The following newsletter went out to all competitors today
1 week to go….
Hey all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re 1 week out from race day now, so in this latest instalment of the newsletter, I’m going to cover a few more points in the run up to the race to get you all ready for next weekend in the Cotswolds.
Hopefully by now you’ve all read the race info pack HERE
I’ll keep this newsletter reasonably brief, and today, I’ll cover the following :
Weekend Plans and Registration requirements
Registration is next Saturday between 12:00 and 17:00 at the lake.
In order to register, you will need the following :
Photo ID or a 2023 BTF Membership card with a photo (A pic of either on your phone is fine)
If you’re not a BTF member, you will need £5 cash to buy a BTF day license (signal at the lake is patchy, so we can’t take card I’m afraid).
You can register for someone else, or a group of people, and for each person you will need a photocopy or print off of their photo ID or BTF photo card with a note on it from them to say it’s fine for you to register for them. If they’re not a BTF member, you’ll need the cash to buy a day license for them too please
We have to retain the print off with the note, as our BTF referee then holds on to these and checks in transition on Sunday AM that the person registered for is actually the person racing.
We’ll then shred these after the race to ensure confidentiality of your data or ID.
If you’re in a relay team, you can register for the whole team without them all being there, and the same rules above apply please
Parking is around 200m from the lake, and is owned by a local farmer, who charges £5 per car to park each day (he does often donate a good chunk of parking fees to a charity)
It’ll save you a load of time on Sunday morning, if you can buy your Sunday parking pass on the Saturday from either the car park team or at registration
On Saturday afternoon, we will hold a couple of briefings by the swim exit, and these will be at 13:00 and 16:00
These aren’t a compulsory briefing, as a link to a video for this will come out to you later this coming week, but is a more informal talk through the race from start to finish and will take about 45mins. It’s outdoors, so if it’s looking to be wet, bring an umbrella.
I’m no stand up comedian, but I will try and make it quite entertaining, and we’ll talk through in detail everything you need to know from when you first arrive in the morning on Sunday to when you cross the line at the end of the race as well as a few examples of what to do, or in some cases, what not to do.
We don’t build transition until overnight Saturday, so we’ll do all our racking on Sunday am – The timings for which, I’ll cover in the next section.
When you arrive on Saturday afternoon, you’ll be able to walk through the Beach and Country park to get to registration so you can avoid having to walk down the road. For this purpose, you’ll be given a yellow wrist band in the car park.
It’s super important please, that you just walk through the Beach and Country park, and that you and your friends don’t try and use any of the facilities there as they’re super tightly controlled on numbers in there, and if our guys and girls decide they’re going to go into their area, they’ll soon go over their maximum number and run the risk of getting shut down.
We have a good relationship with them, which is why they allow us to walk through, and take our run course through there on Sunday, but we do not want to risk ruining that relationship by spectators sitting on their beach of using any of their facilities please
If you have spectators that are turning up later on Sunday (or even Sat afternoon), they can book in advance to go in there and can literally park up against transition as well as using their beach, or inflatable water park etc
Their website to book is https://www.cotswoldcountryparkandbeach.com
Swim starts & Waves
If you haven’t already seen it on our website, the start list with waves and numbers can be found HERE
I had around 500 requests for waves and numbers, and I’m confident that we have managed to satisfy 99.99% of requests
The start list is now fixed, and we now cannot change numbers as they’re printed a ready to be made up into your registration packs
Car Parking opens at around 04:15 and transition opens at 04:30 on race morning for you to arrive and rack your bike.
Transition will close for all check in’s at 06:30, and we will aim to have transition completely clear of all competitors other than relay members at 06:40 before the first swimmers come in from the lake
The Mass start wave will be at 06:25, and at 06:20 you will be able to get into the water for a warm up before being called back towards the start area ready for the buzzer at 06:25
For the remaining rolling start waves, you will each have a ten minute window in which to start :
Wave 1 06:30-06:40
Wave 2 06:40-06:50
Wave 3 06:50-07:00
Wave 4 07:00-07:10
Wave 5 07:10-07:20
Wave 6 07:20-07:30
Each wave will line up within their window and swimmers will be started at around 2-3 second intervals. There’s no particular order for swimmers within each wave, and as long as you start within your ten minute window, you can start in any order you like. If you have a small group who want to start together, just let the swim starter know and they’ll allow your group to start together over the timing mat.
The timing mat is located at the end of the chute as you get into the water, and your race time will commence the point you cross the mat.
In the wave start chute, there is an area next to the lake about 30m before you start where you can plunge yourself into the water up to your waist to get yourself used to the water temperature before getting in from the end of the chute and starting.
It’s important that you only use this area for dunking please, as if you try and swim there, you’ll swim into the course and other competitors who are racing.
For reference, the water temperature was around 21 deg when I was at the lake today and won’t change much from this between now and next Sunday, so we’ll be firmly within the Wetsuit optional range.
As the walk from transition to the swim start is about 100m and is over grass and gravel, you’re welcome to bring along an old set of trainers, flip flops or slippers and leave them by the water’s edge to collect after the race (the swim start is right next to the race finish)
Marshals
We could still use a few more marshals as we have around 125 of our 130 paid positions filled now
If you have anyone coming along with you that would be able to get involved, we’d absolutely welcome them to our team with open arms and ensure they have a fun day
Drop me an email at graeme@113events.com
Right, that’s it from me for today’s newsletter
The next you’ll hear from me will be towards the middle of this week with some more info on the race, an update on conditions and a link to the race briefing video
I’ll be down at the lake all week getting the last few bits ready and will have limited access to my emails until the evening, so if you get any urgent questions, please just give me a call – 07595 591612
Happy tapering and see you all in 6 days time
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612