The event raised in excess of £38,000 towards the new lifeboat, with SSF's Heart of the Community initiative providing the remainder.

SSF triathletes raise lifeboat cash

A 120-strong team of Scottish Sea Farms’ employees, friends and family have raised £52,000 to buy the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) a new vessel by completing a triathlon.

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Scottish Sea Farms managing director Jim Gallagher

The Scottish Sea Farms’ Triathlon Festival took place in the grounds of the University of Stirling on one of Scotland’s hottest weekends of the year.

The company held its first Triathlon Festival in 2017 with the aim of giving employees, customers, suppliers and family and friends a fun reason to get and stay active, while raising money for good causes.

This year’s charity, the RNLI, was chosen following a company ballot, with the goal of trying to raise enough to buy a new D class inshore lifeboat – the workhorse of the RNLI for over 50 years.

The event raised more than £38,000 towards the cost of the new lifeboat, with Scottish Sea Farms’ Heart of the Community initiative providing the remainder.

The RNLI also had a stall in the festival village selling branded goods to help raise funds.

Scottish Sea Farms managing director, Jim Gallagher, said: “The Triathlon Festival really sums up the spirit of Scottish Sea Farms: active, proactive and community-spirited. To use that same spirit to help support a cause as much-needed and as close to our hearts as the RNLI is a truly proud moment for us all.”

Lynsey Anderson, community fundraising manager for the RNLI, said: “Support on this level means everything to the RNLI. Our volunteer crew go out 24/7 in daylight and darkness, in good weather and in bad, to save lives at sea. We’re not government funded, we’re reliant on public donations, so to have companies like Scottish Sea Farms rally round on our behalf is really something to see and the day itself has been incredible.”