BOOKINGS are already rolling in for next year's Montgomery Canal Triathlon.

Places are being filled for the annual family-friendly event which next year is taking place on Saturday, May 2.

Entrants can join one, two or three sections; cycling 17 miles from Newtown to Pool Quay near Welshpool; continuing on foot for 11 miles to Moreton, near Oswestry; and finally, canoeing for seven miles to the finish below Frankton Locks.

This year’s event was featured recently in the Montgomery Canal programme as part of the BBC series, Gareth Edwards’ Great Welsh Adventure.

Coordinator, Maggie Ellis, said that entries started appearing just days after booking opened.

“We were receiving bookings for next year's Montgomery Canal Triathlon within days of notifying past entrants," she said. "And they seem to be coming in faster than ever.

“The triathlon is the canal’s biggest event of the year with families and friends joining every year, many from a long way away – last year we were joined by a family who live in Switzerland!

“With growing popularity we have to remember that the canal and particularly the towpath can only take a limited number of entrants, and every year we are concerned that we might have to turn away someone trying to make a late booking. So the message is to get booking early.

“The triathlon highlights what has already been achieved with half the canal reopened since restoration started."

Though the towpath is open throughout, participants will see lengths of the canal which still have to be reopened, by overcoming road blockages or by re-watering dry sections.

They will also pass the new basin at Crickheath and the section being restored by volunteers of the Shropshire Union Canal Society – both projects supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Before that, the route had passed the site of the flattened Schoolhouse Bridge, the last bridge blockage in Shropshire, where restoration should be starting next year.

“We run the triathlon to support the next stages of restoration of the Montgomery Canal and each year we are able to make a contribution to the Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal which is seeking the last funds needed for Schoolhouse Bridge," Maggie added.

“As usual, entrants who complete any section will receive a commemorative medallion of local slate, printed in gold for anyone who completes all three sections, silver for those who complete two, and bronze if only one section is completed.”

Organisers stress that the Montgomery Canal Triathlon is not a race, and entrants will have to take care both on the towpath and when crossing roads where they currently block the canal.

To book a place, visit www.montgomerycanal.me.uk/fmcevents2020.html or email montcanaltriath@btinternet.com