The Great TRI Escape

As our nation’s prisons struggle to cope with rising numbers and funding cuts, a small group of prison officers have turned to tri for a much-needed release

- Tim Heming

“What we do is hidden away behind big high walls. It would be nice to be seen for some other reason than a hard-hitting TV documentary. Perhaps as a group of sportspeople.”

Tim Fowler is a guard from HMP Bullingdon, a men’s prison in Oxfordshire, but also the chair of Her Majesty’s Prison Service triathlon association where he proudly promotes the benefits of multisport. I contacted the 51-year old because almost every day more troubling reports arise of the prison service’s inability to cope with rising numbers of prisoners and funding cuts. I wanted to see if a sport like tri could offer any escape – not for the inmates, but as relief for those working within the creaking system.