The following newsletter went out to all Cotswold Classic 2021 Competitors today
Cotswold Classic – July 11th 2021
May Competitor newsletter
Good morning all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re just over 6 weeks out from this year’s Cotswold Classic, so I wanted to get you all out some info on the day as you’re starting the final stages of your race planning
In this email, I’ll cover the following
– Covid Rules and related changes
– Last minute changes
– Race info Pack
– Marshal request
– Camping update
– Course type and equipment choices
Covid Rules and related changes
In an ideal world, we’d have known exactly what to expect from June 21st, which is the next stage of Boris’s relaxing of Covid Rules. However, as you will have all seen all over the news, nothing is certain now as to whether we’ll either make the June 21st stage, or what that stage will actually be
This isn’t the end of the world for Triathlon though, as Tri’s have been able to run since the first stages in March this year, so unless we suddenly go back into a complete lockdown again, the race on July 11th will carry on as planned and you’ll all still get your swim/bike/run fix
However, there’s a few things we need to fix some weeks out from the race that we need to decide on how to proceed with now.
Mainly, in terms of how this will effect all of you, is whether we could hold mass registration and briefings on the Saturday before racing on the Sunday
Being realistic, we don’t know if this is going to be allowed or not, so we’ve made the decision to scrap off the Saturday registration and briefing’s entirely, and as we’ve done for the June 6th Cotswold 113 race, we’ll post out the packs and send you all a link to the video briefing for the race in the days running up to July 11th.
If you’re making plans for the weekend now based around needing to be there July 10th – This means there’ll be no need for any of you to have to come to site on Saturday and we’ll do all the registration/racking Sunday morning before starting the race
I’ll cover how this will work in more detail closer to the race, but in summary :
1) Your race pack will be sent to your registered address in advance of the race. Inside that pack will be your race bib (x2 for relays) and your bike sticker.
2) You will tun up on Sunday morning with your bib to hand, your bike sticker on your bike and either a 2021 BTF membership photo card or, if you’re not a BTF member, another form of photo ID, and your swim hat and timing chip/strap will be waiting for you in your spot in transition
The other part of the roll out plan was looking like we were going to be able to do mass starts. This is also potentially not going to be possible*, so the July 11th race will work in a rolling start fashion (more on this later in the email)
*We are not planning on neutralising transition times as we did in 2020, and the race will still be listed as ‘Competitive’ I.e, you’ll have age group places and everything will still be timed as per normal racing.
The race will start in 6 waves, and each wave will have a ten minute window in which you can start (There’s no specific order within each wave)
Wave 1 – 06:00-06:10
Wave 2 – 06:10-06:20
Wave 3 – 06:20-06:30
Wave 2 – 06:30-06:40
Wave 1 – 06:40-06:50
Wave 2 – 06:50-07:00
Please do not try and request a specific wave yet, you will get a chance to do this in a few weeks
In a couple of weeks, you will get an email from me asking you if you would to choose a specific wave.
By default, the waves will be set by race number, and the numbers will be fixed alphabetically
Normally, we like that we can offer you to choose a specific race number or a group of numbers so you can be racked in transition with your mates / club etc. However, as part of many concessions that we’re having to make to get the race running, we want to try and remove the possibility of people hanging around in groups in Transition area that are outside of their social bubble. Typically, if we put all the clubs together, this happens quite a lot and as some of the clubs have 50+ entries, I hope that you can understand that we need to try and avoid this.
The reason we do it alphabetically is that I feel this is the fairest way, and that it means that for lots of the family groups that come along, and have travelled together, they’ll be in the same waveband starting about the same time.
I’m sorry that this means we can’t offer the normal ability to choose a specific lucky number or group of numbers to be raced with your mates, but hope that you understand the reason behind us doing it this way for this year in these strange times.
You’ll still all get a chance to choose a specific wave if you want to be racing at the same time as your mates, but there’s a chance that unless you’re next to them alphabetically, you won’t be their neighbour in transition (our transition isn’t massive, so it’s not like you’ll be miles away from them)
Last minute changes
Next Thursday (June 3rd) we have to fix and freeze the race start list for the Cotswold Classic with insurers, governing bodies etc etc. This means, that from next Thursday onwards, we cannot make any changes to the race.
Between now and then, if you’ve moved house since you signed up, or changed club, or any other changes you want to make, please just drop me an email and we’ll get it sorted.
If you’re a registered Entrycentral.com user, you can update your own details on line too
Race info pack
Below is a link to download your race info pack for July 11th
There’s a few bits in there that assume there’s going to be no change happening with Boris’s roll out on June 24th, so these rules will be relaxed a little before the race on July 11th if the roll out is favourable (Fingers crossed)
Triathlon is quite a unique sport in that it doesn’t really get ‘spectators’ in the normal sense (ie Joe Bloggs that pays £10 to go and watch the football), and 99% of the people that come along and watch our events are either friends or family of competitors which we class as a ‘support crew’ and that they’re welcome on site to cheer you on.
The race info pack is your pack, and tells you everything you need to know about the race weekend, so please take the time to read it.
If there’s anything you can’t see in there, please just ask
Info pack here: https://www.113events.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CC2021-–-Race-Information-Sheet.pdf
I’m going to keep reminding you to read this, so please take the time to go through it as it contains important info about the race and the what’s and where’s on race day.
Marshal request
We could definitely use a few more marshals on the day pretty please if you have anyone coming with you that would like to be involved. Our marshals are some of the best in the sport, and we always get great feedback on how good they are at our races. We have around 190 paid positions on the day, and we still need to fill around 30 more.
Marshalling is fun too and we look after the marshals as well as we do the competitors, and we’ll partner them up if they’re brand new so they’re not stuck out on the course on their own.
All marshals get a full briefing, and kitted up with everything they need and we’ll keep them in free hot food, drinks and ice creams all day
They get paid either £20 cash or a £40 113 Events voucher, and all we ask is that they’re over 16, know their left from their right, and are enthusiastic
The two shifts are :
Bike course – 05:15 Briefing, finish around 11:45ish
Run Course – 07:15 Briefing, finish around 14:30ish
If you have anyone that would like to join the Red army on the day, we’d love them on board, so please email me at graeme@113events.com
Camping update
Unfortunately, as some of you will have seen, the campsite that operates next to the lake we race at is closed for all of 2021. I’m afraid there isn’t another campsite within walking distance and we’ve not been able to get permission to use any fields close by for this purpose either 🙁
There are a number of campsites within a few miles of the race, and the location for the start/finish for your searching is GL76DF
Alternatively, there’s a good few AirBnB’s and hotels not too far away.
By far the closest is the Devere Cotswold Water park hotel, which is around 3miles from the lake, and is on the bike course. We frequently get competitors stay there, and they’re good with letting you keep your bike somewhere safe and putting on an early breakfast on race day
https://www.devere.co.uk/cotswold-water-park-hotel/
Course type and equipment choices
I know a lot of you will now want to start thinking about what equipment to bring on the day, so for those of you that haven’t raced with us before, I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads up on what the courses are like
The swim is Wet, as you might expect 🙂 and we’ll keep you all updated on water temperatures nearer the time.
The bike course is very flat and is a fast course. If you do have the luxury of choosing between a TT bike or a road bike, this is a TT bike course all day long. It’s reasonably well sheltered from the wind, so deeper section or disc rear are perfectly fine for anyone but the lightest of rider on a really windy day. The road surface is good for around 98% of the course (it’s the uk so there’s some sections which aren’t amazing, but no pot holes you can’t avoid – We’ll also spray paint the worst ones on the day). If was racing, I’d run a 26 or 28mm tubeless tyre at around 70psi and I’m 80kg if that reference for the tyre tech guru’s amongst you helps
The run course is made up of around 50% tarmac, 45% hard packed lake paths and 5% grass. The hard packed lake paths deal with water really well, and unless we get a week of solid rain in the run up to the race, are well suited to a road shoe rather than an off road shoe. Even if it is really wet, it only starts to get remotely chewed up later in the race. The run course, like the bike, is basically pan cake flat
The water is pretty chilly currently at around 15deg due to the rubbish weather we’ve had recently. but by virtue of how shallow it is (Around 6-7 foot deep for most of the lake) it changes temperature in the better weather very quickly as a result of it’s high surface area to volume ration. A couple of weeks of ok-ish weather, and that temp can pick up 3-4deg easily. I’m expecting that by July 11th, the water temp will be in the range of 18-21, which puts us firmly in the Wetsuit Optional range
I’ll, of course, keep everyone posted nearer the time with updates on course conditions, lake temps etc
Right, that’s it for me for today
We’re here to help, so if you get any questions, or there’s anything at all we can help with, please just ask as it’s what I’m here for
See you all in a few weeks, and your next email from me will be in a couple of weeks time
Thanks and happy training
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
Graeme@113events.com
07595 591612