Good afternoon all, I hope everyone’s well ?
It looks like the summer has finally turned up, and we’re only 6 days away from our first race of the year this weekend, so I hope that you’re all looking forward to coming down this Sunday as much as we’re looking forward to seeing you all on our start line
There’ll be a couple of instalments of pre race mails, but in this #1, I’ll cover the following :
– Online briefing
– What to bring to transition/registration, and how it works
– Race info pack reminder
– Not got your race pack in the post yet
Online video briefing
*I’d like to first point out that video adds quite a few years to anyone being filmed, and Dave and I are actually in our 20’s 🙂
You can find the online video briefing here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCn54bPFmI
This is compulsory to watch, so please take a few mins out your day to digest the information in it
Normally, we’d do these in person, but Covid has put stop to all that good stuff, so this year you get to watch me mix my word and fumble awkwardly with my coffee for 10 mins whilst Dave sits there like a rabbit in the headlights.
This is also the quietest you’ll ever hear Dave as he’s a little camera shy, but you’ll definitely hear him on race day.
This whole section is really important: Firstly, and most importantly: This is a new process to us and it’s going to take some time to get everyone registered in the morning. With this in mind, please leave plenty of time to arrive and get signed in, racked and ready to race Registration will close at 06:00, and transition must be completely clear of people racking by 06:10 Therefore, if you rock up at 06:01, you will not be allowed to race. When you arrive at registration/transition, you will need to have your race bib either on your race belt and being worn, or in your hand. You will also need to have your bike sticker on your bike (it doesn’t matter where as it’s just use to check against your bib number when you collect your bike after the race) If you are a 2021 BTF member, you will need in your hand your BTF 2021 dated photo card membership, and if you have an online membership card that does not have a photo on it, you will need another form of photo ID (or a printed scan of photo ID) If you are not a BTF member (about 50% of our competitors normally), you will need photo ID (or a printed scan of photo ID) and £5 cash only for a BTF day license – I’m afraid we can only take cash, and we will not be able to handle and return change in order to reduce multiple touch objects for Covid Rules. BTF members all have their own personal liability insurance, but none BTF members will need to buy a BTF license on the day in order to get their own day membership/insurance. It’s a BTF rule that we’re monitored closely on, and you will not be allowed to race without either a valid 2021 membership card, or photo ID and £5 I have recently seen on social media someone trying to sell their slots and allowing a person to race under their race bib. This 100% is not allowed, and every single person coming into transition will need photo ID and/or BTF Photo cards that match their entry name, no exceptions
If you forget your BTF card, you can still use Photo ID and pay the £5 cash for a day license, and just email me your BTF card after the race, and I’ll refund your £5
Once you’re checked in, you will find your slot in transition marked numerically, and in your spot, you will find your timing chip/strap and swim hat waiting for you.
We need everyone to clear transition as quickly as possible once they’re racked please, so if you’ve not seen your mates for what might seem like year’s, please head around the swim start area to have that long chat and catch up
We follow the BTF rules on what you are and are not allowed in transition, and their rules ban the use of plastic boxes.
I’d suggest bringing a large sized plastic bag to put your stuff on as the transition area is grass, and can sometimes be damp from either rain or overnight dew, or it could rain whilst you’re out on the bike so you could put it in the bag, as tipping water out your run shoes before a half marathon is not much fun.
We don’t have changing tents in transition, so you will need to do all your swim to bike and bike to run changing at your spot next to the racking. The rules say ‘no nudity’, so please try and be discreet if you’re doing a full change, and we often get competitors that do just that under a towel. We try to be pretty relaxed with how we apply the rules, so if you struggle to be totally under your towel, that’s no problem. If you’re doing Naked lunges down the racking, or giving it a full undercarriage front to back sawing motion with a towel to dry yourself, you’ll probably get penalised, so please use your common sense.
The swim start is around a 100m walk from transition along a fairly stoney path. If you have delicate feet and don’t fancy walking on stones bare footed, please feel free to bring some old flip flops, trainers, slippers from the hotel etc, and leave them by the swim start out the way. The swim start is right next to where you’ll be finishing the run, so you can collect them after the race, or if you don’t want them back, we’ll collect them up and put them in the skip later in the day when we’re tearing everything down.
By the swim start, you will also find around 50 toilets. You will note there’ll also be a couple in transition, but these will be closed until the race is underway.
The rolling start window you have has no specific order within that 10 min slot, so please just queue up and head off accordingly.
Not got your race bib and bike sticker in the post yet ?
The race packs go out to post in batches, so don’t worry if your mates have theirs now and yours has not arrived
If your bib does not arrive by this Wednesdays post, please send an email to mary@dbmax.co.uk before 2pm on Friday the 4th June, and they can create a new one and have it ready for you to collect on race morning from the DBMax tent by transition check in.
Right, that’s it for the first instalment of this week’s pre race email
The next instalment will be on Wednesday or Thursday night and will have an update on conditions (heads up: The lake temp was 17deg today, and is getting around 1deg per day warmer as the sun is shining), car parking, reminder of rules and a couple of other bits that are important to know in the last few days before the race
In the meantime, I’ll be down the lake most of this week preparing bike/run courses etc, so not at my desk. The easiest way to get hold of me is by phone as I’ll only be picking emails up when I’m back in the home office in the evenings
See you all Sunday, and enjoy your taper week
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612