Cotswold Classic V2 – 12th July – Competitor Newsletter #2
Good evening all, I hope everyone’s feeling well and ready for this year’s Cotswold Classic on July 12th ?
We’re just a few weeks away now, so you’ll start to get more and more emails from me in the run up to the event.
I’ll try and keep them as brief as possible, but this one might be a long one, so get yourself comfy
In this newsletter, I’ll cover the following :
What you might have missed
Race information pack
Thinking about what kit to bring
Familiarisation day
Fancy parking and camping right by the start
Capacity update
What’s coming next
What you might have missed
We purposely don’t send a lot of newsletters out too early for the races, as they get forgotten and missed
However, earlier this year, we did send out Newsletter number 1 which has lots of info on the races (newsletter #1 is for both 113/Classic) as well as info on Accommodation in the area, how race weekend works, booking family into local stuff etc.
If you missed this newsletter, you can find it HERE
Race information pack
HERE you will find a link to the race information pack
This pack contains pretty much everything you need to know about the race, but this is your pack, so if you feel there’s anything else you want included that we’ve missed, please just let me know know and I’ll update it
I’ve purposely made it in a format that doesn’t look too Triathlon like, so you can still hopefully sit at your desk at work and read it without getting in trouble. The only peace and quiet I get in my house is on the toilet, so if you’re like me and your best reading is on the throne, just print it off and put it in the bathroom, but please do take the time to read it !!
Thinking about what kit to bring
Now’s probably about the sort of time you’re thinking about what kit to bring with you for race weekend, so I wanted to give you a bit of heads up on how things are in the Cotswolds, and hopefully give you some info that will help all those kit choices.
We operate within the BTF rules for Water temperature and wetsuits. What this means is that it’s very likely to be in the ‘Wetsuit Optional’ range. This will be our 31st Middle Distance race between the 113 and Classic, and we’ve only ever once gone into the Non Wetsuit temp range at the July classic once, and that was last year after a good few weeks of 30+ deg heatwave that we had last summer – The water temp was barely over the max, but when it comes to safety, we follow the rules very closely.
We will provide you with a Swim Hat, so you won’t need one of those, and you’re welcome to double up hats if you like as I’m conscious that lots of people like to do so to keep their heads warmer. You must only wear your own one underneath, and our Bright Orange 113 hat must be on top.
We also have a different coloured ‘Nervous Swimmer’ hat for anyone that’s terrified about the swim, and I’ll cover more on that nearer the time in the later newsletters.
The swim course is a single lap, and lake 32 is pretty shallow and very clear. It’s largely about 6-7 foot deep for 90% of the course, and there’s a couple of shallower parts where you can stand if needs be (it’s about 4 foot deep at those points) and you’re welcome to do so if you need a quick break to get the water out your goggles or just catch your breath before continuing.
We have around 50-60 canoists and water craft safety team members, and you’ll all be very well looked after to ensure you get around safely and enjoy it.
If you’re lucky enough to have the choice between a road bike and a Triathlon/Aero/TT style bike, our course is TT bike friendly, but as the July Classic course is more ‘Gently rolling’, a TT bike really doesn’t offer as much advantage over a road bike as the June course would. In reality, about 80% of our competitors at both races tend to use normal road bikes, some with aero bars and often without.
Any bike is totally fine, and it’s only a few that have there luxury of TT bikes, but I wanted to give you a concept of what the course is like. The Tarmac is good for 98% of the course, but being the UK, there is a few potholes and imperfections.
I ride the courses pretty often, and for comparison on my road bike, I’m around 80kg and run a 28mm Tubeless tyre at around 70psi and find that works well. We do go out and paint any potholes in the days running ups to the race, and they’re all real easy to spot when you’re not drafting (please) and have your eyes open and can all be easily avoided
The run course is around 50% tarmac, 5% grass and the rest is a hard packed lake path. It handles the wet very well, and drains quickly, so unless we get a couple of solid weeks of rain in the days running up to the race, it’s a road shoe course.
The lakeside sections of the course offer a decent amount of shade, but there are some pretty open bits too.
Although we have changing tents in transition if you want to use them, you keep all your stuff with your bike in your spot in transition, and we’ll cover more on what to bring and what not to bring along with some newbie guidance and advice for that in later newsletters
We always suggest to bring more layers and clothing than you need into transition as you’re always far better looking at stuff you don’t need, than looking for it when you don’t have it, and it can also be pretty chilly when you first get out the lake and onto the bike first thing in the morning
Familiarisation day
Our free of charge Course Familiarisation day for the July Classic will be on June 14th
These are really cool days to come along and have a leisurely guided tour of the Bike and Run courses with myself and the team, and they’re a great chance to meet us, other competitors, and us to meet you guys in a relaxed environment where you can ask as many questions as you like and have a good look at what race day is going to look like.
They’re super relaxed and leisurely too, and we tend to average about 12-14mph on the bike and around 12-13min miles on the run, and we’ll have a good few regrouping stops along the way, and point out all the various bits of the courses.
We only do a single lap of both Bike and Run courses (they’re 2 laps and 3 laps respectively on race day) and we ride typically in a couple of groups and run in a single group.
They’ll be a chance to have a swim on the day too, and for everyone signed up to the day, I’ll send a link out for the booking into that nearer the time, as you’ll need to book and pay the lake for that bit directly. The lake guys won’t have our course marked out, but their 1,500m loop is broadly similar to ours, just a bit shorter, obviously.
Our Bike and run bits are totally free though, and we love these days as it’s a great chance for me and the team to meet you all in advance of the race weekend when you all have your race faces on and the best we get from you is a grunt
You will need two book on please as we need to get a handle on numbers, and also have a direct way to communicate with you all in advance of the day – You can book that HERE
If you’ve got friends and family that want to come along too, they’re of course, more than welcome, but will also need to book please
Our bit of the day starts at 10am with the lap of the bike course. This normally takes around 2hours and a bit, and we’ll have a 15-20min break before heading out on the run course around 12:30-13:00ish, which will take around a hour and a bit. We’ll then have an ice cream in the sun at the lake cafe (hopefully I’ve not just jinxed the weather) and there’ll be more chances to ask any other questions you might have.
Nearer the time, I’ll send the swimming booking link out, (as their swim bookings only work on a rolling 7 day booking window) as well as meeting instructions, directions etc.
Fancy parking and camping right by the start
If you were possibly able to bring a marshal with you on the day, did you know you can camp and park about 100m from the start/finish of the race completely free in our marshals parking/camping field ?
We need more marshals for the race as they’re the backbone of what makes the day great, and we have around 200 paid positions on race weekend. About half of those are regulars with us, and the other half are friends and family of you guys, the competitors.
They don’t need any experience at all, as we’ll kit them up and take them through a full briefing, and we’ll also ensure they have a fun day and get really well looked after
Our marshals all get paid too, and although it’s not exactly ‘retirement on a yacht at 30yrs old’ money, they’ll get either £20 cash for their troubles or a £50 113 Events Voucher for you/them to use with us in the future, plus they’ll get to be part of a great team and have the best seats in the house to enjoy the race from.
Plus, you/they can come along to our post race beer/pizza on the afternoon after the race
If you have someone that can be on our team, please get them to drop me an email at graeme@113events.com and we’ll welcome them in with open arms.
Alternatively, you might want to see how our races work before your big day, and we’d of course, welcome you onto our team on June 7th for the Cotswold 113
Capacity Update
The classic is currently at around 700 of 900 entries, so if you still have friends, club mates or family that fancy racing, entry is still open for the last remaining 200, which are open in Solo, Aquabike, Relay or BikeRun
Entry is available at www.113events.com
What’s coming next
Unless anything drastic happens, it’s very unlikely you’ll get newsletter number 3 until Mid June.
That email will have info on the window to choose a specific wave and/or race number (these are only from that point onwards, so please hang onto your requests until then)
We’ll also keep everyone updated on course conditions, more advice on kit and on the day stuff, as well as everything else you’ll need in the run up to the day.
We genuinely are here to help, so if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can call me any time too on 07595 591612, or drop me an email at graeme@113events.com
Hopefully see many of you at the familiarisation day on the 14th June
Thanks for taking the time to read my waffle and Happy Training to you all.
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events Team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612
