Regulators, mount up: FCA taking on City PM Triathlon Team Challenge
They’re used to tracking them in their day jobs but next month the FCA will be hunting the Square Mile’s finest in water, by bike and on foot when they take part in the City PM Triathlon Team Challenge at the London T100.
The financial services watchdog is entering no fewer than five teams in the corporate sprint relay, a brand new addition to a weekend of elite competition and mass participation in the water and on the streets of the capital.
“Triathlon was just a throwaway idea in the pub,” says Rajesh Sidhu, 32, an associate in the FCA’s enforcement team and organiser of its sport and social committee. “A small throwaway idea became a big thing.”
The FCA and its independent subsidiary the PSR (Payment Systems Regulator) have around 50 triathletes taking part in various races at the London T100 this year, which includes individual and team races over shirt and long distances.
This is a third year in a row competing in London for some of them. Rajesh signed up in 2023 to learn how to swim properly, having previously been confined to doggy paddle in the pool on holiday, and got the bug.
For others, like researcher Kate Buckley, 27, the City PM Triathlon Team Challenge – a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run, with a different member on each leg – offered the perfect chance to dip their toe in triathlon.
“I used to swim competitively and had a break from that,” she says. “I’d always been interested in doing a triathlon but can’t really ride a bike, so when I saw the opportunity to take part in the relay triathlon format, that really appealed to me.”
Sprint relay can pave way for longer triathlons
Data collection lead Arunita Roy, 30, is taking on the run as a means of stepping up her rehab from a biking accident. “This was a really good opportunity to get back into it, get that pace and form, and eventually do an ultra next year. So it’s a stepping stone.”
PSR lawyer Hannah Walker, 40, is a former ice skater and is taking the cycle leg of the relay. “I only use my bike as a form of transport,” she says. “I was promised by Rajesh this would be a baby-step triathlon – doing the sprint and as part of a team – so I thought, why not?”.
Rajesh adds: “I’ve had so many people who have done a relay and then jumped up to do either full or double their distance the following year.”
There is a social element too: the FCA’s triathlon squad meet up to train together and share tips. Not that there won’t be some healthy intra-FCA competition when the starter’s gun goes off on 9 August.
“Previously people have brought their medals in,” says Rajesh. “I’ve put up articles on our intranet and we give those involved a shout-out. It goes across the whole of the FCA so everyone deserves their bragging rights.”
Rather than looking to get one over on some of the firms that they monitor, Arunita sees the FCA’s fellow regulators as more relevant foes: “For me, it’s a bit more around that rivalry between regulators rather than with the City.”
Rajesh adds diplomatically: “The biggest competitor is the challenge facing ourselves, what we’re capable of, and I’ve tried to drive that too. So it’s more of a comradeship between us.”
Enter the City PM Triathlon Team Challenge, a sprint distance relay of 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run, before enjoying premium hospitality while the world’s best triathletes compete around the capital. Visit https://t100triathlon.com/london/participate/#corporate to sign up.