Good evening all

Although it barely seems like we’re halfway through the 2021 Triathlon season, planning for 2022 is now full steam ahead.
Our two 2022 Middle Distance races are as follows :

5th June – Cotswold 113
10th July – Cotswold Classic 

Both races will open for entries on 1st August at 00:05 through www.113events.com

We’ll look forward to welcoming many of you to our start line in 2022

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team 

Cotswold Classic – Post race email

Good morning all. I hope everyone’s feeling ok after yesterday’s race ?
Firstly, I’m sorry that we didn’t get to Swim yesterday morning, and please be assured that we did everything possible to try and make it happen. Swimmer safety is our absolute priority, and having reviewed the conditions with the Water safety team, the BTF ref, and our team, the tough call had to be made to cut the swim entirely.
It’s the first time we’ve had to cut any part of our races in 10 years of running Middle Distance Triathlon, and not a decision that we made lightly, but hope that everyone understands 🙁

What a difference an hour makes as this was the lake at 04:30

There’ll be some learning points from our side, not least on how we then manage bikes out on to the bike course post swim cancellation (a process I hope we never need again), as yesterday’s race start straight from T1 meant we had lots of bikes in big groups, and whilst I’m conscious that you all know the rules on drafting and bike etiquette, coupling a greater intensity of bikes out at any one time with the frustration I’m sure many felt from not getting to swim, meant that we had some well below standard riding, and many large groups still together well into the point of the course where splitting up would be easily achievable

We also had a couple of nasty accidents on the course, although neither of these initially appear to have been the result of group riding.
It’s nice to know that many of you have been concerned with the wellbeing of your fellow competitors, and that we’ve received many emails asking on how they are. As I’m sure you can appreciate, I cannot go into details on their conditions due to their own privacy. Both injured parties will also be receiving this email, and I’m sure they’ll be pleased to know that many others are thinking of them.

The accident that happened near the Latton aid station is now going to be subject to an investigation by us and the BTF, so if you were a witness to what happened, please can I ask that you get in touch
It’s important to us to fully understand what happened so we can put procedure in place to ensure we don’t get a reoccurrence in the future. We’ve been very proud of having an exemplary safety record, so to have two fairly major incidents in one event is something we fully need to understand so we can make sure this never happens again.

Photo’s and results:
You can find the official photographer’s site here: https://www.charleswhittonphotography.com/group28548.html
We have prepaid a couple of lower res downloads for you all, which are suitable for social media, and Charles has various other higher resolution pics for sale if you wanted to create prints etc.
Typically, it takes him a couple of days to go through 1000’s of pics and sort, so they should all be available by around Tuesday evening

The official results are available here:
https://dbmaxresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=331

Right, that’s it from me for this year.
Next year’s races are provisionally set for the following dates :
Cotswold 113 – June 5th
Cotswold Classic – July 10th
Entries for both events will open later this month/early August, and I’ll email you all out our newsletter when dates are fixed.
Thank you all for coming racing with us this year, and we’d love to see you all back on our start lines another time

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612

Nb. If you lost anything yesterday, and are still in the area, we will be at the lake all day today clearing everything away, so you’re welcome to pop over and sift through the lost property

Cotswold Classic – July 11th 2021

Good afternoon all, I hope everyone’s enjoying the tapering on race week ?
This is going to be the last instalment of pre race emails before we see you all on Sunday, so I’ll apologise now as this is going to be a long one, but very important, so please grab yourself a strong coffee and a comfy chair.

in this email, I’ll cover the following :

Reminder of what to bring
Video Race briefing link
Live timing and results
Rules and regulations
Riding/running behaviour
Parking / Spectators / support crew
Conditions update

Reminder of what to bring
I’m pretty sure that you’ll all remember to bring your bikes, wetsuits and running kit, but there’s a few other things that are worth remembering on race morning that we often see people forget.
You’ll need a mask to wear in transition, and to register on the morning, you will need some photo ID and £5 cash for a BTF Day license, or a 2021 BTF race ID with a Picture on it.
It’s also worth bringing clothing for all conditions, as you’re always better to have a jacket you can leave in transition, than need a jacket and not have it. Even a set of arm warmers can make a difference to your core temperature if the weather conditions are not perfect.
Also, remember to bring a plastic bag to put your stuff on/in in transition as it looks like we might get some rain at some point over the weekend, so this will keep your stuff either up off the wet grass, or covered in case of rainfall. Having come back in from the bike in a triathlon myself only to find I had to tip water out my run shoes, I can tell your for certain that it’s not the best feeling as you squelch through the first few miles.
Finally, you will have seen in the race info pack that the bike course aid station is around 23miles into the bike course lap, so if you are intending on using the aid station, you’ve got a good chunk of time on the bike for even the quickest racers without any drinks, With this in mind, please make sure you load your own drinks/gels etc to the bike for when you first get out the water.

Don’t forget to bring a smile too, and remember, you’re racing to enjoy yourself. It’s all too easy to get your head soaked up in the race, that you forget the reason you’re actually there 🙂

Video Race briefing link
I’d like to point out early that video and the lighting in the lake cafe adds at least 20years, and Dave and I are actually in our early 20’s 🙂
Please find a link to the video of the pre race briefing as follows :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs650ugxhVE
This is compulsory for all competitors, so please take the 7 mins or so to watch Dave being camera shy and not saying a thing, and me waffling on whilst uncomfortably twiddling a pen and tripping over my words.

Live results
The live results can be found during the race here :
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/results/

Rules and regulations, and how they’re applied
We operate the race in line with the BTF rules and regulations and is a none drafting race.
You can find the rules in full here :
https://www.britishtriathlon.org/competitionrules
One of the rules we get the most questions on, and how we interpret it, is getting changed in transition.
The BTF rules say no nudity, and as we don’t have changing tents, some of the competitors will want to change into full cycling kit for the bike, and again to running kit for the run. This is totally fine, and the competitors that do make this clothing change will typically do it under a towel or a Dry Robe style swimming robe. However, I’m pretty aware that this isn’t always easy to do when you’re rushing and people often don’t completely cover themselves up.
How we apply the rule is that if you’re trying to be discreet and you accidentally flash some flesh, no one will have an issue with that. However, if you’re doing naked lunges down the transition rack, or doing a full naked undercarriage towel dry with a back and forth sawing motion (this actually happened at one of our races), you will get penalised, so please be mindful that others around you really don’t need to see that at silly o’clock on a Sunday morning.
The other rule will be being strict on is especially pertinent in the current climate, which is giving people space around them in transition please. It’s between a 4 and 8hour day for you all, so losing 5 seconds in transition to give someone a chance to move is largely academic in the scheme of the overall race time, and might actually give you a chance to catch your breath for a minute and think through your transition process.
I always suggest to anyone that isn’t a seasoned racer to really take your time in transition and make sure you have everything you need, and don’t forget to remove something. Over the year’s of running our races, we’ve seen more people than we can remember try and get on the bike at the mount line with their wetsuits on, and possibly hundreds now forget to take their swim hats and/or goggles off before putting their helmets on. The same goes for people heading out on the run in their bike helmets.

Riding/running behaviour
I’m not keen on doing this, but I’m going to have to go into head teacher mode now, so please bear with me:
Over the year’s we’ve been running the races, we’ve had over 20,000 competitors come through our course. 99.99% are a really great bunch of people like yourselves, and until last Sept, we’ve had less complaints from the public than I can count on one hand.
However, for last Sept’s race (the rescheduled June 113) we had some very serious issues out on the course where riders were either riding really badly, were rude to other road users, or were just trying to cheat by cutting corners and ride in either big groups or 3-4 abreast on fairly narrow roads.
I’m very conscious that this was very much a minority spoiling it for the majority, but it’s a situation I cannot have happen again.
We’ve spent year’s building up really good relationships with all our local town and village residents, but last Sept’s riding/running issues undone a good chunk of this and very nearly put a stop to our races completely.
The roads out on the bike course and paths for the run course are typically very quiet on a Sunday morning and you won’t see much traffic on the road at all. However, it’s entirely possible that you might encounter some drivers who are not confident at driving on the road with lots of cyclists, and it’s their prerogative if they want to drive at 12mph as they’re frankly scared of the sheer volume of bikes overtaking them (think little old lady/man on way to church). It’s therefore not acceptable to undertake them or give them verbal abuse. We also had an incident of someone hopping on a footpath on their bike to cut a corner when there was a mother walking a baby in a buggy on the path coming the other way. I appreciate no one sets out to race like this, but last year, even the most seemingly chilled people seemed to turn into complete idiots.
We simply will not tolerate this type of behaviour out on our bike or run courses, and we will have members of our team out in the villages and country roads, who’s job it is to instantly DQ/ban anyone that is seen to be riding even remotely discourteously, littering, or riding in anything other than single file unless they are overtaking. There’ll be zero exceptions to either bad behaviour or intentional littering, and your race will finish at that point on the course.
Sorry to have to be like this, but the relationship with course residents is hugely important to me, and for the future of our races.
The June 113 competitors got the same warning a few weeks ago before their race, and were all behaved exceptionally well out on the run and bike courses, so I’m hoping all your great guys and girls can please raise the bar even higher this weekend for me please 🙂

Parking / Spectators / support crew
We have a field as per the below map that we use for race day parking for competitors only. If you have a ‘Support crew’ coming with you, that’s totally fine, but they will need to be in your car and not in a separate car. The field we hire for race weekends is, currently, being partially re-seaded at the far end, so is around 30% smaller than normal. With this in mind, please can you lift share where possible or get dropped off as this will make our job of parking all cars a much easier process and means we won’t simply run out of spaces.
The carpark is £5 cash payable on arrival, and please have the correct change to hand on arrival as this will speed the process up for everyone.
This car park is for competitors (And their support crew in their car/bubble) only and will be open from 03:45 to 05:45 only. Your ‘support crew’ will be allowed to come into the lake complex with you to watch the start, but will not be allowed into the transition area or the start chutes. They will have access to the near the start area, and around the swim finish area. If anyone turns up to the carpark who is not racing, and not in the car of a competitor, they will be turned away.
If you are a relay team, and the runner wants to head back off for a couple of hours kip after regiatering, that’s totally fine and they will be allowed to leave the carpark after 6 and their space will be there for them on their return with their ticket.
If you have Spectators coming along later, there’ll be a second ‘Competitor overflow / Spectator’ car park open from around 05:30 which is opposite the lake at the end of Spratsgate lane. This carpark will be first come first served and is £5 cash on arrival. Should you arrive to find it full, the nearest next car park is Neighbridge Country park around 700m along the spine road to the West, and is pay and display / open 24hours and something like £2 to park for the day. It’s also on our run course and Neighbridge has one of the run aid stations. You, or any spectators, cannot, under any circumstances, park your cars in the residential area of Somerford Keynes.
As you might imagine, we are still right in the middle of Covid Times so there will be lots of restrictions in and around our area of the site, and people really must socially distance when they’re spectating from anywhere on the courses, not just around the finish line area.
It’s a 28mile bike course, and the general public have access to around 2.5miles of the run course lap, so it’s not difficult for spectators to please just spread out.

Conditions update
Hopefully, I’m not about to jinx it, but……..  the forecast for this weekend doesn’t look too bad at all (Fingers crossed)

Although having just spent the weekend getting soaked/burnt/soaked/burnt at WSBK Donington, I know just how far out weather forecasts can be.
The good thing though is it looks like it’s going to be largely dry for most of this week, which will keep the run course in decent condition, and the current water temperature of 20deg is likely to be about the same next weekend, which many of you will be pleased to hear puts us firmly within the ‘Wetsuit optional’ temperature range.
As I mentioned in the first section of this mail, it’s well worth bringing clothing for all conditions as you’re always going to be better off having kit and not needing it, rather that shivering away on the bike wishing you’d brought a rain coat or gilet that you could otherwise just leave in transition.

Right, that’s it from me for pre race emails, unless unless drastically changes that I need to update you all on.
If you’ve missed any of the previous Cotswold Classic Competitor newsletters, you can find them all at www.113events.com/news

We’re certainly looking forward to welcoming you all along on our start line Sunday morning
I’ll be down at the lake for most of this week, so will generally only be picking emails up in the evening, so if you need to get hold of me, calling is a much easier option: 07595 591612

I’m here to help, so please just ask

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612

Good evening all, I hope this email finds you all well ?

Firstly, and most importantly, thank you very much for being part of the marshal team for this year’s Cotswold Classic on July 11th. Without you guys, the race simply couldn’t happen, so welcome to the team and thank you for helping make a great day out for our competitors

I’ll try not to drag this mail out too long, but we’ve got some important things to cover, so please bear with me

The following link will take you to a download of the Marshal Master excel document.

https://www.113events.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CC21-Marshal-Marsh-Vers.xlsx

On here, you will find your name in the first tab which you’ll see is coloured (it’s unlikely you’ll be able to view this on your phone unless you have an MS viewer, so you’re best off looking through this on a laptop, tablet or PC if possible please)

The colours will then correspond with the part of the course you’re allocated against (Green is Bike, Orange is Run, and Blue is Transition area etc)

If you head to the tab marked with your colour, you will see (in the case of Bike and Run) a map with marshal position numbers on it, and below there’s a table with each position listed out, a location reference and then a brief description of the role in that spot.

For this year, I’ve added a What3words reference as we’ve used that on our other races with great success. If you have a smart phone, it’s well worth downloading the what3words app, which is totally free, as it’s a really easy way to determine location. Our medical team will have access to this in the control room too, and should you require assistance and have moved away from your post, using this locator is an easy way for our team to pinpoint you

When you arrive on race morning, you will see the car park as the first exit from Spratsgate Lane (Postcode GL76DF) and is Marked ‘Marshals Carparking’

Please can you park very neatly and close to the car next to you in there as we can very quickly run out of space if people park with too much space around them or at random angles and locations

You can then head to the race HQ tent to sign on (map attached)

Each shift will start with a sign in within the race control tent, where you will have your temp checked (more on that later), get signed in and we’ll then get you kitted up with your team shirt, a food/drink/kit bag and everything else you need for the day

The run and bike sign on times will both start with a briefing from the course managers before you head out to your location

For Transition area teams, please get signed in and then head to the transition area for 4 where Dave and Steve will talk you through what needs to be done and allocate you out to your roles. Initially in transition, it’s all hands on deck to get competitors through check in and into their spot in transition, before politely asking them to make their way to the swim start.

Shift start times are as follows

04:00 – Transition/Swim teams

05:15 – Bike course teams

07:15 – Run course teams

Please can you allow yourself enough time to arrive, park and get checked in good time before your shift start time as it’ll commence with a briefing at the allotted times shown above.

If you don’t have transport, please let the shift manager know and they’ll arrange a lift or directions to get to where you’re based

At the end of the shift, you’ll be notified by the course managers, where you can head back to race HQ please and sign off, and from their you can either select to get paid your £20 cash or sign up for a £40 113 Events Voucher

Covid conditions 

As you might imagine, it’s not been easy to get the races up and running again this year, and in order to do that (as well as to be able to hold our heads up high knowing we’ve taken every precaution possible) we have adopted a belt and braces approach to Covid Safety.

I appreciate this is extra hassle for you all, and more than other events are doing, but the safety of you all, our competitors and the local area are super important to us and running a totally safe race is both important to us all, and to the local area.

In reality, you should never need to get within 2m of a competitor. However, in case you do, in your pack that you will collect on race morning you will have some gloves and a mask.

We have a real mix of the way people are dealing with Covid within our competitor group, and many are very uncomfortable socialising around others, whereas at the other end of the scale, we have many who are just getting back to normal and hugging, licking faces and everything else people do at triathlons. Please can I ask that you treat everyone you encounter within the race like they’re the scared end of the spectrum and use your own discretion to their attitude if otherwise.

When you arrive at Marshal check in, our team will check your temperature. It goes without saying that if you are displaying any symptoms, please do not turn up

In advance of race day, please can I ask that you follow the below link and order a set of the UK.Gov’s free of charge rapid flow tests, and please complete on on the day before you are due on site as an extra level of protection for everyone (We are asking competitors to do the same)

It takes 2 mins to order the test kit from the Government site, and the test itself takes 5 mins to do and returns a result in 30mins. I’m sure many of you are doing these as part of your jobs etc anyway, so this should be nothing new. Orders normally take 1-2 working days from order to delivery at your door

https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Right, that all sounds very serious, but in reality, we’ll make sure everyone has a fun day both within our Marshal team and for competitors as well.

Generally, the public around the bike and run courses are very welcoming to the race and like to get behind it and cheer. However, you might encounter the odd person who isn’t. If you do (And it’s unlikely that you will) please just call me or the course managers and we will come straight over and deal with it ourselves

Also, finally, we could still do with another 10-15 marshals, so if you have anyone else that would like to help on either the bike or run course teams, we’d welcome them onboard please

Thanks again for making this race possible, it’s hugely appreciated and we’ll look forward to seeing you all on July 11th

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events Team

07595 591612

graeme@113events.com

Cotswold Classic – July 11th 2021

Good morning all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re just a week and a half out from the race, so hopefully you’re all feeling ready for some racing here in the Cotswolds
Hopefully, by now, you’ve all read the race info pack HERE

In this pre race newsletter, I’ll cover the following:

– Start list and Waves
– Race pack updates
– Covid Rules
– Race morning procedure & BTF members/None members
– What to bring on the day
– What’s next 

Start lists and Waves
A few weeks ago, there was a window to select a specific wave. Around 600 of you took up that option, and we managed to get 99.9% of you into your selected waves.
You can find the start list with your race bibs and wave numbers here :
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/cotswold-classic-start-list/
This is now fixed and can’t be changed
There’s no specific order within your wave, so you can just queue up and head off within your ten minute window as you see fit.
We will still have the shorter swim option available as well as starting on the bike if you don’t want to swim at all too. No need to tell us in advance, and for those that want the shorter swim option, there’ll be a chute marked at the swim start area, and there’s no specific waves for the shorter swim so you can start any time between 06:15 and 07:00. If you want to start straight on the bike and miss the swim completely, just let the transition guys know in the morning, and you can start on the bike any time after 06:30 once the first swimmers are in and the bike course is open and ready for you.
We have timing mats at the start of each option, so we can register your time against either 1,900m swim, 350m swim or no Swim, and show this in the results accordingly

Race pack updates
The race pack that you will receive in the post contains your bib (race number) and a bike sticker with your race number on it (these have a habit of getting lodged in the bottom of the envelope, so have a look in the bottom before you throw the envelope away).
These have been with the printers for a while now, and get posted out in Batches. Some of you will have possibly already had yours, but if you haven’t, don’t worry as they’ll be coming out right up to early next week.
If, for any reason, your pack hasn’t arrived by Next Wednesday the 7th of July, or you’ve moved house and forgot to tell us before a few weeks ago, please contact Mary at DBmax, who are the guys running the bibs and timing for us. Mary’s email address is mary@dbmax.co.uk
She’ll be able to arrange either a replacement pack to be sent out, or will be able to make one up from a blank on race morning.

Covid Rules
Although we appear to be pretty much on the home straight in Boris’s roadmap out of restrictions, it’s worth reminding you all please that we are still under very strict rules on what we can and can’t do and how people still feel about Covid themselves.
Within our competitors we have a real variety of attitudes towards Covid from those of you that are happy get back to normal and lick each others faces etc again on a daily basis, right through to some others that are still very cautious and are not comfortable with being close to strangers.
Please can I ask you all to remember this and to treat everybody you don’t know on race day as if they’re the cautious end of the scale.
In terms of our Covid specific rules for race day, I’ll try and summarise these as follows :
Please can we ask that you all complete a lateral flow test on Saturday the 10th July and only attend if you return a negative result – Free lateral Flow tests are available from the government, and come in the post within a couple of days – https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
You don’t need to show us that you’ve done it, and we trust that you will all take the sensible approach on this and complete the tests.
All competitors will be temperature and symptom checked by our medical team on arrival
It goes without saying, but regardless of your lateral flow test, if you are displaying any symptoms of Covid before the race, or are being required to quarantine, please do no attend under any circumstances
You will need to wear a facemask in transition in the morning when racking you’re bikes. This will allow you to get within the 2m bubble of other competitors at a point in the day where all competitors will be in the area at roughly the same time. You can dispose of your mask on exiting the transition, and won’t need to wear one again during the day assuming you don’t need either medical attention of recovering from the bike course (We’ll then provide you masks for this purpose)
Please give others 2m of space once you’ve left transition and when queuing for the Swim start, and when out on the run / finish area – The bike course is non drafting, so this alleviates this problem as long as you all follow the rules.
When you are transition between Swim and bike and bike and run, please give others 2m distance around them where possible.
The race will have timed transitions, so is marked as ‘competitive’. However, if people start to clamber all over each other in transition and do not allow distance, we will stop the race and neutralise transition times for all competitors right from the first person to the last so making the race non competitive as no transition times will be published. We don’t want to have to do this, but we really need you all to give each other as much space on the day as possible please and respect that we are still in a Covid situation.
We will have hand gel around toilets, transition and aid stations, so please use it.
Oddly, I also have to tell you that Portaloos are for one person at a time please

Race morning procedure & BTF members/None members
On race morning, the car park will be open from 03:45 and transition check in/registration from 04:00
The carpark is a field and is owned by a local farmer. As with all farmers, nothing is ever free, so you’ll need to pay £5 to park your car. Part of the field is currently being re-seaded, so it’s smaller than normal, so it would be a great help to us if you can lift share where possible to reduce the amount of cars we have parked in there please.
We are only able to take payment in Cash, and with Covid rules, cannot give change, so please have £5 in the correct change to hand when you arrive please. It’s one entrance in, so please expect a queue in the morning and have your payment to hand on arrival to help speed things up.
When you leave the carpark, the walk to transition takes about 5-10mins, and there you will get checked in to the race
At transition, you will need your race bib (number) and your bike sticker on your bike. It doesn’t matter where on your bike you put it as it’s only used to check your bike against your bib after the race when you pick it up after the race
If you are not a BTF member, you will need photo ID and £5 cash to buy a BTF day license – A photocopy of Photo ID is fine, as is a picture on your phone
If you are a current BTF member, you will need a copy of your 2021 BTF photo card, or if you have an online one that doesn’t have a picture uploaded, you will need another form of Photo ID to go along with it.
If you are planning on using your online photo ID, it’s worth noting that the signal at the lake isn’t always the best, so it’s worth taking a screenshot of it before hand and you can show this on your phone or print off a copy instead.
Sorry to be hard on this, but if you do not have a form of valid 2021 BTF photo card or another form of Photo ID and £5 cash for a day license, you will not be allowed to race, no exceptions.
In transition, you will find your spot numbered, and in that spot will be your Swim hat and timing chip/strap.
Once you’ve got checked in, racked your bike, fitted your timing chip to your left ankle and picked up your swim hat, please leave transition as quickly as possible and head around to the swim start, which is about 150m walk.
The walk is a mix of grass and gravel, so if you don’t fancy walking bare footed, please feel free to bring some old shoes, flip flops, hotel slippers etc. You can leave these by the water entrance, and collect them after the race. If you don’t want them back, just leave them there and we’ll bin them at the end of the day.
By the start there are a block of portaloos and somewhere to get coffee etc.
Transition check in will shut for all competitors at 06:00 and everyone* will need to be out of transition for 06:10
*relay members can obviously remain as they have their own area in transition.
After that, you just queue up in your wave and get ready to start the race

What to bring on the day
Obviously, you will need kit to Swim, bike and run as well as your ID/BTF license cash
It’s worth noting that in line with the BTF rules, you are not allowed plastic boxes in transition and can only bring reasonable sized soft bags for your kit (Think Airline hand luggage size)
Our transition is on grass, so I always recommend to people to bring a plastic bag to either lay their stuff on top of, or in, if it’s looking like it’s going to be raining. You have space under your bike in the racking for all your stuff , and the only people that allowed in transition are competitors, so it’s reasonable secure and people tend to leave their car keys etc in their bags there.
The long range forecast isn’t looking too bad for race weekend, but it’s always worth brining kit for colder or wetter weather just in case, and not needing it rather than needing it and not having it. You can decide what to wear once you get out the water and are welcome to leave unused kit in your spot next to your bike.

What’s next 
As long as everything goes to plan this week, and nothing changes, you’ll only be getting one more pre race email from me early next week.
That email will have a link to your video briefing as well as some info on rules for the race and how we expect people to behave on the day (I’m sure you’ll all behave impeccably, so it’ll just be a reminder)
As mentioned above, if you have any issues with your race pack, please email Mary at DBMax and they’ll get that sorted

Right, that’s it from me for today, so sorry it was a long one
We’re here to help, so if you get any questions or need anything from us, please just ask

Cheers and happy tapering

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612

Cotswold 113 – Post race email

Good evening all, I hope everyone’s got their feet up recovering after yesterday’s race ?
It’s been great having you all race with us this year, and I truly hope that yesterday delivered a little slice of normality back in your lives in this slightly odd world we live in currently, and that around all the Covid rules, the Swim, Bike and run felt a bit like normal again
I appreciate you’re probably all bored to death with my emails about the race by now, so I’ll keep this reasonably short and let you get back to nursing tired legs, drinking beer and showing off your racing tan lines.
In this email, I’ll cover the following:

Race photo’s
Race results
Being involved in our July 11th race
Next year’s races

Race photo’s 
Most importantly for many of you is how fast you looked:
Later tomorrow, the photographer should have all the pics of you uploaded on his site
How it works is 113 pay for the main selection of pics for you, and if you wanted any others or wanted your face printed on a pillow case, tea cup or have it framed etc, they’ll charge for that sort of stuff
You’ll be able to find the pics sometime Tuesday PM onwards here :
https://www.charleswhittonphotography.com/cotswold-113-tri-6621

Race results
Nearly as important as getting your photos is how fast you went compared to your mates, and you can find the link to results here:
https://dbmaxresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=325

Being involved in our July 11th race
Hopefully you all got well supported and cheered on from our amazing team of marshals yesterday ?
We’re always after more marshals, and actually getting them in the sort of volumes we like is one of the hardest bits of organising the race
If you fancied being back at our next race on July 11th, but on the other side dressed in red, we’d love you on the team.
We pay our marshals either £20 cash or a £40 113 Events Voucher, we’ll keep you in Burgers, Ice creams and hot/cold drinks for the day, and make it a fun day of being involved
All we ask is that you’re over 16, know your left from your right, and are enthusiastic
The two basic shifts are either :
Bike – 05:15 Briefing to around 11:30-45 finish
Run – 07:15 Briefing to around 14:30ish finish
Please email me at graeme@113events.com and we’ll welcome you in with open arms

Next year’s races
Although it barely feels like this summer’s even really started, as the industry seems to be demanding more and more races open 10-12 months out now as everyone’s already planning next year, we’ve already pencilled in our 2022 dates, which are as follows :
June 5th – Cotswold 113 Middle Distance Tri
July 10th – Cotswold Classic Middle Distance Tri
We’ll get the dates 100% firmed up within the next few weeks, and entries will open online around August 1st, and hopefully we’ll see many of you back racing with us again next year, and life might actually be a bit more normal again in 2022 (Although we thought that this time last year, so who knows)

Right, that really is it for me for this year for the Cotswold 113. We really appreciate you all choosing to come racing with us at 113 Events, and thank you all for being super courteous on the roads yesterday as we hope that’s put triathlon back in a positive light again.
Enjoy your recovery, and we’ll look forward to hopefully welcoming you all back on our start line another time

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
07595 591612
Graeme@113events.com 

Cotswold 113 – June 6th 2021

Hi All
Apologies if you’re getting this email again. I’ve been told that the original email last week didn’t get through to everyone, so I’m trying to send it this way again just in case.
Also, if any of you fancy doubling up your shifts for an extra payment/voucher, we could use half a dozen strong pairs of hands for about 2hours work after the race has finished around 14:30 for transition/finish area tera down. It ‘s pretty heaving lifting, but doesn’t take long as we all then head to the pub for a post race beer, drinks on 113 – Let me know

Please see the original email here :

—————————————————————————————-
Good afternoon all, I hope this email finds you all well ?
Firstly, and most importantly, thank you very much for being part of the marshal team for this year’s Cotswold 113 on June 6th.
Without you guys, the race simply couldn’t happen, so welcome to the team and thank you for helping make a great day out for our competitors

I’ll try not to drag this mail out too long, but we’ve got some important things to cover, so please bear with me

The following link will take you to a download of the Marshal Master excel document.
https://www.113events.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/11321-Marshals-Mar-Vers.xlsx
On here, you will find your name in the first tab which you’ll see is coloured (it’s unlikely you’ll be able to view this on your phone unless you have an MS viewer, so you’re best off looking through this on a laptop, tablet or PC)
The colours will then correspond with the part of the course you’re allocated against (Green is Bike, Orange is Run, and Blue is Transition area etc)
If you head to the tab marked with your colour, you will see (in the case of Bike and Run) a map with marshal position numbers on it, and below there’s a table with each position listed out, a location reference and then a brief description of the role in that spot.
For this year, I’ve added a What3words reference as we’ve used that on our other races with great success. If you have a smart phone, it’s well worth downloading the what3words app, which is totally free, as it’s a really easy way to determine location. Our medical team will have access to this in the control room too, and should you require assistance and have moved away from your post, using this locator is an easy way for our team to pinpoint you

When you arrive on race morning, you will see the car park as the first exit from Spratsgate Lane (Postcode GL76DF) and is Marked ‘Marshals Carparking’
Please can you park very neatly and close to the car next to you in there as we can very quickly run out of space if people park with too much space around them or at random angles and locations
You can then head to the race HQ tent to sign on (map attached)

Each shift will start with a sign in within the race control tent, where you will have your temp checked (more on that later), get signed in and we’ll then get you kitted up with your team shirt, a food/drink/kit bag and everything else you need for the day

The run and bike sign on times will both start with a briefing from the course managers before you head out to your location
For Transition area teams, please get signed in and then head to the transition area for 4 where Dave and Steve will talk you through what needs to be done and allocate you out to your roles. Initially in transition, it’s all hands on deck to get competitors through check in and into their spot in transition, before politely asking them to make their way to the swim start.

Shift start times are as follows
04:00 – Transition/Swim teams
05:15 – Bike course teams
07:15 – Run course teams

Please can you allow yourself enough time to arrive, park and get checked in good time before your shift start time as it’ll commence with a briefing at the allotted times shown above.

If you don’t have transport, please let the shift manager know and they’ll arrange a lift or directions to get to where you’re based
At the end of the shift, you’ll be notified by the course managers, where you can head back to race HQ please and sign off, and from their you can either select to get paid your £20 cash or sign up for a £40 113 Events Voucher

Covid conditions
As you might imagine, it’s not been easy to get this race up and running again this year, and in order to do that (as well as to be able to hold our heads up high knowing we’ve taken every precaution possible) we have adopted a belt and braces approach to Covid Safety.
I appreciate this is extra hassle for you all, and more than other events are doing, but the safety of you all, our competitors and the local area are super important to us and running a totally safe race is both important to us all, and to the local area.
In reality, you should never need to get within 2m of a competitor. However, in case you do, in your pack that you will collect on race morning you will have some gloves and a mask.
We have a real mix of the way people are dealing with Covid within our competitor group, and many are very uncomfortable socialising around others, whereas at the other end of the scale, we have many who are just getting back to normal and hugging, licking faces and everything else people do at triathlons. Please can I ask that you treat everyone you encounter within the race like they’re the scared end of the spectrum and use your own discretion to their attitude if otherwise.
When you arrive at Marshal check in, our team will check your temperature. It goes without saying that if you are displaying any symptoms, please do not turn up
In advance of race day, please can I ask that you follow the below link and order a set of the UK.Gov’s free of charge rapid flow tests, and please complete on on the day before you are due on site as an extra level of protection for everyone (We are asking competitors to do the same)
It takes 2 mins to order the test kit from the Government site, and the test itself takes 5 mins to do and returns a result in 30mins. I’m sure many of you are doing these as part of your jobs etc anyway, so this should be nothing new. Orders normally take 1-2 working days from order to delivery at your door
https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Right, that all sounds very serious, but in reality, we’ll make sure everyone has a fun day both within our Marshal team and for competitors as well.
Generally, the public around the bike and run courses are very welcoming to the race and like to get behind it and cheer. However, you might encounter the odd person who isn’t. If you do (And it’s unlikely that you will) please just call me or the course managers and we will come straight over and deal with it ourselves

Thanks again for making this race possible, and we’ll look forward to seeing you all on June 6th

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events Team
07595 591612
graeme@113events.com

Cotswold 113 – June 6th 2021

Good evening all. It’s just a few days away from race day, and things are shaping up nicely for Sunday’s race, so in this last instalment of pre race emails, I wanted to get the last few bits of info and reminders out
In this email, I’ll cover the following:

– Lake temp and conditions
– Car parking
– Reminder: Important bits that everyone forgets
– Live timing on the day 

Lake Temp and conditions 
I’m sure lots of you will be glad to hear that the recent burst of summer weather has brought the lake temp up dramatically. Today, we measured it at 19.4deg, which is pretty perfect swimming conditions. The good weather seems to be sticking about (Hopefully, I’ve not just jinxed it) so I suspect it’ll be in the 19-21 range on Sunday, which is firmly in the Wetsuit optional range (Which means 99.9% of you will swim in a wetsuit anyway)
We spent a day marking potholes on the bike course today, and for the first time in year’s, we managed to do the whole 28mile lap on a single can of floor spray which is positive. The course is actually pretty good condition generally compared to most of the UK anyway, and all of the potholes are easily avoidable if you’re looking where you’re going, especially as they’re now painted in a lovely shade of yellow.

The run course is 100% dry now, and if it’s sunny, you’ll be glad to hear that much of it is under shade of trees.
The forecast for the weekend is looking pretty decent, but this is the UK, so please plan for the worst and bring some warmer bike kit just in case You’re always better to have it and just leave in transition, than need it and not have it.
One thing that we did look at today, with the new bike course, is how people will start lap 2 on the bike, and that you will be coming along past people who are finishing lap two and dismounting. With this in mind, I would like to ask you all to keep your speed right down through the dismount area at the end of lap 1 / start of lap 2, and when you are coming in to the end of your second lap, to keep the right of your lane to allow people at the end of their first lap, to keep to the left and come through.
If it looks like people are not slowing to a reasonable pace in this small section, we’ll have our marshals control everyone to a walking pace to ensure there’s no collisions. Safety is always the most important consideration, and whilst you may save 3 seconds on your bike split by trying to speed through, you might also end up on the floor and potentially injury yourself or others around you.

Car parking
Our car parking is in a field, which is a short walk to transition in the morning, It’s owned by a local farmer, and being a farmer, he gives nothing away for free (Sorry if there’s any farmers amongst our competitors, and I’ve just made a massive generalisation) Anyway, Parking is £5 cash on arrival, so please ensure you have a £5 note to hand as we’re not allowed to give change due to Covid rules and we have no way to take card payment.
The field, this year, is having some of its area re-seaded, so we have less space in there than normal for 21. It will take all the cars this year just about ok, but we really need to you to park close to the car next to you in the row, and if you can lift share or get dropped off, that’d be amazing, If you’re getting a lift in, there’s a drop off point right by the mount point or by the gate to the lake entrance.
Getting everyone into the car parking field is always a pain as there’s only one gate in/out, so please leave yourself plenty of time. Car parking opens at 03:45
If you have family members or your support crew coming along to watch, it’s unlikely that our car park will have much space after all the competitors are in, and the waterpark is now fully booked, so the nearest car park is Neighbridge Country park lake Pay and Display (Something like £2 for the day) which is less than a mile from the lake and on our run course so a great spot to watch from.
Neighbridge Country park is on Spine Road West by Somerford Keynes, but oddly, doesn’t have a postcode I can give you. It’s really easy to find though

Important bits that everyone forgets – Reminder
There’s loads of little bits that are covered in the race info pack and previous emails that I want to just remind you all of now please :
1) To register in the morning, you will need a 2021 BTF photo license, or if you’re not a BTF member, some form of photo ID (A pic on your phone is fine) and £5 cash for a BTF day license
2) A small minority of riders displayed some really poor on road behavior in our last race in Sept last year, which is totally unacceptable, so we are under very tight scrutiny from the local area to ensure our cyclists (And runners) are absolutely on best behaviour. We will have marshal spotters out on the course, and anyone riding in a remotely discourteous manner, will be instantly DQ’d from the race and will not be allowed to continue.
This is massively important to us as we’ve spent year’s building really good relationships with all the local community, but for whatever reason, some of the riding last sept was beyond shocking, and we have to stamp this out. I appreciate that you’re all probably great people who play by the rules once you get your race heads on, but please be mindful that the future of our races depend on your road etiquette on Sunday
Sorry, rant over. Hopefully next you’ll hear on this subject is me emailing you all Sunday night to thank you all for being model cyclists and back to our usual amazing bunch of competitors that we’ve had for the last ten years 🙂
3) There’s no specific order within your start window, you just need to get in the queue and get into the water within the 10min allocated slot to your wave
4) We have a shorter swim available if you don’t fancy the full 1,900m, and the chute for that will be marked on race morning. You don’t need to tell us, and the timing mat will pick up your timing chip, and adjust the results to show the shortened swim accordingly.
5) Anyone in a red 113 Events top is there to help you and to make sure you have an amazing day, so please just ask anyone in our team if there’s anything you need on the day or anything at all we can help with
6) Please read the race info pack and watch the briefing :
Race info pack :
 https://www.113events.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/1132021-–-Race-Information-Sheet.pdf
Briefing video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCn54bPFmI
7) Lastly, and I’m sure you don’t need reminding of this, we are still in the middle of a Global Pandemic with Covid, and you need to give everyone around you plenty of space. I appreciate that, as triathletes, we are generally quite comfortable with being close to other people in areas like the swim and in transition, but please be mindful that not everyone wants you breathing down the back of their necks in the queue for the Swim start, or rubbing butt cheeks in transition as you’re getting changed. We will give everyone the infrastructure on the day to keep a good distance from your fellow competitors, but we need you all to tow the line too please.

Live timing on the day 
We will have live timing up on our website at :
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-113/results/

The live timing system will update your time and progress within seconds at the following steps of the race:
Swim exit
Start of bike lap 1
End of bike lap 1
End of bike lap 2
Exit of T2
End of Run lap 1
End of Run lap 2
Race Finish

Right, that really is it for me in terms of pre race info, so we’ll look forward to seeing you all Sunday morning and welcoming you all along to our race
I’ll be at the lake constantly over the next few days, so will only be picking up emails in the evening. If you need me, please call me on 07595 591612

Enjoy your next couple days of rest, and see you all Sunday morning

Cheers

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612