Good morning all
It’s just over 2 weeks to race day now, and it looks like the summer has finally bothered to turn up
Hopefully, by now, you’ve all read the previous newsletters with all the info on the race – If you’ve joined us late, or missed those, you can find them at www.113events.com/news
In this email, I’ll cover the following : Race Info pack
Start list / Registration requirements
Swimming on the Saturday New (and Old) BTF Rules
Car Parking
Being part of the 113 team
What’s coming next
Race info pack
This is your bible, and tells you everything you need to know about the race weekend. Please can you all take a few minutes to download it and have a read through, as you’d be absolutely amazed with how often people turn up to race on the wrong day, try and rack their bikes on the wrong day, turn up to registration with the wrong stuff etc etc.
You can download the info pack HERE
Start list / Registration requirements Registration requirements
We have our registration on Saturday June 6th between 12:00 and 17:30.
Also on the Saturday afternoon, we will have two separate Briefings at 13:00 and 16:00 by the Swim exit/transition area.
These are not compulsory, as your compulsory briefing will come out by video link early during race week, but each of these will take about 45mins, and we’ll talk through the race in some details and offer up some last minute advice and help. It’ll be myself, Dave and the BTF referee for the weekend who present the briefings, and although we’re 100% not a comedy act, we will try and make it at least a little bit entertaining to keep you all awake. It’s an outside area, so if it looks like it might rain, please bring a waterproof or an umbrella.
A couple of year’s back, the BTF introduced their new Racepass system, which is what most of know as a ‘Day license” for non BTF members – membership or a race pass are compulsory within the BTF rules, and provide the competitor with personal liability insurance for the duration of the race.
Once the start list was finalised last weekend, I sent it off to the BTF for them to go through and validate either your race pass purchase when you signed up through the entry system, or your valid BTF membership for 2026.
On the start list, which I’ll link in a moment, you will see each name now has either an ‘M’, ‘RP’ in Green or an X and highlighted Red
If you have an ‘M’ next to your name, it means the BTF have confirmed your valid membership for the race date
if you have an ‘RP’ against your name, they have confirmed that you bought a Racepass from them directly through the entry system when you signed up
If you have a Red X against your name, it means you now need sort a race pass, or verify your membership
it’s very possible that if you are a member, and it’s showing as an X, that they’ve just not found it, or you’ve input your membership number incorrectly, and we can sort that, and I’ll cover more on that in a bit.
If you’re not a member, and need to buy a race pass, I’ll also explain in a minute how you can do this
If you have an RP or an M against your name, all you will need for registration is a photo ID (ie, driving license, passport, NHS card etc)
There’ll be a few of you that can’t get there on the Saturday, so will want someone to register for you and that’s totally fine.
In order for someone to register on your behalf, they will need a printed version of your photoID with a note on it to say it’s fine for them to register on your behalf. This needs to be a printed version rather than the original, as we have to retain that in line with the BTF rules, and then our ref will make checks at transition check in Sunday AM to to ensure the person registered is the person racing. We will, of course, dispose of these properly by having them shredded post race
For relay teams, all competing members will need to be either BTF members, or have bought a race pass.
As relay teams are not showing an M, RP or X, we will need to check BTF membership cards, or race pass purchases for all members of the team. One person can register for the full team, but will need photocopies of the others members ID/Racepass proof, or BTF photo card (i’m conscious not everyone has a photo on their online BTF portal card, so a pic of that, and a photo ID of another format is totally fine)
If you now need to purchase a Racepass from the BTF, you can do so at the following link HERE
You will then need to bring with you a screenshot of your race pass purchase confirmation email (showing that on your phone is fine) along with PhotoID.
I’ll pre-warn you that phone signal on some providers isn’t amazing at the lake, so might be worth taking a screenshot on your phone so you can show a pic of the confirmation rather than trying to get your emails to load
If you don’t get a chance to purchase one before the day, don’t worry, and we can sell you one on behalf the BTF on the day for the same cost of £8. It will need to be cash though please, as we don’t have facility to take card payments (please see previous note on phone signal)
If you’re not sure on any of the above, and I’d totally understand as it’s unnecessarily complicated, please just ask by email or phone
Last week, you had a window to request Waves and/or Numbers, and we had around 800 requests from the 1,000 competitors. I genuinely believe that I managed to accommodate 99.9% of them.
You can find the start list with Waves / Numbers / BTF status HERE
Anyone that had seen this already this week, and emailed me with updates etc, please don’t worry that they’re not yet showing as the start list will not be updated until close to race day.
Although I’m afraid we now can’t do anything with the numbers as they are now fixed and have gone off to print, if you now decide that you want a different wave, please see the team at registration on Saturday, and they will accommodate you where possible
Swimming on the Saturday
I’m sure many of you will want to have a swim on the Saturday during registration, and this is totally fine
As we don’t rent the actual body of water until the Sunday, the lake owners themselves have their own Pay-As-You-Go swimming that you can book 7 days out (next Sunday)
The link to do so is HERE
Please note though, that the lake’s own swim bookings on Saturday the 6th will require you to wear a tow float when swimming. Obviously, this isn’t our rule during Sunday’s race, but it is mandatory within their rules for their PAYG days. If you don’t have a tow float, the lake guys can rent you one. Our course will not be marked out, as we do that Saturday night along with building transition, but their own 1,500m course is broadly similar to ours without the dogleg we use to make up the distance.
New (and Old) BTF Rules
Our race works in accordance with the BTF competition rules, and it’s well worth familiarising yourself with these in advance of the day so you don’t get stopped from starting, or a penalty/DQ during the race. You can find the full rules HERE
Although I do strongly suggest you have a good read of these, I wanted to summarise the main parts that are either new or very pertinent to our events :
1) Towels in transition
Over the last few years, it’s become quite common for people to mark their transition space with brightly coloured towels. This, (and I go to an awful lot of races, and see this first hand), appears to have gotten a little out of hand over the last few seasons and people are starting to overflow into the space next to them, and having towels so big you’d think they were setting out on the beach for a family of 8.
Subsequently, the BTF have now banned them in an update last month (Which is typically ironic as you’ll all be getting a nice 113 towel in your goody bags at registration)
I’m very conscious that people do like to dry themselves etc, so the rules basically state that you can not have a towel in transition that is not stored within a bag other than a flannel sized (12″x12″) towel that then has to be rolled up and tucked into a shoe. You can, of course, have a towel in transition, but it must be in a bag under your space in the racking, and put back in there when you’ve used it. If you’re not sure, we’ll cover a bit more on this in the Saturday briefings
The BTF are like a kid with a new toy when new rules get rolled out, and they’ll be very sharp on this over this summer, including our races.
2) Water temperature and wetsuits.
The rules say that below 15deg water temp, that Wetsuits are mandatory, and above 24.6deg they are not allowed. The lake is currently around 15 point something, and given how good the forecast is over the next week or so, will be around 18-20 by race weekend. I am very confident that this will put us firmly in the ‘Wetsuit Optional’ range on June 7th
3) Can I wear Swim socks or Gloves.
I’m afraid the answer to that is No unless you have a medical exemption, and this must be presented to the BTF referee on race weekend.
You are welcome to wear a neoprene hat underneath your race issued hat, but the race issued hat must be worn on top and at all times
4) Getting changed in transition
We will put out a couple of changing tents at the Bike exit end of transition. One for Males and one for females. However, if you want to get changed by your bike, you’re more than welcome to do so. The rules say you cannot get naked in transition, which is sensible as we have kids and families etc watching. However, and I’m going to try my best not to dig my self a ‘Pervert image’ hole here in how I describe this, we apply this rule with an amount of common sense. If you are getting changed under your towel and you inadvertently flash something you didn’t intend to, you won’t get penalised. If you do fully Naked lunges next to the racking, or stand naked and do a big back/forth sawing motion undercarriage drying move with a towel (I’ve seen both at our races, and neither were pretty), you will be in trouble with the Ref. Hope that makes sense ?
5) Drafting
Our race is strictly none drafting, therefore if you get caught drafting, you will be penalised or DQ’d
The drafting distance is 12m, and although I’m very conscious that this can be a difficult distance to try and calculate in your head, please just allow enough space as if a car was going to overtake you safely and have enough space to drop in between you and the bike in front. Use this as a rule of thumb, and you won’t be far wrong.
If you are overtaking or being overtaken, you have 25 seconds to get back outside of the drafting distance.
How our Moto Ref’s and Moto Support team will apply this rule is that if you appear to be trying to gain an advantage, you will be penalised. If you are just pulling off a junction and the bike is in front of you because you’ve both slowed down, you’ll be given a grace period to drop back. We have seen in the past, especially with multiples from a single club, that thy try and ride like a TDF peloton, and this will be seen and penalised now. You will not know you have received a draft penalty until after the race when the time penalty is applied to your race time, as they do not have to notify you on course. If you have multiple offences, you will not know until you get the end of the bike section and are not allowed to continue on the run as you have been DQ’d
Please take this warning on board, and do not draft
6) Earphones on the courses are not allowed in any way shape or form within the rules, even bone conduction ear phones. We have to be very strict on this, and he reason for this, is that our run course has a couple of points where you need to cross the bike course, so you will need to have your full attention available please to hear marshal instruction.
Car Parking
We have an event carpark around a 5min walk from transition, registration etc.
This field is owned by a farmer, who knows full well that it’s the only place to park on race weekend, and like most farmers, likes to make a few quid, so absolutely has our arm off over the pricing with us for it
Subsequently, the car parking is £10 per day per car, although he does donate some of the cash to charity ( it was Wilts Air Ambulance last time)
It is only payable in cash, so please ensure you have the correct change. This carpark will hold all competitors and a handful of spectators, and only competitors will be able to buy a Sunday car park pass in advance on the Saturday at registration. In order to avoid congestion and ensure all competitors get parked up ok, Spectators will not be able to access this carpark until 06:00 on the Sunday morning unless, of course, they are in a vehicle with a competitor.
In order to speed up Sunday parking, competitors only can buy Sunday’s car parking pass on Saturday from registration. If you don’t get a pass on Saturday, but are racing on Sunday and want to park, please ensure you have the correct change Sunday AM.
The carpark is a field, and although it’s pretty flat, it is still a field, so if you have the luxury of owning a very low sports car, I’d suggest you think of coming in something else on race weekend.
If you can lift share, even better, as it saves you a few quid, and leaves us more space.
If you have spectators that are planning on coming along earlier than that, I’d suggest they park in Neighbridge Country park car park, which although is a 10min walk away, is only about £3 for the day, and actually where we have our main run course aid station. The what3words location for that carpark is ///angle.sublet.chatters
If you have just spotted that we have race camping on the map above, the details of how to book that, or other accommodation options are all covered in Newsletter #1 HERE
Fancy camping and parking right next to the start/finish area for free ? Please read the next section and bring a marshal Bring someone who can be part of the 113 team
We still need a handful more marshals to completely fill our roster for the race day, so are appealing for your help
All our marshals get paid too, and they can choose from either £20 cash or a £50 113 Voucher, and they have the best free parking and camping spot at the lake around 100m from the race start/finish.
We have two basic shifts we need people for :
Transition/Swim exit team – 04:30 start, finish around 11:45
Bike Team – 05:45 briefing, finish 11:45ish latest depending on location
Run Team – 07:45 briefing, finish 14:30ish
They don’t need any experience at all, and just need to be enthusiastic, over 16 and know their left from their right. We’ll partner them up too, so they’re not on their own for a few hours, and can take them out and back to their location if they don’t have their own transport, and we’ll keep them in hot food, drinks and ice creams
If you have someone coming along with kids, although we can’t pay/employ under 16’s, they can have an event shirt and take advantage of the free ice creams.
It also mean there if you’re coming along with a marshal in the same motorhome or car, you can park/camp for free right near the start line too
Drop me an email at graeme@113events.com What’s coming next
As much as you’re probably tired of my mails by now, there’s still a couple more to come
During the next 10 days, we’ll send out a mail with a link to the compulsory video briefing, and then later during race week, we’ll put out some final bits in prep for the race like results/tracker info etc, and reminders/updates on conditions.
I appreciate this has probably been a lot to take in, so If you get any questions, or there’s anything else we can help with, please just ask
You can reply to this email to reach me, or please feel free to give me a ring any time – 07595 591612
Enjoy the rest of you taper, and we’ll see you all in 15 days time
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events Team graeme@113events.com
07595 591612
