The following pre race email went out to all Cotswold 113 2022 Competitors tonight
Not long to go now….
Good evening all, I hope this email finds you all comfortably into your final 10 days of taper before the race on June 5th
I appreciate Tapering is probably the most boring part of the whole training cycle, so I wanted to get the first of the ‘Pre race emails’ out to you now to get some info over to you in readiness for a week on Sunday’s race
In this email I’ll cover the following :
Start List with Waves and Numbers
Race Bib packs
Race information pack and updated bike course info
Marshal request
What to Bring on the day
Saturday Stuff (Swimming and Newbies briefing)
Start List with Waves and Numbers
Those of you that follow our Twitter and Facebook pages will have already seen these, but the start list for the June 5th Cotswold 113 is now online at https://www.113events.com/cotswold-113/start-list/
We got a record 820 requests for Waves and Numbers for this race, and I’m pretty sure I managed to sort out at 98% of them, so hopefully you’ll all find yourself in your requested wave and racked with your mates
Race Bib Packs
By now, many of you will have received your race pack in the post which includes your race bib (2x Bibs for relay teams) and a bike sticker. The bike stickers can quite easily get lodged in the bottom of the envelope, so please check you’ve retrieved it before throwing the envelope away.
The packs are posted in Batches, so don’t worry if you’ve not received yours just yet and it should still come later this week or even next Monday.
If, for any reason, it’s not turned up by next Tuesday, please drop an email to Mary@dbmax.co.uk and she can sort for a replacement to be ready for you when you arrive in the morning for race day.
Race information pack and updated bike course info
We sent the race information pack link out to you all about a month ago, and to date, it’s only been downloaded a little over 600 times. That means that there’s around 350-400 of you that haven’t downloaded it yet, so please can I ask that you all take the time to have a read through it as it contains some pretty important info about the race, including the updated bike course : https://www.113events.com/cotswold-113/downloads/
Bike Course update: The Queens Jubilee bank holidays hadn’t been announced at the time we fixed the dates for this year’s race (we fix them 2-3 years out), and to say it’s been a pain in the neck for us in the last 8 weeks would be an understatement (to give you some context, organising races in 2020’s Covid time was actually less hassle)
Anyway, we’ve managed 99% of the problems it’s thrown at us, but I’m afraid the one issue we couldn’t work around has resulted in a very small tweak to the bike course. The bike course now has to take a slight Diversion around a section in South Cerney on the outward section of the lap, and effects around a mile and a half of the course. It’s not a huge course/distance change, and we’ve tried our very hardest to avoid this, but has been unavoidable this time I’m afraid, despite our best efforts and pulling out of what little hair I have left.
It’ll obviously still all be signed/marshalled on the day, and you’ll barely notice any difference if you’ve raced with us before as it’s such a small change (it’s actually the same part of a route we used in 2020)
On the positive, it makes the course flow a bit better and will no doubt increase your average speed due to the reduction in turns, although it is very marginally longer.
You can see a ‘Mapmyride’ link to the new bike course maps in the race info pack listed above and from their you can download .gpx files.
Marshal request
Another of the many issues the Jubilee weekend has thrown up is availability of our usual pool of amazing marshals. I know you Guys & Gilrs all have some amazing people coming along with you or know amazing people that like to cheer and be involved, and we’re still short about 15 of the usual 200 or so we normally have, so if you have anyone that would like to see the race from the more fun side, and get fed and paid for their time, we would absolutely welcome them on to our team for the day pretty please 🙂
All we ask is that they’re over 16 and know their left from their right, and we can get them kitted up and take them through a brief as well as making the day fun for them in assisting you all in going fast and enjoying yourself during the swim, bike and run. We have both Bike and Run roles available and would love to hear from you if you have anyone that would be able to get involved – email me at graeme@113events.com
Pay is £20 cash or a £40 113 Events Voucher, and we’ll keep them in hot drinks. burgers and ice creams all day.
What to Bring on the day
Obviously, you’re going to need your own Swim, Bike and run kit (we have had people turn up in the past expecting that is was all supplied by us, and not just on one occasion either). In terms of Kit preparation, I’ll give you my advice as follows if any of you are unsure:
The Water temperature today was a little under 19deg. The forecast for the next 10 days is pretty decent, so I expect race morning to have a water temperature of between mid 19’s and low 21’s. This puts us firmly within the ‘Wetsuit optional’ range within the BTF rules. What this actually means is that 99.99% of you will wear a wetsuit as Triathletes love a Wetty, but the option not to wear one is there if you choose so. We provide you with a silicone swim hat, so you don’t need to bother about packing one of those (unless you have your own bright orange lucky one, in which case that’s fine as it’ll match ours).
As we start pretty early in the day, the air temperature can be pretty chilly, and although I know a lot of you are hardened triathletes that race in all weathers, it’s well worth bringing bike kit for all Weathers and, if needs be, just leaving it in transition. Or, at least, just having a set of arm warmers to keep your temp up for the first few miles that you can then either pull down your arm, or stash in a pocket.
For the run course, it’s a tarmac shoe course all day long for everyone but the most unsteady runner on anything other than tarmac (our course is about 50% tarmac, and the rest is either very short grass but mainly hard packed lake paths)
You will pass back by transition on each lap, so you can always nip in and drop off a coat if you find you’re starting to cook in the sun even though you potentially started in the rain, or vice versa.
Transition is on Grass. Hopefully, it’s not going to rain on race day or the day before, but as this is England, it’s worth preparing for the worse. With that in mind, it’s always advisable to bring a large plastic bag to either lay your kit out on to keep it up off the grass, or to tuck it into if it looks like it’s raining. BTF Transition rules do not allow plastic or rigid boxes, so most people use either a rucksack to bring their stuff with them in, and have a bin bag, Ikea style bag or something similar to lay their kit out on.
In terms of coming to register in the morning, we follow the BTF rules as follows :
You will need either a 2022 BTF Photocard ID (with your pic on it) as either an actual card, a photocopy on a sheet of paper or a picture on your phone is fine as the BTF now offer an online membership card.
If you’re not a BTF member, you will need some other form of photo ID (Ie. Driving license, passport or something else formal, not a library card – again, a photocopy or pic on your phone is fine) and £5 cash only for a BTF Day License. The phone signal is patchy by transition, so we can’t take anything other than cash I’m afraid.
We’re very closely watched by the BTF Referees for sign in, so if you don’t have a BTF card, or ID and cash for a BTF membership, you simply will not be allowed to race, and we have to be really strict on this
For relay teams, all members of the team will need a BTF Card or ID and cash for a day license, although one person can bring the other members stuff and register for the whole team – If you’re unsure, just call me – 07595 591612
Parking is in a field a few minutes walk from transition, and is £5 cash also please (this goes to the farmer, who in fairness, normally donates a good chunk of it to a charity)
Saturday Stuff
Although we do all our registering and racking on the Sunday morning, I’m conscious that many of you will be in the area and at a loose end on the Saturday.
For those of you that fancy riding the course on the Saturday, we try and have the course marked out by around tea time.
If you wanted to have a Swim on the Saturday, the guys that run the lake we race at have agreed to have a session on the Saturday where you can swim a lap of our course between 16:00 and 17:00
You can book this directly through them now at https://www.lake32.co.uk/product/113-test-course/
Alternatively, they will have their normal 400/750/1500 (the 1500 is basically our course without a small extension) that you can book to swim any time on the Saturday. Their normal booking system opens 7days in advance, so you can book a swim there for the 4th June on the website from this Saturday onwards (https://www.lake32.co.uk/product/payg-swimming/)
Please note that in line with their rules, any Swimming there other than race days, has a mandatory tow float rule, and they hire them on the day if you don’t have one – You obviously don’t need one for our race day, but will if you wanted to swim on the Saturday
One of the casualties of Covid times was our Saturday registration and briefings. The move away from Saturday registration was universally very popular, but I want to bring back the option for the Saturday Briefing as a non compulsory (i want to call it Newbies, but it’s not just for Newbies) Briefing.
We will run that this year on the Saturday at 15:00, which will take around 45-50mins, and we’ll talk through the race in full, covering all the little details that anyone that’s either newer to Triathlon or hasn’t raced with us before might not be aware of. It’ll be pretty informal, and myself and Dave will stand on a small hill with a Microphone and a Speaker over by the Swim exit and talk everyone through the race stage by stage. We’ll try and make it entertaining, although can’t promise signing and dancing, but will go through all the rules, what not to do and what to do, and just guide people through the day as a whole so that you can get the most from your race without worrying about things.
If you’re coming along on the Saturday for the briefing, Parking* is only £2 that day in the competitor carpark, and you can buy Sunday’s parking ticket at the same time to save time in the morning.
No need to book, just turn up and ask anyone in a Red 113 Shirt to direct you towards the Swim exit/transition
*If you’ve booked swimming with the lake, you can use their carpark as they’ll check you in, so this is for people attending the briefing only and our car park will be open from 14:00
Right, that’s it from today’s email, The next you’ll hear from me will be early next week with a youtube link to a video of our compulsory briefing, some info on start/wave procedures, and any updates to the weekend or things that are worth considering in your final week before the race
We really are here to help, so if you get any questions, or there’s anything we can help with, please just ask by giving me a call or dropping me an email.
Cheers and Happy training
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612