The following newsletter went out to all Cotswold Classic 2016 Competitors on 6th May
Cotswold Classic newsletter
Good afternoon all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re approaching race season now, and we’re only around 3 months until this year’s Cotswold Classic Middle Distance triathlon, so I wanted to drop you all out a quick mail to run through a few things and bring you all up to speed on some race details
For those of you that have raced with us before, you’ll know that I can go on a bit in my emails, and with this being Friday afternoon and everyone’s shattered or rushing out to enjoy the sun, I’d suggest you either read this tomorrow when you’re more awake, or grab a chair and a cup of strong coffee 🙂
In this email, I’ll go through the following ;
- Familiarisation day
- Lake temps and Swimming
- Marshals
- Draft weekend Schedule
- Event Sponsorship
- Other bits and bobs
Familiarisation day
On July 24th, we’ll be holding a free of charge course familiarisation day for competitors and their friends to come down to the lake and have a gentle paced guided single lap of the bike and run courses (they’re 2 laps and 3 laps respectively on race day)
These days are always good fun, and the emphasis is on easy paced familiarisation rather than any fast paced race training.
It’s not only a good chance for competitors to see what they’re up against in August, but also a great chance to meet other competitors and to meet the 113 Events team. For us, it’s nice to get to know competitors before the event as race weekend is pretty nuts for us, and you guys and girls will all have your race faces on, so the Familiarisation day is a great chance for us all to get to know each other in a much more relaxed environment
The pace is aimed at everyone, so no-one will get left behind (think Av 14-15mph on the bike and 9-10min miles on the run with plenty of regrouping stops and to point out aid station locations etc)
The bike and the run course are totally free of charge, but if you want to swim before hand, the lake will charge you a £5 day guest membership on the gate.
We will group up and head off on the bike at 10am, and this normally takes around 2hours, where we’ll come back into the lake car park and have a 20min break to dump our bikes off and ask any questions you might have, before heading out on the run. We’ll have a handful of our guys that will lead groups on the bike, and then we’ll run in one single group.
If you wanted to Swim, you can do so any time before 10am. It won’t be marked out with our course, but they do have their own 400/750m loops out on the course, so you can get a taste for the lake (not literally I hope)
If you’re interesting in coming along, you can book yourself in at www.entrycentral.com/113events
It sounds far more formal than it actually is having to book in, but we just use it as a guide for numbers and it means we can communicate final info with people who are turning up nearer the time
Of course, friends and family are welcome to attend the day and participate as they wish
If you want to see the course, but can’t make the familiarisation day, then don’t panic; I live close to the lake, and work from home on my day job, so welcome the chance to skive off for a morning and head to the lake. You’ll have to put up with my very slow pace, but I’ll happily show people around if they need
Lake temps and Swimming
This week’s good weather has seen lake temps climb from a pretty chilly 11deg on Wednesday to a warming up 14+ today. I fully expect the lake temperature to be around 18-22deg by race day, which will put us firmly in the BTF guideline’ ‘Wetsuits Optional’ range
Since 1st of May, Lake 32 is now fully open for pay as you go swimmers, so if you want somewhere to head to get some open water training, you can find all the details at http://www.ukwatersports.co.uk/triathlon_training.htm
They open any morning before 10am, and a couple of midweek evenings
Marshals
As anyone who has ever organised a race will tell you, getting marshals is one of the hardest parts of the whole event.
Our events have built up a great reputation for having the most numerous and enthusiastic marshals in the industry, and we pride ourselves on having more marshals per competitor than any other Triathlon in the UK.
Our team is large, but we always need more people to come along and help in the variety of roles we have available right through from helping to build on Saturday to helping people across the line on Sunday
We pay all our marshals too, and this year’s package is ;
- £20 cash or a £40 113 Events Voucher to use on next year’s races
- An team technical tshirt
- Free burgers, Ice creams and hot drinks (and these are brought out to your position too during the race)
- Best seat in the house
Marshals don’t need any experience at all, and we provide everything you could possible need and a full briefing
All we ask for in terms of credentials, is to be able to tell your left from your right and be able to clap and have a good time
If you wanted to marshal as a family, we have team shirts down to a 6 year olds size, and although we can’t pay under 16’s, they can still take full advantage of free ice creams and burgers – We would, of course, make sure younger marshals are no where near roads too
If you have anyone you can pressgang into this, then please contact me at graeme@113events.com
Draft Weekend Schedule
To give you a heads up, and allow you to start planning your weekend, our draft race weekend schedule is as follows ;
Saturday 20/8
12:00-17:00 Registration
Sunday 21/8
04:15 Carpark opens
04:30 Transition opens
06:20/30/40/50 & 07:00 Race Brieifngs for waves 1-5 (10 mins before race start @ water entrance)
06:30/40/50 & 07:00/10 Race starts in 5 waves going off at 10 minute intervals
15:00 prize Giving
If you can’t make registration on the Saturday, then don’t worry as we still have alternatives;
1) You can get someone else to register for you
2) If you’re passing Swindon on the M4 in the week before the race, we live 5 mins from J16 and will have the packs ready by around Wednesday and the kettle’s always on at mine and Nicci’s house
If you’re looking for accommodation, then the closest and by far the best hotel locally is the Four Pillars, which is around 2.5miles from the race start, and actually on the bike course – http://www.cotswoldwaterparkhotel.co.uk
If you like camping, we have a campsite next door (200m from race start/finish), which is largely taken over entirely by triathletes for race weekends – http://www.go-by-cycle.co.uk/camping.htm
Event Sponsorship
We are on the look out for companies that would like to get involved with sponsoring our events. We have promotional space available on Swim Hats, race shirts, Goodie bags, Finish line boardings and website
If you feel your business would like to be involved in what we do, or know any business that could be interested, please get in touch at graeme@113events.com
Other Bits and Bobs
The Cotswold Classic is now up to around 600 competitors, but we still have slots open for both Individual and Relay teams. We also still have slots available for our July 17th Cotswold226 Long Distance Tri and the 226 weekend events, which are a timed 1.9/38km swim on the Saturday, and then a 90/180km Tri Rules Sportive with Brick on the Sunday.
We have a brand new website up and running for all our events, which you can find at www.113events.com
That’s it for today, but we’re here to help, so if you get any questions at all, or even just want to talk triathlon, then I’m always at the end of my phone or email
I don’t want to bore you to death by continually emailing stuff out to you, but I’ll keep you all up to date when info becomes available. So please ask if you think we’re missing something you need
Hopefully, you’re still awake at the end of my essay 🙂
Thanks and happy training
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
07595 591612
graeme@113events.com
@cotswold113
facebook.com/113events