying a friendly inter-pool battle, thanks to new features developed by SWIMTAG.
The SWIMTAG challenge features have been enhanced to make it possible for teams across multiple sites, to compete in battles, with all data being collated by the cloud based SWIMTAG system.
The live challenge link is available here: https://www.swimtag.net/challenge/20239/Niagara-River-Swim
Operators and users are given real time access to battle progress via the SWIMTAG website, helping individuals maintain motivation as they contribute to their team’s total distance each time they put on the SWIMTAG wristband and enter the pool. Battles pitch teams against each other in events such as the 104km ‘Niagara River Swim or 78km ‘Panama Canal’. New battles will be added at regular intervals to ensure regular users remain engaged.
Kieran Sloyan, MD at 222 Sports, developers of SWIMTAG, says: “The benefits of regular swimming are well documented but the challenge operators face is keeping swimmers motivated and engaged. Lane swimming in its purest form can be a lonely, uninspiring activity. We have developed these challenge features to give people more of a reason to get in the pool, return to the pool and clock up some decent distances.
“SWIMTAG has always offered individual challenges but these new features focus more on enabling teams to compete against each other both at a single site or across multiple sites. This creates a real buzz and gives operators an opportunity to build more of a social community around the pool in a way that hasn’t really been possible in the past.”
TM Active has been amongst the first operators to run an inter-pool battle. Two teams of regular pool users, one at the Larkfield Leisure Centre and one at the Tonbridge Swimming Pool, battled it out to become the first to complete the Niagara River Swim. Team Larkfield was the first to cross the line, clocking up the full combined distance of 104km in 21 days.
Martin Guyton, CEO at TM Active, says: “The battle has become a talking point amongst those competing. The battle also attracted a wide variety of people. Competitor ages ranged from 20 to 61 with a 55 per cent female to 45 per cent male split.
“Over the last decade, gyms have embraced technology in a continuing bid to engage and motivate members through the introduction of entertainment and gamification features. SWIMTAG now enables us to bring similar technology to the pool.
“For the first time, through the implementation of easy to use, digital technology, we can enable swimmers to engage with other swimmers and work together towards a mutual goal. The battle only took a few minutes to set up and once this was done the rest took care of itself, automatically updating team progress from data collected on the swimmers SWIMTAG wristbands. SWIMTAG has already had a positive effect on our swim retention. These new features enhance this and I am looking forward to many more battles ahead!”
All pools offering SWIMTAG are now able to take advantage of these new features which launched in January 2018.