Around the world in 80 challenges....

There are now 80 SWIMTAG Global Challenges to pick from spread all over the globe, some will take a few weeks to finish and some will take a team effort to complete.

We have released 4 new 'Global Challenger' swim badges to collect for completing 10, 20, 40 and all 80 challenges

We are delighted to announce that SWIMTAG is now available in Wales, after the installation of our technology in four Leisure Centres in Caerphilly.

Swimmers using leisure centres in Caerphilly, Heolddu, Newbridge and Risca can now ask for a SWIMTAG wristband at reception as part of their membership and track their swims with our award winning technology.

Business Development Manager Colin Scott said "We're delighted to introduce our technology to Wales for the first time. It's still a tough time for swimming pools, but the team at Caerphilly, led by Aquatics Manager Sian Jones are working hard to keep improving the level of service to their swimmers and SWIMTAG will form a big part of those improvements over the coming months and years. We hope that they will be rewarded by improved retention of swimmers, as has been the case at dozens of other pools throughout the country, where swimmers have gotten addicted to SWIMTAG and the fun it brings to swimming".

We have updated our personal best tool to allow tracking of Individual Medleys (both single and double lengths)

An individual medley consists of four strokes. These four strokes go in an order by Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and finally Freestyle. Swimmers can swim a single length of each stroke, or double lengths of each.

The new website feature allows swimmers to search their swim history to detect when they have previously completed a medley and calculates their fastest time, then going forward it will update their PB whenever they set a new faster time.

SWIMTAG are once again partnering with The Swimathon Foundation to support this years swim events across the UK

The Swimathon event will be returning to more than 450 pools across the country on the weekend of May 12-14 2023 with their annual fundraising swim for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie. We wanted to support all our swimmers taking part in the event and encourage as many as possible to signup this year, so SWIMTAG users can register for any Swimathon challenge and get an exclusive 35% discount using the code SWIMTAGR2T1.

For those who wish to get a taste of the main Swimathon events, we have re-opened the Swimathon Distance Series, 4 distance competitions of 400m, 1.5km, 2.5km and 5km. The Swimathon Distance Series allows you to pick a distance and see if you are able to complete it in one swim, you can start at 400m (16 lengths in a 25m pool) and see if you are able to continue to the next. For those already signed up, they can use the competitions to help train for the event and compare your progress with others.

The competition series will be active from 20 March - 14 May at which point the results are frozen until the following year. If you are running the Swimathon events at your pool we encourage you to promote the competition series as a great introduction to the events and a way for swimmers to track their training progress and socialise with other participants.

We know that many pools have limited space at their busy reception areas and are concerned about installing extra equipment, to help solve this issue we developed the SWIMTAG Windows Application that is installed on your own computers removing the need for an extra computer.

In addition to this we have developed a handy 3D model that allows pool operators to preview the placement of our Docking Station tower in their reception areas.

To preview the model for yourself simply load the page linked below on an iOS (Safari) or Android device and you will see a 'View In 3D' button which loads the Augmented Reality viewer.

The all new T-Series competitions is a new concept that measures how many lengths a swimmer can complete within a set time period. An initial set of 3 global competitions are available T15, T30 and T60 and can be joined today in the global competition area. Rather than timing a swimmer to complete a set distance the T-Series instead challenges the swimmer to beat the clock and complete as many lengths as possible within the time limit, competition will be fierce as it may all come down to that 1 extra length to decide who takes gold!

The new competitions are initially only available globally however if you wish to run your own local T-Series competition let us know and we can set one up for your pool.

SWIMTAG have partnered with The Swimathon Foundation to support this years swim events across the UK

Swimathon are returning to over 450 pools across the country on the weekend of May 6-8 2022 with their annual fundraising swim for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie. We wanted to support all our swimmers taking part in the event and encourage as many as possible to signup this year, so SWIMTAG users can register for any Swimathon challenge in February and get an exclusive 35% discount using the code SWIMTAG22.

For those who wish to get a taste of the main Swimathon events, we have created the Swimathon Distance Series by adding 4 new distance competitions of 400m, 1.5km, 2.5km and 5km. The Swimathon Distance Series allows you to pick a distance and see if you are able to complete it in one swim, you can start at 400m (16 lengths in a 25m pool) and see if you are able to continue to the next. For those already signed up, they can use the competitions to help train for the event and compare your progress with others.

The competition series will be active in February only, with the results being frozen until the following year. The first 10 swimmers who join all 4 competitions, log a time for each & sign up to a Swimathon 2022 challenge using the discount code provided, will qualify to receive a Swimathon t-shirt. We are also giving away a £25 Zoggs voucher to one randomly selected swimmer who joins at least one Swimathon Distance Series competition. If you are running the Swimathon events at your pool we encourage you to promote the competition series as a great introduction to the events and a way for swimmers to track their training progress and socialise with other participants. We have designed a PDF poster that can be downloaded and printed or shared on social media by yourselves, just click the download link below.

We’re pleased to announce a fantastic new feature that has just gone live on both the SWIMTAG Operator Panel and the SWIMTAG User Website. Swimmers and pool operators can now map out their own virtual swim challenges using our new Challenge Builder.

Simply log into your operator account and go to the Challenges area, select the Challenge Builder, give the challenge a name and and plot your own custom route on the interactive map. Add a few words to describe the route and upload an image that will be displayed alongside (you must ensure you have permission to use this image). Your new challenge will then be available for swimmers to use or set up as a featured challenge to invite your members to join.

The easy to use Training Plan builder allows you to upload your own plans to the SWIMTAG website, once they have been published swimmers will see your plans on the training section of the website and app, they can choose to take part in a plan and select which dates they will be swimming each day on.

Swimmers are given a score for each training day that corresponds to how closely they followed the plan, after all the training days have been completed they will receive a gold/silve/bronze medal based on they overall score. If you have your own swim training programme this is the perfect opportunity to integrate it with SWIMTAG, those swimmers with Garmin or Apple swim watches can even take part in the training plans.

You can now provide premium account registration codes for members that use their own swim tracking devices or manual upload swims at your pool. New and existing users can enter the code to receive FREE premium access to SWIMTAG (worth £2.99 per month) without the need to use one of your SWIMTAG wristbands for their first swim.
Each code is unique to your pool, simply head to the 'Pool Settings' area of your Operator Login and choose 'Registration Codes' and select 'Add Registration Code' to choose a code for your swimmers to enter. Once saved new signups will be prompted to enter a code on signup or existing users can enter their code on the settings page under 'Register Membership'.
The SWIMTAG premium subscription normally costs £2.99 / month for non-SWIMTAG users so this cost saving can be attributed to your monthly swim membership as a USP. For more information and help setting up registration codes for your pools feel free to get in touch using the Feedback button or Chat widget.

Swimmers can now signup to SWIMTAG using their Garmin Connect account making it even easier to take part in SWIMTAG Challenges, Competitions and Training Plans using their own devices

Swimmers with their own Garmin or compatible sports watch can initially import up to 3 months of swimming activities from their Garmin Connect accounts and keep their data in Sync using the 'Auto Import' feature, swimmers can still choose to use the SWIMTAG bands at the pool if they wish

If your pool has a Club SWIMTAG system installed you can offer FREE Premium access to SWIMTAG to all your members even if they use their own device to record their swims, simply setup a Registration Code via the operator login and offer the code to all swimmers that wish to use the website

We're pleased to launch the new look Operator Login area, the updates include a complete refresh of the layout and menus as well as adding some new dashboard stats making it easier for SWIMTAG operators to manage their poolside activity.

The Operator area of SWIMTAG allows pool operators to setup challenges and competitions, view leaderboards, cheer swimmers achievements and provide reports on poolside usage

For more information about the Operator Website check out the Website & App area

It’s time for the second major Zoggs swim challenge in the Adam “Ocean” Walker series.

This time, we’ll be challenging all SWIMTAG users to swim 33km across The Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Los Angeles. The challenge starts on the 21st May 2021 and you have 48 days to complete the swim.

Everyone who completes the challenge will be entered into a prize draw to win some fantastic goodies, including a signed copy of Adam’s autobiography. We’ve also got several pairs of “Ocean Walker” Goggles, designed by Zoggs with the help of Adam to be the perfect goggle for endurance swimming in all environments to give away.

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is connect your SWIMTAG account to Zoggs on the settings page, enter the challenge and complete it within 48 days. We’ll select the winners at random from everyone who has successfully completed the challenge.

Link to the live challenge map: https://www.swimtag.com/challenge/31494/Catalina-Strait

If you need any assistance with SWIMTAG based social media posts, printed poster templates, roller banner artwork, news letter content, challenge promotion, graphic design or digital signage content please do not hesitate to contact the team on Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere javaskript for å kunne se den.. 

We have recorded and uploaded a range of new training videos to our SWIMTAG Operator accounts and the SWIMTAG Training Centre. The new videos include some commonly asked questions, how to setup a setup a self-service system, new staff member training videos, com port readers, how to use the Aures Yuno and more. Head to the Training Videos page of your Operator account to view, each video has its own public link that you can share with other members of staff.

You can view the training videos here: https://www.swimtag.com/client/training-videos.xhtml

As part of our partnership with Zoggs, we’ve teamed up with them and endurance Swimmer Adam “Ocean” Walker to create some exciting new SWIMTAG challenges for all our users in the UK. Adam Walker is the first British Swimmer, and only the 2nd person in the world to complete seven of the world’s toughest endurance swims, including the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the Gibraltar Strait now known collectively as the “Oceans 7”. We’ll be challenging our swimmers to swim all seven routes virtually over the next few months and everyone who completes each challenge will be entered into a prize draw to win some fantastic goodies, including a signed copy of Adam’s autobiography. We’ve also got several pairs of “Ocean Walker” Goggles, designed by Zoggs with the help of Adam to be the perfect google for endurance swimming in all environments to give away.

The invitation for the first challenge has just been sent out to all SWIMTAG users and everyone who completes the challenge will automatically be entered into a prize draw.

You can join or follow the challenge here: https://www.swimtag.net/challenge/30678/Cook-Strait-Swim

SWIMTAG have teamed up with Zoggs to help you get the most out of your swims. The existing Zoggs Swim4Fitness website will be closing down and all existing users will be able to create a free account on SWIMTAG. Swimmers can create their SWIMTAG account using an Apple Watch, Sports Watch or manually using the simple swim editor. Existing SWIMTAG accounts can also be connect with Zoggs so all swimmers can receive exclusive offers and promotions at the Zoggs store as well as customised training plans and challenges. Zoggs will be working closely with the SWIMTAG team to promote the weekly Rule The Pool 400m swimming competition and we will be launching a number of special features over the next 12 months! 

New users can sign up to a Zoggs SWIMTAG account here:  www.swimtag.net/join/zoggs 

Existing users can connect their account to Zoggs in the Partners section on their account settings page. 

SWIMTAG operators can now direct users from their own website or social media content to a customised registration page to get new swimmers registered with SWIMTAG. Use the link www.swimtag.net/register/your-company-name to direct users directly to a landing page that loads your list of pools so that swimmers don't need to find your pools by searching our database.
For example Places Leisure could use the link www.swimtag.net/register/places-leisure 

Our new Swim Badges are now available, swimmers must have uploaded 5 swims to start collecting badges on their profile, simply click on the badge icon to see which badges you have already earned.
We have added an initial list of 30 badges and will make more available to keep swimmers motivated to set themselves new goals and progress in the pool.

The SWIMTAG Team will once again be attending the CIMSPA and Quest Conference on Thursday 27 February 2020, being held this year at Pride Park Stadium in Derby.

The conference is one of the most anticipated events on the Leisure Industry Calendar and this year the keynote speakers will be Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England and David Thomson an expert in behavioural change.

The SWIMTAG team will have a stand on the conference floor and we look forward to meeting participants at the event. Come and speak to us to find out more about our new Windows based software which has made a SWIMTAG installation more affordable than ever before. Chat to us about our new 2nd Generation Lane Displays, coming out in the Spring time and hear more about our latest case studies which show how existing SWIMTAG pools have managed to generate a great return on their investment and invigorated their pool offering with a SWIMTAG installation.

We also look forward to meeting existing clients, so if you are already a SWIMTAG Operator, please stop and say hello! We can chat to you about the new Windows software, which many existing pools are adopting in order to save space on their reception desks, let you see the new lane displays and if you'd like help creating challenges and boosting your SWIMTAG numbers, we can give you advice or arrange a longer chat in the days following the conference.

Svøm Langt is a Norwegian national swim campaign that runs each year with the aim of getting as many people as possible to swim a course (10,000m for adults and 2,500m for children) between 1st January and 31st March, everyone who completes the distance is then eligable to win a prize, this years prize being a holiday to Malaga!

The campaign has been running every year since 1997 organised by the Norweigan Swimming Association and has relied on swimmers logging their distance manually and being checked by staff at the pools.

In 2020 we are pleased to announce that swimmers at any of the 21 swimming pools in Norwary equipped with SWIMTAG can link their Svøm Langt entry with SWIMTAG so that their distance is automatically tracked following each swim.

Active Northumberland are the latest leisure organisation to introduce SWIMTAG after we completed an installation at Wentworth Leisure Centre in the picturesque town of Hexam in early November.

SWIMTAG came in shortly after their reception area was completely refurbished and dozens of users have already given SWIMTAG a try at the busy site.

Mark Seymour, the Head of Swimming for Active Northumberland said "We're really pleased with SWIMTAG so far. We're only just beginning to promote it and we've already got plans for our first featured challenge in February when we'll be challenging our swimmers to "Escape from Alcatraz". That combined with the January rush should see numbers soaring. What we're particularly pleased to see is the wide range of people who use SWIMTAG. It's not just triathletes who enjoy using it, we've got one chap called Ian who comes in regularly. He suffers from MS, but he doesn't let it stop him from exercising. He's already signed up to the Isle of Wight swim, the Swimmer's Mile competition and he's completed 15 swims with SWIMTAG since it was installed only 3 weeks ago, logging 10.5 hours in the water already. As a leisure provider, the value of having access to all this data is immeasurable."

You can now use SWIMTAG in one of the largest pools in the UK after Sheffield International Venues (SIV) installed SWIMTAG at Ponds Forge, their flagship centre.

SWIMTAG has been up and running at Ponds Forge since they officially launched on 4th November and they have already had over 100 people use SWIMTAG in the first few weeks.

Business Development Manager for 222 Sports Colin Scott said "Ponds Forge is an iconic swimming location and SIV are a great organisation to be partnering with. To get so many people using SWIMTAG so quickly is testament to how hard the team have been working to promote SWIMTAG, both in person at the centre and on social media, so we are looking forward to seeing just how high the numbers can go".

Sarah Livesey the Programme Development Manager at SIV said "We're really pleased with the start we've had with SWIMTAG at Ponds Forge. The reception team are getting great feedback from users, we've got one swimmer who has already logged 17 swims in 24 days, and we'll be starting our first Featured Challenge in December with over 20 swimmers already signed up to "Escape from Alcatraz". The senior management team have also been so impressed that they are already looking at the possibility of adding SWIMTAG to a 2nd SIV site".

Places Leisure will once again be running a featured challenge for their SWIMTAG users across all 70 of their pools.

From 1st - 24th December, users will be invited to swim the "Christmas Island Beaches Challenge", a swim between two of the largest beaches on the festively named tropical island, famed for its migrating red crabs. Around 7000 swimmers log approximately 35000 swims every month in Places Leisure swimming pools.

Featured Challenges are a great way to get users engaged and pools who run them regularly see a big increase in the number of swims logged in a typical month.

222 Sports MD Kieran Sloyan said "our shared goal is to get more people more active more often and the evidence shows that when pools run featured challenges, it motivates more swimmers to take part, and to complete the challenge, they either visit the pool more regularly, or they swim more lengths on each visit.

December is usually a quiet time, and we know that in the days before Christmas, people will visit less as Christmas shopping and office parties start to take priority, but if users are completing a challenge, they are more likely to keep coming up until closer to Christmas.

We've created lots of featured challenges so pools can set up the "Dead Sea Swim" in October. We've got the Dublin Bay swim, ideal to run in March for St Patrick's day, and lots of other great routes like the English Channel, Escape from Alcatraz and Lake Windermere. We can even map out customised routes for pools wishing to swim a local body of water.

So while swimmers at other pools will be easing off, more people at Places Leisure sites will be keeping their exercise routine going right up until Christmas, making it much easier to ease back into their swimming in the New Year".

The live challenge map is available to view here: https://www.swimtag.net/challenge/28452/Christmas-Island-Beaches

This month we are launching the new SWIMTAG application for Windows POS computers. You can remove your SWIMTAG monitor, Zotac computer and card reader from reception and alternatively install the SWIMTAG Docking Station application on your POS computer. You simply plug your current Docking Station tower into an available USB socket on your POS computer. The application is compatible with MK2, MK3 and the new MK4 Docking Station towers. The reception team simply open the SWIMTAG application using a desktop icon whenever they want to issue a wristband. When its not in use they simply minimise it to the task bar or close the application.

Running the application on your POS computer will free up space and network ports at reception. We can also use the existing readers plugged into the POS computer (if required). Additionally, your reception team do not need to walk over to the SWIMTAG computer to collect or return wristbands.

If you would like to use the new application please contact the support team on 01225 282 177 or email Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere javaskript for å kunne se den.

We've added a number of new Challenges to SWIMTAG, some of which are only visible to pool operators (until you set them up as a featured challenge). One such challenge is the "Dead Sea Swim" which was specifically designed with October & Halloween in mind. Why not set it up as a "Featured Challenge" in October and get more people swimming!

Our integration with Training Peaks is now available for all swimmers! Training Peaks is an online platform for analysing swim, bike and run workouts, those of you keen triathletes may have already used this popular tool that allows you to share your training performance with coaches and other athletes. The integration will allow you to link your Training Peaks account so that any new swims uploaded to SWIMTAG can be automatically sent to Training Peaks, or you can disable automatic publishing and choose the swims you wish to export. If you know of any swimmers who are training for a race or event why not suggest Training Peaks to them? Its free to create an account, signup at www.trainingpeaks.com

Extending our functionality launched last month allowing SWIMTAG users to import .fit files of their Garmin swims, they can link their account to Garmin Connect. Any swim then uploaded to their Garmin Connect account from their Garmin Watch will automatically be published to SWIMTAG.

These swims will then appear against your pools statistics and be valid in any pool challenge or competition, this giving more visibility of swimmers that may choose not to use a SWIMTAG wristband. This also has the benefit of freeing up wristbands for swimmers that may not have their own device.

Swimmers can now import swims from Apple Watch and Garmin devices. For Garmin, you can import a .fit file from your Garmin account, and for Apple Watch import a swim workout from the last month from your Apple Health account (you must have linked this with SWIMTAG first).

On the desktop site you will see a new ‘Import Swims’ menu on the right hand side and on the mobile app we have added a new Import Swims option to the main side menu

All swim data is calculated outside of SWIMTAG but once imported you can adjust the swim using our Swim Editors if necessary. Imported swims will count towards your Challenges and Goals as well as being included in your account stats. If your device records your heart rate during your swim this will be visible on your swim graph on our desktop site. Importable data also include any open water swim recorded on an Apple or Garmin device, the open water distance will count towards challenge distances and a route map will be visible on the profile page to replace the swim graph.

You can now have more control over who takes part in the challenges you set up with Private Challenges.

Private Challenges run in the same way as normal and can be in the form of an Individual or Team Challenge, or Team Battle. When setting up the challenge tick the Private Challenge option and you will be prompted to create a password for the challenge or for each team.

Once created swimmers at your pool/s will not see the challenge invites as normal, you will be able to give out the challenge link with the password however you like (eg. email or social media posts). The link will take swimmers to the challenge map, from there they can join by entering the password. You can also now send any SWIMTAG challenge link to non-SWIMTAG users, they can view the challenge map and will be prompted to sign up to SWIMTAG.

The SWIMTAG team were once again represented at Active Net, as Business Development Manager Colin Scott took part in the annual gathering. Run by Leisure Net Solutions, the event attracts buyers from across the leisure industry to meet suppliers and to network with other sport and fitness professionals.

After the event Colin said “This is now our 3rd year at Active Net and once again, the event lived up to all expectations. The 20 minute meetings gave us a great opportunity to meet potential new clients and give them a summary of all the new features that we’ve added in the last 12 months. We’re now at the stage where the vast majority of leisure industry professionals have heard of us and indeed every year, more and more of the people attending Active Net are already SWIMTAG clients. So for potential new clients, we can go into more detail about how SWIMTAG can help them to attract more swimmers. We can also point them in the direction of lots of happy clients who are attending the event. And for them, it’s a great chance for us to catch up and find out if there is anything else we can do to support them including setting up challenges and helping them to display SWIMTAG leaderboards in their centres..”

We’d like to thank David and Jo Monkhouse and the entire Active Net team for all their efforts during the event.

The end of March and early April continues to be a busy time for the whole team as we install new SWIMTAG kit at 14 sites.

Wakefield Council have rolled out SWIMTAG to their new Minsthorpe Leisure Centre and also to Pontefract Swimming Pool, ensuring that SWIMTAG is now available at all five council run swimming pools in their region, SWIMTAG was already installed at Normanton Pool, Featherstone sports Complex and Sun Lane Leisure Centre who received upgraded kit and additional wristbands to cope with the demand for SWIMTAG from their users.

We are delighted to start working with Parkwood Leisure after they installed new MK3 kit at three sites in the Peak District after winning the contract to run facilities on behalf of High Peak District Council.

Circadian Trust will be the next sites to go live with SWIMTAG when we install kit at all five of their leisure centres on 10th April. Circadian run a number of sites including five with busy swimming pools on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council.

The SWIMTAG Nordic team who distribute SWIMTAG in Scandinavia and Germany recently installed our technology at new sites in Sweden, Germany and Norway.

The team from 222 Sports will once again be represented at Active Net on 27th and 28th March as the event takes place again at Eastwood Hall close to Nottingham. The event, run by Leisure Net Solutions has been running for a number of years and this will be our 3rd year showcasing SWIMTAG at the gathering. Business Development Manager Colin Scoot who will be attending on behalf of 222 Sports says "It's a fantastic event with a good number of decision makers from large medium and small scale leisure operators and the format of 20 minute meetings, means we have the perfect amount of time to introduce our product to them and hopefully arrange a live demo at their pool. There's also a good amount of time to mingle and catch up informally between the sessions, including with people who have perhaps purchased our product since last year, so you get some good face time with existing clients as well". http://active-net.org/

We are very excited about exhibiting at the annual Elevate show in Excel London on the 8th and 9th of May 2019. Elevate is the UK’s largest physical activity trade show attended by 1000’s of visiting and over 350 exhibitors. We are on stand U64 in the aquatics section and we will be demonstrating all the new website features, software releases and the latest hardware updates. For existing clients, come and chat to us about the new products we have available, including our lane displays, the new Aures Yuno and make sure you are making the most of all SWIMTAG’s features by running challenges and using the Digital Leaderboards. If you’re not already using SWIMTAG, come and talk to us about how we can help to invigorate the swim offering at your pool. We’ll give you lots of great examples of how pools have managed to get more people swimming more often, meaning a great return on investment as well as all the other benefits of getting more people into exercise!If you would like to register to attend please visit https://www.elevatearena.com/ See you there!

We are pleased to introduce the latest tool added to SWIMTAG user accounts to help motivate and encourage progress in the pool. Goals are customisable targets that can be setup by a swimmer to provide constant feedback over a period of time.

Users can setup two types of goal for a specific swim stat over a fixed period of time, cumulative goals and average goals.

For a cumulative goal the system will add your chosen stat between the start and end dates, for example 'swim 15,000m in 3 weeks', or 'swim a total of 24 hours in 3 months' with your progress being updated after each swim.

An Average Goal allows the swimmers to keep track of an average over the Goal time period whether they are trying to reach or beat it. For example 'burn an average of 400 calories per swim over 6 months' or 'swim an average pace of 110s/100m in backstroke over 12 months'.

Once a Goal has been setup a user will be notified of their progress through their news feed and swim summary emails, in addition they can choose to share their goal by generating a public link that can be posted to facebook or shared with friends or family, great for fundraising for a specific swim challenge!

You can keep an eye on your swimmers achievements via the operator homepage and remember to ensure your front of house team are up to date with the latest SWIMTAG updates!

We are delighted to reveal the new Pool Homepage, a public webpage that shows off your SWIMTAG stats, competitions, leaderboards and challenges all in one place.

The homepage uses a fully responsive design which means you can easily embed it into your own webpages or mobile app as a tile or web view, the content within the page will update automatically with the latest leaderboards, competitions and challenges. You can also choose to customise your own homepage by uploading a photo as the background image (this will replace the map which is shown by default). For more information and advice on how to use it within your own site or apps contact the SWIMTAG Team and we will be happy to help.

Take a look at the Pool home page for Palatine Leisure Centre here: https://www.swimtag.net/pool/1538/palatine-leisure-centre

Mr Pele, aged 53, is a regular swimmer at West Bromwich Leisure Centre and, in the last 12 months, has clocked up over 360 hours in the pool and recorded more than 400 kilometres. Visiting the centre most days to swim, Mr Pele puts his commitment in the pool down to SWIMTAG.

Growing up, Mr Pele suffered ill health which meant he was forced to spend much of his childhood in a hospital bed. His battle with crippling osteoporosis continues today and leaves him dealing with intense pain every day, which he controls with the help of 35 daily, prescribed tablets.

Mr Pele explains: “All my life my body has let me down, preventing me from reaching my full potential, both physically and mentally. However, in the last 12 months I have found solace in swimming. I find the water and the environment incredibly relaxing. Ploughing up and down the pool I can clear my mind and focus just on my swim. It is not unusual for me to spend 90 minutes at a time in the water.

“The activity also has a positive effect on my pain levels. Having endured two hip replacements and, more recently, a shoulder replacement, my joint mobility is poor. I am also constantly fighting intense pain, yet, in the water, the pain almost disappears and allows me to simply enjoy the moment.

“SWIMTAG has been a huge motivator. I collect my wristband from reception and that is all I have to do in order to have all my swim data logged. In addition to providing feedback on estimated calories burned, lengths completed and session duration, SWIMTAG also allows me to benchmark against other swimmers. My aim every month is to appear on the Leisure Centre’s list of top ten swimmers, a target I have rarely missed.”

Mr Pele has also completed an incredible 12 SWIMTAG challenges and has just started his 13th – the Jersey Island Swim. He says: “I love the challenges. They give me a target to aim for and a reason to keep returning to the pool.

“The pool and SWIMTAG at West Bromwich Leisure Centre have given me an opportunity to perform well at something. The sense of achievement I get from seeing my name on the leader board or from completing a gruelling challenge is addictive.

“Without SWIMTAG I would find it hard to motivate myself and without swimming I would be forced into a completely inactive lifestyle.

“The experience of the last 12 months has changed my life and I intend to continue to complete challenges and visit the pool 5 or 6 times a week as long as my body will allow it.”

Mark Haslam, Head of Swimming and Sport at Places Leisure who manage the site, says: “Mr Pele is an inspiration. Despite his personal physical challenges, he turns up at the pool almost every day and gives every session 100 per cent. He has become a well-known and highly regarded visitor and we wish him every success with his 13th SWIMTAG challenge.”

After two years in development with operator partner, Places for People Leisure (PfPL), 222 Sports, creator of SWIMTAG, has launched ‘Rule The Pool’, the world’s first, pool-based weekly challenge, designed to engage pool users and encourage swim participation.

The weekly timed swim simply requires participants to register via the SWIMTAG website, don a SWIMTAG wristband and swim 400 metres (16 lengths of a 25-metre pool) as fast as they can. The session is automatically logged by the wristband and the effort is ranked, appearing in a central, Rule The Pool league table available to view anytime on the SWIMTAG website.

Competitions run every week from Monday to Sunday. At the end of each week, participants receive a personalised email from SWIMTAG, detailing their Rule The Pool competition time, rank and the total number of swimmers who participated that week. The leader board is then cleared and a new competition begins. Participants can complete the competition as many times as they like in a week, with SWIMTAG automatically selecting the fastest time to appear in the leader board. Having completed one timed swim, many participants repeat the experience week after week, in an attempt to improve their rank and time achieved in previous weeks.

Rule The Pool, originally developed via funding from Sport England, has been refined over a period of almost two years in partnership with leading leisure management company, PfPL. The competition is already available across all 72 PfPL managed pools and attracts around 1,000 participants every week. From this month, Rule The Pool will be available to swimmers at all SWIMTAG pools across the UK, with a plan for global rollout in the future.

Mark Haslam, Head of Swimming and Sport at PfPL, says: “Two years ago, we recognised the need to offer an accessible pool challenge which would engage a wide spectrum of ages and abilities to attract more people into the water. SWIMTAG was already installed in all our pools, so when we mentioned our ambition to Kieran and the team at 222 Sports they set about developing a cloud-based competition open to all, titled Rule The Pool.”

Kieran Sloyan, MD at 222 Sports, adds: “Since launching Rule The Pool across the PfPL estate, almost 3,000 individuals have completed at least one timed swim. We are now very excited to open the challenge to pool users across country who have access to SWIMTAG, enabling swimmers to compete against others up and down the country. All management and communication is administered by SWIMTAG, meaning no extra input from the operator is required to run this competition.”

Rule The Pool is available to all SWIMTAG operator partners free of charge. Sloyan adds: “Rule The Pool has the potential to create a global swim community and encourage literally thousands of people into the water. 400 metres is a do-able distance for most recreational swimmers, keeping the challenge inclusive and driving as much participation as possible.”

SWIMTAG, the world’s leading platform for pool operators keen to motivate and support swimmers, has teamed up with the UK’s number one referral software provider, ReferAll. The integration allows medical professionals who prescribe pool based physical activity to access real time activity data on individual patients at the touch of a button.

ReferAll offers a fast and efficient online referral pathway for Exercise on Referral schemes. The company is currently working with over 350 services, including exercise referral schemes, health trainers, weight management services and condition specific services, to ensure referred patients receive the professional support they need to effectively and safely integrate physical activity into their lifestyle to achieve positive health outcomes.

Until now, pool-based activity has been difficult to track and monitor, with GPs and other Allied Health Professionals reliant to the word of the patient when it comes to activity undertaken. An integration with SWIMTAG means medical care and treatment plans can be prescribed based on evidence, increasing the effectiveness and relevance to the individual.

Speaking about the integration, Kieran Sloyan, MD at SWIMTAG, says: “The health benefits of an active lifestyle are well documented and utilising technology to better enable a cross-sector approach to patient care is a positive move. Swimming is still one of the most accessible activities making it popular for GPs and APHs to prescribe. This partnership brings the physical activity and health sector closer together, enabling a more effective, patient-centred service.”

Once a patient gives their consent, usually on their first visit to a leisure centre at the start of their referral programme, the medical professional who made the referral is granted access to the patient’s SWIMTAG data via the ReferAll App. They can then access detailed information relating to the type and frequency of activity the patient has undertaken. Future prescription can then be built on factual information, increasing the effectiveness of the prescription.

Stuart Stokes, Commercial Director at ReferAll, says: “At ReferAll our objective is to focus on partnerships, like SWIMTAG, to bring together like-minded people and systems to help grow our network. By doing this we can ensure access to more relevant data, providing crucial evidence to medical professionals of the on-going achievements of Exercise on Referral programmes. This reinforces the essential nature of activity based programmes and provides tangible evidence of their success.”

We are very pleased to announce our first system installed in the Czech Republic this week. AC Baluo is part of the sports faculty of the University Olomouc, with an impressive 25m pool the centre already offers some exciting technology for its swimmers including underwater video analysis and endless pools for stroke development, we are sure that the addition of the Club SWIMTAG system and new Lane Displays will be a big hit with recreational swim members and swim teams who will be able to see their real time progress whilst poolside along with the challenges and competitions provided online.

SWIMTAG’S, cloud-based pool challenge attracted 1187 participants, across more than 200 pools in the build up to the Commonwealth Games, which took place this year on the Gold Coast of Australia.

Swimmers were invited to complete the 16km between the Carrara Stadium, where the athletics took place, and the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre, which hosted the swimming, between March 1 and the Opening Ceremony on April 4.

More than 430 participants completed the challenge in an average of 21 days. The fastest finisher was a male swimmer from a Places For People managed pool in Wellingborough who took just 3 days to swim the distance.

Speaking about the success of the challenge, Colin Scott, Business Development Manager, at 222 Sports, creators of SWIMTAG, says: “When we set the challenge we worked out that it would typically take somebody swimming 40 lengths of a 25 metre pool per session, three times per week to complete the challenge in around 4 weeks!”

SWIMTAG challenges are promoted direct to registered users. This means that operators offering the system do not have to get involved in any set up. All the administration, challenge updates and feedback to swimmers throughout the challenge is managed by SWIMTAG and accessed by participants via the SWIMTAG online platform. Operators can then choose to promote the challenge via internal marketing and social media if they wish, and this can really help to drive engagement. Our records show that pools running and promoting challenges can attract up to a 40 per cent uplift in recorded swims.

“There are always new challenge options available on the SWIMTAG system. Swimmers can move from one challenge to another. Setting personal goals maintains motivation and gives swimmers a reason to enter the water on a regular basis. If we are to halt the national decline in swim participation, we need to find new ways to engage and motivate people in our pools. SWIMTAG challenges certainly tick this box.”

Following previous SWIMTAG installations at Normanton Swimming Pool and Featherstone Sports Complex, Wakefield Council have now installed SWIMTAG at their flagship Sun Lane Leisure Centre.

Based in the centre of the town, Sun Lane is the Council’s busiest pool and since the launch, the use of SWIMTAG has been high.

Health and Wellbeing Community Activator Debbie Hastings said “SWIMTAG has worked well for us at Normanton and Featherstone and now it’s in at Sun Lane, we can offer it to even more users. We’re particularly looking forward to using the new “Pool Battle” feature which will allow the three centres to compete against each other and create a bit of friendly rivalry between the pools”.

Business Development Manager for 222 Sports Colin Scott said “We’ve done three installations now at Wakefield sites and they’ve all gone really well. The main thing they have going for them is the staff at all the sites. SWIMTAG is a great tool but but people need to try it out to really understand how it works and then get addicted, so it’s vital that the reception team and everyone else around the centre has enthusiasm for the product and the confidence to encourage members to use it. They have that across all the Wakefield sites, which is why they are doing so well”.

The City of Wolverhampton Council has invested in Club SWIMTAG systems and lane displays to enhance its swim offer and encourage higher participation levels.

The Council’s leisure portfolio, branded WV Active, includes three leisure centre, two with pools, Bilston-Bert Williams and Central Baths and both completed their SWIMTAG install this month.

In addition to the standard Club SWIMTAG system, which enables swimmers to log and track session activity and get involved in a variety of cloud-based challenges, The Council has also invested in lane displays which offer the added benefit of delivering real time information on session activity direct to swimmers on poolside.

Talking about the install, Sean McBurney, WV Active Manager, says: “SWIMTAG brings much needed gym style innovation to poolside, creating a more engaging and motivating experience for swimmers. In addition to enabling swimmers to seamlessly log and track their activity, recording data such as session duration, number and type of strokes plus the number of lengths completed, the system also creates opportunities to get involved in a variety of individual or team based ‘battles’. This offers those who want it, a chance to become a part of a swim community, introducing sociability to an otherwise very solitary activity.”

“I’m really looking forward to running some inter-site challenges” continues Sean. “Swimming remains Britain’s most popular activity but, despite the widely recognised mental and physical benefits associated with regular involvement, participation is in decline. We need to reignite the nation’s enthusiasm for swimming and technologies like SWIMTAG sit at the heart of the solution.

“Here at WV Active, community swimming remains an important part of our leisure offering. Swimming is an activity most people, regardless of age, gender or physical ability can enjoy and we intend to continue to invest in making swimming an appealing activity for all.

“Our ambition is to encourage as many of our swim users as possible to create a SWIMTAG account and give it a go. If we can do this, I believe we will see a significant increase in both casual swim usage and swim membership.”

To use SWITAG, swimmers simply collect a wristband from reception ahead of their session. The band is returned to reception on exit and individuals can then access session data stored in their personal online account from any device with internet access.

Kieran Sloyan, Managing Director at 222 Sports, creators of SWIMTAG, adds: “SWIMTAG is now available at over 200 sites and engages more than 82,000 swimmers. Every month, more than 3400 swimmers get involved in our challenges, with this number growing month on month. We are really excited to welcome WV Active pools into our network and will continue to work closely with the team over the next few months to ensure they get the most out of their install.”

To find out more about how SWIMTAG could improve your swim offering, contact the team now on 01225 282117.

SWIMTAG have teamed up with Swimathon to help encourage its user network to participation in the world’s biggest charity swim on Friday April 27 – Sunday April 29 2018.

The activation will see Swimathon training plans uploaded to the SWIMTAG system and promoted to more than 82,000 SWIMTAG users across the UK.

Kieran Sloyan, MD of 222 Sports says: “Swimathon is a fantastic event which raises money for two very worthy charities. We are very happy to be able to encourage our users to get involved in the Swimathon Challenge. Being able to offer training plans provided by Jolyon Finck, Swimathon Head Coach, Swimathon will also, hopefully, have a positive effect on challenge completion rates, leading to record-breaking fundraising for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie. Many of the pools we are partnered with, already get involved in Swimathon so helping our users to better engage makes perfect sense.”

In the 30 years since it began, Swimathon has raised £48 million, benefiting 36 different charities. The aim this year is to raise a further £2 million, to reach an overall fundraising milestone of £50 million. Speaking about the activation with SWIMTAG, Anthony Kendall OBE, Chairman of The Swimathon Foundation says: “SWIMTAG is a fantastic training aid that encourages swimmers of all abilities to swim more regularly. Swimathon is delighted to work with SWIMTAG to provide their users with the opportunity to access Official Swimathon training plans, therefore providing a motivation to take on the world’s biggest annual fundraising swim.”

The SWIMTAG Team will be exhibiting at Elevate in the Excel London on the 9th and 10th of May 2018. You can find us at stand A07 on the right hand side of the event hall. We will be presenting our latest web updates and hardware. Existing clients are invited to book one-on-one training session slots with our team by emailing Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere javaskript for å kunne se den.. We look forward to seeing you there! Further details and registration is available on the elevate website: https://www.elevatearena.com

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.

We’re pleased to announce an exciting development in the SWIMTAG Challenge Feature.

As anyone who is familiar with SWIMTAG will know, users have been able to use our Challenge feature to virtually swim iconic routes, such as the English Channel or Strait of Gibraltar in the comfort of their own pool, with SWIMTAG plotting their progress on a virtual map.

Pools have also been able to set up Featured Challenges, inviting all SWIMTAG users to swim the same route at the same time, sometimes as part of a charity swim but often just for fun and we can even plot customised routes for pools who wish to virtually swim a local route.

We’ve now developed the feature even further, so challenges can be completed as a team and teams can even compete against each other to be the first to finish, so you could have Staff v Members, Swim Club v Triathlon Club, or you can just set up teams and have people choose based on their favourite colour!

And the teams don’t even have to be at the same pool. The “Pool Battle” feature means that sites with more than one pool can set up a race between the two centres and have them compete to be the first to finish.

Because the challenges will be easier to complete as part of a team, we’re adding lots more longer routes, such as the Panama Canal (78km) and the Niagara River (108km) with more to follow soon.

Existing pools who would like to set up the new challenge options are welcome to contact us for help.

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

After two successful challenges in aid of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, which raised £6000 and £7500, they are now raising funds for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS) with a 15km virtual swim between Edinburgh's three main hospitals, with the cash raised going to fund stroke rehabilitation nurses at the CHSS rehabilitation centre.
Staff and members from Westwoods have already been featured in the Edinburgh Evening News and 31 people have already registered to take part in the challenge.
Business Development Manager at 222 Sports Colin Scott said "The team at Westwoods have been fantastic at using the SWIMTAG Challenge feature to get more people swimming more often. They run lots of fun challenges throughout the year, but they also take time to try and support local charities which is even better".

Ross Whittaker, Duty Manager at Westwoods said "The support offered by the team at 222 Sports is fantastic. They are happy to map out any route we ask them to and they really help us to make the most out of SWIMTAG's features. When a challenge is set up, emails and notifications go out to all of our SWIMTAG users automatically, which means that all we need to do is back it up with a littlie bit of social media and in house promotion to ensure the challenge is a success. It makes the whole process really easy and it gives us a great opportunity to generate positive PR for the club".

Gold Coast from 4th - 15th April 2018.
In the run up to the 2016 Olympics, we created the "Swim Rio" Challenge and over 1600 SWIMTAG users entered. With the Commonwealth Games only a few months away, we've set up a similar swim, starting at the Carrara Stadium (where the athletics will be held) and finishing at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. The total distance is just over 16km.
We're holding this challenge back (to ensure that nobody is able to complete it prior to it being launched) and we're recommending that you run the challenge from 1st - March until 4th April, which is the date of the opening ceremony (although the dates are not set in stone so the challenge can be done earlier or later if required).
We hope the challenge will give you a great opportunity to engage with your swimmers in the run up to the Commonwealth Games! Because the challenge hasn't been loaded on to the website, you won't see it on the list of challenges in the SWIMTAG Operator Panel. If you would like the challenge to be set up at you pool(s) please email Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere javaskript for å kunne se den.

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.

Hambleton Leisure in North Yorkshire have installed SWIMTAG at all four of their swimming pools.

SWIMTAG will be available to users from 1st November at Bedale Leisure Centre, Thirsk And Sowerby Leisure Centre and Stokesley Leisure Centre. Hambleton Leisure Centre in Northallerton which is currently undergoing a significant refurbishment, will also have SWIMTAG available when the pool area reopens in a couple of months time.

Business Development Manager Colin Scott said "We are delighted that Hambleton Leisure have chosen SWIMTAG for all four of their pools. With the refurbishment of Hambleton Leisure Centre also happening at the same time, you can see how hard they are working to get more people active and we look forward to helping them increase the number of swimmers using their pools. The teams at all the sites were very enthusiastic and excited about the impeding launch of SWIMTAG so I'm sure they'll be great at promoting it's use to users across the district."

We are delighted to announce our new distributor Varioplay for SWIMTAG in Belgium, the Netherlands an Luxembourg (Benelux). 

. At the beginning of September we installed SWIMTAG into 3 beautiful pools operated by Optisport who operate 350 sites in 75 municipalities in the Netherlands and Belgium. The installations were fully supported by the KNZB (Royal Dutch Swimming Federation) who are national governing body for Swimming in The Netherlands acting as a partner to Optisport.

The initial installation sites for Optisport include Sloterparkbad in Amsterdam, Veenweidebad in Mijdrecht and Sportboulevard in Dordrecht. The sites have installed Club SWIMTAG hardware, Lane Displays and digital signage screens to promote the live leader boards, competitions and challenges.

222 Sports Managing Director Kieran Sloyan said “As leading organisations we are delighted to be working with both Varioplay and the KNZB in The Netherlands. Optisport are forward thinking and proactive operator and we believe the first installations in The Netherlands will demonstrate the positive impact SWIMTAG has on motivating swimmers and increasing pool usage.”

SWIMTAG was installed at Exe Valley Leisure Centre in Tiverton on 1st September.

The centre, run by Mid Devon Leisure also installed a customised SWIMTAG totem at reception which displays SWIMTAG leaderboards and competition and challenge results, and our new lane displays which give users live feedback, tracking their number of lengths and pace while they are still in the water.

222 Sports Managing Director Kieran Sloyan said "The usage at Exe Valley has been great in the first couple of weeks and shows the additional benefit you can get when you install a totem display at reception along with our lane displays. the additional products make SWIMTAG much more visible and as a result, a higher number of users give it a try".

SWIMTAG has been installed within the Sports Centres the University of Birmingham and the University of East Anglia.

Both sites have large 50m pools and give access to members of the public as well as staff and students.

The University of Birmingham have invested a total of £55m in their new centre which opened in time for the start of the new University year.

UEA's Sportspark was opened in 2001 and it's Olympic pool is named after the famous Turkey Farmer Bernard Matthews who contributed to the cost of it's construction.

222 Sports Business Development Manager Colin Scott said "We are delighted to have two more prestigious universities using our technology. They join a number of other universities such as University College Dublin, The University Of Sheffield, De Montford and Oxford Brookes, who successfully use SWIMTAG to inspire students and community members alike to swim more. Usage at both sites has been great with the University of Birmingham in particular looking like they are going to become one of our busiest sites".

Crewe Lifestyle Centre, run by Everybody Sport and Recreation in partnership with Cheshire East District Council have installed SWIMTAG in their fantastic 25m x 8 lane pool in the town centre.

Crewe Lifestyle Centre was opened in the spring of 2016 and has some incredible facilities including a 100 station gym, fitness studio and sports hall. It's also a community hub, housing library facilities and community hub.

222 Sports Business Development Manager Colin Scott said "We're delighted to partner with Everybody Sport and Recreation for the first time at Crewe Lifestyle Centre. They have a fantastic facility with a really enthusiastic team who were all keen to give SWIMTAG a try. I'm sure the members will be equally keen to give it a go when SWIMTAG is officially launched on 1st September".

Virgin Active have installed SWIMTAG into two new sites in the capital.

VA Chiswick Park and VA West London both saw the installation of SWIMTAG on 5th July with the teams at both sites keen to give the wristbands a try!

Virgin users benefit frim SWIMTAG's integration to the Technogym Wellness Cloud, so as well as using all of SWIMTAG's great features then can upload their swims to their mywellness.com account.

The installations brings the total number of Virgin Active sites using SWIMTAG up to 14.

Maidstone Leisure Centre today because the fourth site run by Serco to install SWIMTAG technology for their swimmers following installations in Basingstoke, Eastbourne and on the Isle of Jersey.

The centre boasts a large 25m x 15m pool and swimmers have already started virtually swimming the English Channel, using SWIMTAG’s Challenge feature!

Places for people Leisure have added SWIMTAG to Romsey Rapids pool following their takeover of the management of Leisure Services in the Test Valley area.

PfP Leisure have made SWIMTAG an integral part of their strategy to get more people swimming, so as well as offering wristbands to all swim members, it’s also available to those who take part in their various health initiatives such as Swimazing and Swim4Health. SWIMTAG is currently installed in over 70 PfP run sites.

The SWIMTAG team are excited to announce a new site in Barcelona, Can Caralleu is home to the top Catalan synchronised swimming team and boasts two fantastic 25m pools. The pool operator, Claror are already using the MyWellness platform throughout the site and were keen to offer SWIMTAG to their members to take advantage of the integration between both systems.

As part of the new installation the team here have been busy translating the web apps into Catalan and Spanish for our new users

We hope to welcome more Spanish pools soon!

The integration between Technogyms MyWellness and SWIMTAG allows swimmers swims to automatically publish to their MyWellness account and to contribute towards their total MOVEs 

SWIMTAG will now be available at four new leisure centres in Epping Forest after installations took place over the last couple of days.

The running of Ongar Leisure Centre, Loughton Leisure Centre, Epping Sports Centre and Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool was taken over by Places for People Leisure at the beginning of April.

PfP Leisure have made SWIMTAG an integral part of their strategy to get more people swimming, so as well as offering wristbands to all swim members, it’s also available to those who take part in their various health initiatives such as Swimazing and Swim4Health. SWIMTAG is currently installed in over 70 PfP run sites.

In April 2017 Everyone Active took over the running of three East Hants Leisure Centres (Taro LC, Mill Chase LC and Alton LC) which already had SWIMTAG installed.

Both users and staff were keen to see the use of SWIMTAG continue at all three sites so were delighted when Everyone Active upgraded to our new MK3 SWIMTAG docking station and wristbands which are now available for all members to use.

The team have already set up their first featured SWIMTAG challenge which will be a 10km swim through “Shark Alley” in the month of July.

SWIMTAG was installed at the brand new £7.5m Sparkhill Pool and Fitness Centre in Birmingham, in preparation for it’s grand opening in summer 2017.

Sparkhill will be operated by Places for People Leisure, one of our key partners who currently have SWIMTAG in over 70 of their pools.

PfP Leisure have made SWIMTAG an integral part of their strategy to get more people swimming, so as well as offering wristbands to all swim members, it’s also available to those who take part in their various health initiatives such as Swimazing and Swim4Health.

Business Development Manager Colin Scott visited Active Net on behalf of the 222 Sports Team and met a number of key players in the Leisure Industry.

The event took place at Eastwood Hall close to Nottingham and it was well attended by both suppliers and leisure industry buyers.

Colin said “the event was fantastic and gave us an opportunity to showcase SWIMTAG to a really high number of decision makers throughout the two day event. The people we met were particularly keen to see our new lane displays which give swimmers live data during their swim. Several of the people I met have set up second meetings with us and indicated that they will be keen to move forward with SWIMTAG so we look forward to announcing more installations in the coming weeks and months.”

Wakefield Council are another Council who after installing SWIMTAG at one site, decided to roll it out to a 2nd. SWIMTAG was initially installed at Normanton Swimming Pool in 2015 and usage has been strong for the last two years.

After installing SWIMTAG at Blackburn Leisure Centre in 2015 when it opened, the team at Blackburn With Darwen Council have now rolled out SWIMTAG to a second site at Darwen Leisure Centre.

The popular centre has a 25m x 8 lane pool and a vibrant community of swimmers who we are sure will be motivated by the ability to track their swims with SWIMTAG.

 We are delighted to announce the installation of SWIMTAG at three sites operated by Active Luton.

Inspire: Luton Sports Village is the largest of the three sites, with a 50m pool that can be divided into a 25m pool, or a 32m pool with an 18m teaching area. LSV also has a separate 20m community pool. Having four different pool configurations was no problem as the SWIMTAG docking station now allows an unlimited number of pool length options, so users can monitor their swim no matter what time of day they come in and which pool they use to swim lengths.

SWIMTAG was also installed at Lea Manor Recreation Centre, a dual use site attached to Lea Manor High School and Lewsey Park Pool, a 25m x 6 lane pool which has a good number of active swimmers.

The monthly operator emails are now live! Bringing you key pool stats straight to your inbox each month along with the latest news and developments from the SWIMTAG team. You can also see which challenges are currently scheduled at your pool and who the top 10 swimmers are at your site each month. We will be adding more content each month so let us know any suggestions you have using the feedback tab.

The SWIMTAG team were exhibiting at Elevate 2017 on the 10th/11th May at the ExCeL London, the show was a great opportunity to catch up with many of our current SWIMTAG operators and show off the latest kit including our Lane Displays and brand new wireless charging wristbands as well as our Digital Signage options. We also got to meet some new operators and even plan some exciting integrations with other fitness suppliers

If you were unable to make the show and want to catch up with our latest offerings for pool operators get in touch here

For more information on our digital signage options, perfect for displaying the latest SWIMTAG content for your pool visit our sister site Impact Digital Signage

We look forward to seeing you at Elevate 2018!

Our new lane displays are a great way to further improve the user experience at any SWIMTAG pool. The robust screens lets swimmers know how many lengths or how far they have swum in real time and can also be used to help them keep to a set pace. The large bright digital screen is easily seen, even through misty goggles. The swimmer simply raises their band in front of a screen when they want to see their stats. The blue foam casing means that they blend into the surroundings of the pool and there's even a slot on the top to put your "slow lane / fast lane" signs. The console itself is fully waterproof, so it can survive a dip in the pool and uses wireless charging which will last for several days. The lane displays have been hugely popular with SWIMTAG users - they no longer see their swim notification and realise they've only done 98 lengths when they were planning to do 100! Contact the team now for further information.

Places for People Leisure have launched their exciting new Places Locker app in partnership with Technogym. This is a really exciting update for all SWIMTAG users at Places for People Leisure swimming pools. You can quickly and easily synchronise your SWIMTAG data with the Places Locker app. Once you have downloaded your Places Locker app and connected your SWIMTAG account, all your effort in the pool will be automatically converted to Moves and counted towards your daily physical activity.  

A brief video tutorial of linking your account is available here or simply follow these steps:

The SWIMTAG App is here! SWIMTAG users can now download our new app from Apple’s App store and Google Play!

As well as providing all the usual great SWIMTAG features designed specifically for your mobile device the app will also log you into your account automatically and recieve a push notification whenever you upload a new swim.

Thank you once again to the small army of volunteers who helped us to test the app during it’s beta phase, providing us with vital feedback.

As always, any new developments we make to improve SWIMTAG are available to all SWIMTAG pools at no extra cost to the client.

The build up to the Rio Olympics has been an exciting time and after the success of Team GB in London 2012, the nation was once again gripped by Olympic fever as the games came to the carnival city!

Earlier in the year we built the “Swim Rio” Challenge in preparation for Rio 2016 and encouraged our pools to get involved. Over 100 pools took part in the challenge which was run between 1st July and 5th August (the date of the opening ceremony) and we’re pleased to say that over 1600 SWIMTAG users got into the spirit, swimming the route that started at North Rio, passed Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana Beach and finished at Ipanema, all within view of the statue of Christ the Redeemer!

The challenge became one of our most popular almost overnight (beaten only by the Enhlish Channel Swim, the Giraltar Strait and “Escape from Alcatraz”.

The Swim Rio Challenge is one of dozens of challenges that have been mapped out by the SWIMTAG team. Some have been in iconic locations like the “Grand Canyon Swim” others have been local challenges for individual pools, who wanted to swim a body of water close to them. Challenge mapping is a free part of the service for all SWIMTAG pools!

We are pleased to announce that SWIMTAG can now be linked to two of the most popular fitness trackers on the market.

Runkeeper is particularly popular with runners and Fitbit is the world’s leading provider of wearable daily activity trackers!

By linking their SWIMTAG account to Fitbit or Runkeeper, it will mean that users can see all their activity tracked in one place, which is particularly useful for users looking to monitor their calorie intake and expenditure.

SWIMTAG already links with a number of similar trackers including Technogym’s mywellness cloud, MYZONE, Strava, Bounts and users can also link their SWIMTAG account to Facebook and post their swimming data directly to their timeline.

Our trip to Elevate Arena, held at the Olympia in London gave the SWIMTAG team our first opportunity to show off our new Lane Displays.

Feedback from SWIMTAG users is that the data they get when they log in to their SWIMTAG account is fantastic, but it would be even better if SWIMTAG could also help them count their lengths whilst in the water... There’s nothing worse than finding out that you accidentally stopped two lengths short of your intended distance, when you’re already out of the water and changed!

With this in mind we’ve designed our new lane displays which will show swimmers their pace and the number of laps they have swum when they get to the end of the lane. The displays link up to the band using radio waves so it will display the data of whichever SWIMTAG wristband is closest to it.

The lightweight plastic shell and digital display is fully waterproof, the outer foam casing protects it from any damage and it also has a handy slot for your slow/medium/fast lane signs.

It runs on rechargeable batteries which can last a number of days and the magnetic charger is encased in plastic (just like your electric toothbrush).

We are delighted to announce the launch of “Rule the Pool” a joint initiative between 222 Sports, Places for People Leisure and SWIMTAG.

Rule the Pool is designed to increase participation by giving swimmers the opportunity to take part in a weekly competition, swimming 500m and trying to log as fast a time as possible.

All participants will be given their time and weekly ranking and will be able to compare themselves against other swimmers in their pool and against hundreds of other swimmers in pools up and down the country, in their age and gender category.

Managing Director of 222 Sports Kieran Sloyan said “There are lots of great initiatives out there like ParkRun that get people involved in sports and we want to try and do the same for swimming. This initial 12 month pilot in association with Sport England and Places for People will allow us to develop Rule the Pool and launch it across the country in 2017.”

Rule the Pool will be exclusive to Places for People’s 70 swimming pools for the first 12 months, allowing the developers of the project to gather feedback from participants before we launch across all SWIMTAG pools next year.

SWIMTAG’s expansion into Ireland last week continued with the installation of our kit at the Nattional Aquatic Centre in Dublin. The Aquatic Centre is situated within the National Sports Campus on the outskirts of Dublin and is the hub for Ireland’s swimming activity, with just short of a million visits every year.

They become the 2nd site in Ireland to install SWIMTAG after the sports Centre at University College Dublin whose users have already logged thousands of swims since it’s launch in the summer.

Business Development Manager Colin Scott said “Installing SWIMTAG at the NAC is a fantastic coup for us. It just so happens that our first two Irish pools we’ve started working with are two of the biggest in the country. We really look forward to seeing the kit used by a large number of people at the centre in the coming months.

“Interest in SWIMTAG has grown since we displayed at the Ireland Active Conference and Awards in November and we have had positive discussions with a number of other sites in the Republic of Ireland, so we hope to be back over to complete more installations in 2017.”

222 Sports Business Development Manager Colin Scott attended the Ireland Active Awards and Conference on Friday 11th November at the Hodson Bay Hotel in Roscommon. The conference had a number of great speakers and panels, with some interesting talks on Sports Nutrition, Health and Physical Activity and the use of video in Fitness Education and a great inspirational talk by GAA star Philly McMahon.

The day concluded with a fantastic awards ceremony in the evening, where a large number of operators were recognised for their high standards of leisure provision.

After the event, Colin said "Ireland Active’s board is made up of leaders in the health and fitness industry, so when you go to their conference, you know that all the key players are going to be there. We had some really positive discussions with a number of potential new clients in Ireland and we expect to be back over in the Emerald Isle again in the coming weeks to have further meetings and demonstrations with some of the people we met."

New Feature Alert: You can now use the SWIMTAG mobile app to activate a wristband. If your local pool uses a compatible QR scanner you can present your mobile phone for scanning, handy if you forgot your membership card!

On the App side menu tap the QR code icon next to your profile picture, just present the QR code in front of the QR scanner at your pool to activate a wristband. Ideal if you forget your membership card and don't want to loose your swim record!