Cotswold Classic – July 11th 2021

Good morning all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re just a week and a half out from the race, so hopefully you’re all feeling ready for some racing here in the Cotswolds
Hopefully, by now, you’ve all read the race info pack HERE

In this pre race newsletter, I’ll cover the following:

– Start list and Waves
– Race pack updates
– Covid Rules
– Race morning procedure & BTF members/None members
– What to bring on the day
– What’s next 

Start lists and Waves
A few weeks ago, there was a window to select a specific wave. Around 600 of you took up that option, and we managed to get 99.9% of you into your selected waves.
You can find the start list with your race bibs and wave numbers here :
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/cotswold-classic-start-list/
This is now fixed and can’t be changed
There’s no specific order within your wave, so you can just queue up and head off within your ten minute window as you see fit.
We will still have the shorter swim option available as well as starting on the bike if you don’t want to swim at all too. No need to tell us in advance, and for those that want the shorter swim option, there’ll be a chute marked at the swim start area, and there’s no specific waves for the shorter swim so you can start any time between 06:15 and 07:00. If you want to start straight on the bike and miss the swim completely, just let the transition guys know in the morning, and you can start on the bike any time after 06:30 once the first swimmers are in and the bike course is open and ready for you.
We have timing mats at the start of each option, so we can register your time against either 1,900m swim, 350m swim or no Swim, and show this in the results accordingly

Race pack updates
The race pack that you will receive in the post contains your bib (race number) and a bike sticker with your race number on it (these have a habit of getting lodged in the bottom of the envelope, so have a look in the bottom before you throw the envelope away).
These have been with the printers for a while now, and get posted out in Batches. Some of you will have possibly already had yours, but if you haven’t, don’t worry as they’ll be coming out right up to early next week.
If, for any reason, your pack hasn’t arrived by Next Wednesday the 7th of July, or you’ve moved house and forgot to tell us before a few weeks ago, please contact Mary at DBmax, who are the guys running the bibs and timing for us. Mary’s email address is mary@dbmax.co.uk
She’ll be able to arrange either a replacement pack to be sent out, or will be able to make one up from a blank on race morning.

Covid Rules
Although we appear to be pretty much on the home straight in Boris’s roadmap out of restrictions, it’s worth reminding you all please that we are still under very strict rules on what we can and can’t do and how people still feel about Covid themselves.
Within our competitors we have a real variety of attitudes towards Covid from those of you that are happy get back to normal and lick each others faces etc again on a daily basis, right through to some others that are still very cautious and are not comfortable with being close to strangers.
Please can I ask you all to remember this and to treat everybody you don’t know on race day as if they’re the cautious end of the scale.
In terms of our Covid specific rules for race day, I’ll try and summarise these as follows :
Please can we ask that you all complete a lateral flow test on Saturday the 10th July and only attend if you return a negative result – Free lateral Flow tests are available from the government, and come in the post within a couple of days – https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
You don’t need to show us that you’ve done it, and we trust that you will all take the sensible approach on this and complete the tests.
All competitors will be temperature and symptom checked by our medical team on arrival
It goes without saying, but regardless of your lateral flow test, if you are displaying any symptoms of Covid before the race, or are being required to quarantine, please do no attend under any circumstances
You will need to wear a facemask in transition in the morning when racking you’re bikes. This will allow you to get within the 2m bubble of other competitors at a point in the day where all competitors will be in the area at roughly the same time. You can dispose of your mask on exiting the transition, and won’t need to wear one again during the day assuming you don’t need either medical attention of recovering from the bike course (We’ll then provide you masks for this purpose)
Please give others 2m of space once you’ve left transition and when queuing for the Swim start, and when out on the run / finish area – The bike course is non drafting, so this alleviates this problem as long as you all follow the rules.
When you are transition between Swim and bike and bike and run, please give others 2m distance around them where possible.
The race will have timed transitions, so is marked as ‘competitive’. However, if people start to clamber all over each other in transition and do not allow distance, we will stop the race and neutralise transition times for all competitors right from the first person to the last so making the race non competitive as no transition times will be published. We don’t want to have to do this, but we really need you all to give each other as much space on the day as possible please and respect that we are still in a Covid situation.
We will have hand gel around toilets, transition and aid stations, so please use it.
Oddly, I also have to tell you that Portaloos are for one person at a time please

Race morning procedure & BTF members/None members
On race morning, the car park will be open from 03:45 and transition check in/registration from 04:00
The carpark is a field and is owned by a local farmer. As with all farmers, nothing is ever free, so you’ll need to pay £5 to park your car. Part of the field is currently being re-seaded, so it’s smaller than normal, so it would be a great help to us if you can lift share where possible to reduce the amount of cars we have parked in there please.
We are only able to take payment in Cash, and with Covid rules, cannot give change, so please have £5 in the correct change to hand when you arrive please. It’s one entrance in, so please expect a queue in the morning and have your payment to hand on arrival to help speed things up.
When you leave the carpark, the walk to transition takes about 5-10mins, and there you will get checked in to the race
At transition, you will need your race bib (number) and your bike sticker on your bike. It doesn’t matter where on your bike you put it as it’s only used to check your bike against your bib after the race when you pick it up after the race
If you are not a BTF member, you will need photo ID and £5 cash to buy a BTF day license – A photocopy of Photo ID is fine, as is a picture on your phone
If you are a current BTF member, you will need a copy of your 2021 BTF photo card, or if you have an online one that doesn’t have a picture uploaded, you will need another form of Photo ID to go along with it.
If you are planning on using your online photo ID, it’s worth noting that the signal at the lake isn’t always the best, so it’s worth taking a screenshot of it before hand and you can show this on your phone or print off a copy instead.
Sorry to be hard on this, but if you do not have a form of valid 2021 BTF photo card or another form of Photo ID and £5 cash for a day license, you will not be allowed to race, no exceptions.
In transition, you will find your spot numbered, and in that spot will be your Swim hat and timing chip/strap.
Once you’ve got checked in, racked your bike, fitted your timing chip to your left ankle and picked up your swim hat, please leave transition as quickly as possible and head around to the swim start, which is about 150m walk.
The walk is a mix of grass and gravel, so if you don’t fancy walking bare footed, please feel free to bring some old shoes, flip flops, hotel slippers etc. You can leave these by the water entrance, and collect them after the race. If you don’t want them back, just leave them there and we’ll bin them at the end of the day.
By the start there are a block of portaloos and somewhere to get coffee etc.
Transition check in will shut for all competitors at 06:00 and everyone* will need to be out of transition for 06:10
*relay members can obviously remain as they have their own area in transition.
After that, you just queue up in your wave and get ready to start the race

What to bring on the day
Obviously, you will need kit to Swim, bike and run as well as your ID/BTF license cash
It’s worth noting that in line with the BTF rules, you are not allowed plastic boxes in transition and can only bring reasonable sized soft bags for your kit (Think Airline hand luggage size)
Our transition is on grass, so I always recommend to people to bring a plastic bag to either lay their stuff on top of, or in, if it’s looking like it’s going to be raining. You have space under your bike in the racking for all your stuff , and the only people that allowed in transition are competitors, so it’s reasonable secure and people tend to leave their car keys etc in their bags there.
The long range forecast isn’t looking too bad for race weekend, but it’s always worth brining kit for colder or wetter weather just in case, and not needing it rather than needing it and not having it. You can decide what to wear once you get out the water and are welcome to leave unused kit in your spot next to your bike.

What’s next 
As long as everything goes to plan this week, and nothing changes, you’ll only be getting one more pre race email from me early next week.
That email will have a link to your video briefing as well as some info on rules for the race and how we expect people to behave on the day (I’m sure you’ll all behave impeccably, so it’ll just be a reminder)
As mentioned above, if you have any issues with your race pack, please email Mary at DBMax and they’ll get that sorted

Right, that’s it from me for today, so sorry it was a long one
We’re here to help, so if you get any questions or need anything from us, please just ask

Cheers and happy tapering

Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612