The following email went out to all Cotswold 113 2021 competitors tonight
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.
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