The following pre race email went out to all 2017 Cotswold 113 Competitors tonight:
Cotswold113 2017 – Pre race email Vs2.01
Hi All, I hope everyone’s feeling nice and ready for next weekends race ?
We’re just over a week out from the race, so I wanted to get some important info out to you all.
This email could well end up being a long one, but contains some important info, so please grab yourself a coffee and a comfy seat and read though it all.
In this email I’ll cover the following:
New Lake Owners and changes
Transfers to August
Water temperature
Marshal requests
Race briefing
New lake owners and changes
For those of you that know the area and the way the lake ownership works, you’ll know that the area we park in on the Sunday, hold transition and take part of our run course through is run by a separate company to the one we hire the lake from and have our finish in.
For those of you that don’t, the far end of the lake (Ashton Keynes beach and country park) has just been taken over by a new company in the last couple of weeks.
Before anyone starts to worry, I’ve met with them and they’re a good bunch and have no problem with the racing we organise there
However, they have taken it over with literally a few days before the summer has kicked off, and as their business is 100% seasonal, they’re understandably very concerned about how much of their car park we take up on race day, and the loss of revenue they’ll see with us parking 6-700 cars in there and maxing out their capacity (not to mention the car parking our transition takes up)
Therefore, the changes are two fold for the race.
1) They are going to charge £10 a car to park on race morning, which is still cheaper than the standard car parking day fee applied there of £14, but more expensive than the £5 we have listed in our race pack.
2) You could all really help our relationship with them by not coming all individually in cars on race day and getting together with your mates and lift sharing so we take up as little space as possible, or getting a lift down in the morning and being dropped off instead of having a car at all.
I appreciate this is late notice for the change, but the new tenants are a good bunch, and have a brand new business to protect on what’s one of their first open weekends of the year, and we’re obviously very keen to keep a good relationship with them if we’re to keep racing there for years to come.
There are other parking options available to us with farmers fields etc nearby, but although we’re working on it, it’s very unlikely any of them can be ready in time for next weekend, but will be sorted for our following races this year.
For spectators coming later, there’s a good chance they won’t get in at all, so I’d recommend Neighbridge Country park (on the run course), which is a 10min walk to the race start/finish, and actually only £3 to park all day
Apologies for this, and please be assured that we’ve done everything we can to find a work around, but it’s just not possible in time for next weekend, but we’ll have something more robust ready in time for the August race.
Transfers to August
Looking back over the last few competitor newsletters, I think I’ve given you all 4 opportunities to transfer to the August 13th Cotswold Classic for free, but I’m still getting requests now that the free window has been closed a few weeks.
I’m conscious that people do pick up injuries, and that races do sneak up on you, so what we’ve agreed to a couple of people already, and to save me getting more requests, is that we can still do it, but I’m afraid there’s now a cost to it.
The two races are largely interchangeable as they’re on the same course and they have the same goodie bag contents. However, there’s a few things like insurances, shirts etc etc that just aren’t interchangeable, and as we’re now very close to the June race we can’t backfill your slots with another paying competitor.
Therefore, what we’ve offered is that if anyone still wants to swap to the August 13th Race, if they’re happy to pay the cost of the parts of the race that aren’t interchangeable (£40), we can still move entries over whilst there’s still a few slots remaining.
If you want to swap over, please let me know in the next few days and we can still try and sort something
Water Temperatures
There’s good news and bad news in this one depending on your take on it.
The good news is that the summer’s finally arrived (it’s been 28deg down there today whilst we’ve been building the registration marquee, and the colour of my forehead will attest to this).
However, as it’s been really quite hot for the last week or so, the water temperature is now getting dangerously close to the Wetsuit cut off of 24deg. Last night, it was measured at 21deg, which is a near perfect temperature for swimming with or without a wetsuit. However, due to the sheer power of the sun today, it’s very close now to the 24deg cut off when wetsuits become banned in line with the BTF regulations. The forecast for the next week, although cooling after the weekend, is largely quite hot and dry, and it’s rain that brings the temperature down.
We’ve run the middle distance races 12 times now, and we’ve not yet had to ban wetsuits, but I’m afraid the chances that the June 4th 113 are going to be a non wetsuit swim are looking very strong indeed as it stands currently.
We, of course, won’t make a decision with the BTF ref until race weekend, and I’ll be keeping the Facebook/twitter pages updated as the days roll on, so please keep an eye out for this.
Banning wetsuits will not be something we do lightly, and we work entirely in accordance with the BTF rules, but swimming and overheating in a wetsuit is potentially just as dangerous to your health as swimming without one.
We do have a few positives for the lake though in this scenario, and that’s that there are a couple of spots that you can stand up in to take a break, and I’ve also spoken with the water safety co-ordinator, and we’ve agreed that should you be running out of puff, that you can signal the canoeist, who’ll hold their canoe still for a few mins to you can grab on a take a break. Obviously, you need to let them know and not have them drag you around the course, but the chance for a break is there if you need it.
We don’t have a specific swim cut off, and the water safety crew will allow you as long as you need as long as they don’t consider you a danger to yourself or others around you, and you are occasionally making reasonable forward motion and not just floating on your back in one place admiring the clouds.
Marshal Request.
We’re still after a few more marshals, and as well as Bike/Run course teams, we need a few strong bods to help with water exit and the transition/sismount line.
If you have anyone coming along, that fancies being part of the team, please drop me a line at graeme@113events.com
We also have 4 vacant roles in the Disassembly team at the end of the race, which is a good chance to double up on marshal pay if you have people already covering a bike or run shift and fancy sticking around a bit later for a second shift.
Maybe, yourself as a competitor fancy earning a few quid off next year’s races, and wants to help marshal at our June 25th Cotswold 226 race. Marshals for that race can earn a £50 113 or DBMax 2018 voucher
Race Briefing
We’re well aware that doing a middle distance race is a daunting prospect and full of unknowns, and although the race pack tells you pretty much everything, sometimes you want someone to explain it to you and hear it from the horses mouth so to speak.
At last year’s race, we trialled running a Saturday briefing, which isn’t compulsory (your compulsory 3min briefing is on Sunday morning ten minutes before you get into the water), which takes around 60mins and we talk you through the race bit by bit and segment by segment. It was so popular last year, that we’ve decided to run it twice this year so that it covers a wider amount of the registration timing to suit everyone.
It’s very informal, and a great chance to ask any questions you might have.
On Saturday the 4th, we’ll run the full briefing on the grass bank next to the Swim exit at both 13:00 and 15:30
Right, that’s it for my waffling today.
We’re here to make sure you all have the best day possible, and race in the fastest and safest manner, so please get in contact with me if you have any concerns on the above, or just want to chat triathlon
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 team
07595 591612
graeme@113events.com