The following email went out to all Cotswold Classic 2018 Competitors today:
Cotswold Classic Middle Distance tri – 5th August 2018
Good afternoon all, I hope this email finds you all out training well and getting ready for August 5th Cotswold Classic
As we’re a couple of months out from the race now, I wanted to drop you all out a quick email with a few bits of info on the race, and to bring you all up to speed with things we have coming up.
Those of you that have read my emails in the past will know I can waffle on for England, so grab yourself a strong cup of coffee and a comfy chair before you get into this one as I’ve got quite a few bits to cover.
In this email, I’ll cover the following
Lake update
Race information pack
Familiarisation day
How the race weekend will run
Marshal request
Local Accommodation
Lake Update
I had a swim in the lake last night, and it’s currently at a pretty perfect 19deg. Although the lake is quite shallow, so changes temperature fairly quickly, I don’t see that we’ve been forecasted 2 months of 30deg summer sun yet, so it shouldn’t change much between now and August. We work in accordance to the BTF rules, so 19 Deg will put us firmly in the Wetsuit Optional range of 14-24deg.
Race information pack
You can download the 2018 Competitor Info pack here – https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/downloads/
Please can I ask that you all take the time to read this, as this contains everything you need to know about the race and more.
This is your info pack, so if you think it needs anything else to go into it, please just ask and we’ll update it with any additions.
I’ve purposely not made it look all corporate with pictures of triathletes in it so you can at least read it at your desk without your boss thinking you’re skiving off 😉
But please do read it !
Familiarisation day
On July the 1st, we’re holding our free of charge Cotswold Classic Course Familiarisation day for you all to come along and see what you’ll be racing on on August 5th
The day is a great chance for you guys to see a guided lap of our courses, where the start and finish are and to meet up with other competitors and our team.
We love these days, as it’s a great chance for me and the 113 team to meet competitors in a much more relaxed environment than race weekend is.
We will provide the guys to show you around the Bike and run course completely free, but if you wanted to Swim a lap of the course, or just have a general swim around the lakes marked out 400/750/1500m courses, then the lake guys will ask you for a £5 day membership.
The emphasis on these days is leisurely, and this is more of a chance to see the course than get a hard day’s training in.
For the June race Familiarisation day we did a few weeks back, we averaged around 15mph on the bike and ran the lap at around 10min miles with plenty go regrouping stops.
If you want a guided Swim, our friendly local open water coach – Jason tait – Will take the group for a lap of the swim course with toes in the water for 8am, and will be on hand before and afterwards to answer any questions you might have on open water swimming.
We will meet up at the lakeside cafe to head out on the bike at 10am, and then we’ll have a 15-20minute break between the bike and run to get changed etc, and head out on the run at around 12:30-45ish.
This is a great chance for you all to meet other competitors and our team, and to ask any questions you might have in the run up to the day
In order to get a gauge of numbers, we ask you to book on, and this also allows us to email you all separately nearer the time with final instructions etc.
You can book on at www.entrycentral.com/113events and look for “Fam Day Classic”
You are, of course, welcome to bring along non competitors or your supporters so they can see the course you’ll be racing on too
Myself and the team hope to see lots of you there
If you can’t make the July 1st date, but still want to see the course and can get down here midweek one morning, then I live close by the lake and welcome the chance to skive away from my desk for my day job for a few hours one morning to have a ride and run around, so just ask. I’m generally tied up weekends on my kids stuff etc, but I’m around working from home 2-3 days a week midweek – You’lll need to put up with my somewhat slow pace now days though as my triathlon racing days are long gone
Here’s a pic from the Cotswold113 Familiarisation day earlier this year during a regrouping stop on the bike.
How the race weekend will run
To Summarise what is shown in the race info pack, our race weekend works roughly as follows : Saturday:
Registration 12:00-17:00
Briefings* 13:00 and 15:30
* The Saturday briefings are not compulsory, but is a good chance to hear how the race works from start to finish in details. They take around an hour, and there’s loads of chances to ask questions too and we’ll try to make them quite light hearted so you don’t all get bored or bombarded with too much info at once.
Sunday
Car Park opens 04:30
Transition opens 04:30*
Wave 1 start 06:30 (Followed by a further 7 waves at ten minute intervals)
* We do all our racking on the Sunday morning, as the transition cannot be built until Saturday night
In around 3-4 weeks, once the race entries are fixed and Frozen and I have the start list in an excel format, I will send an email out to you all asking if you want to choose a specific wave and/or race number. Please don’t try and request this before this email comes out later this month, as it’s based on first come first served, and is not fair on everyone if I grant peoples requests now.
You might also want to have a group of numbers so that you and your club or mates can be racked together in transition and go off in the same wave, so it’s worth starting to think about now and checking with your club which wave you might want.
Realistically, this window to request waves/numbers will start with my email around the 28th or 29th June and you’ll have a week to respond, but please check your emails around this date
Marshal request
We have around 150 paid general marshal positions at our races, and we could always do with more people to help out and join our team.
If you have friends, family, enemies, club mates or a fan club that fancy getting involved and being part of our team on the day, please get in touch.
They don’t need any experience at all, and all we ask is that they know their left from right, and enthusiastic and are over 16. We have a load of jobs from Swim exit, bike course, run course, right through to Saturday help and Sunday tear down.
We’ll take them through a full briefing and provide them with everything they need and pair them up with someone, plus an event team shirt and free hot food, drinks and ice creams all day
They get paid too, and choose from either £20 cash or a £40 113 events voucher to use in 2019
We rely on marshals to make our races great, so please help us if you have anyone that could get involved
Please get in touch at graeme@113events.com
Local Accommodation
For those of you that have not yet booked your accommodation, and fancy a lakeside house for the weekend to make a Cotswold Break of it, there is the rather nice Lower Mills estate based around 750m from the start of the race, and on the side of the run course. They’ve come up with a promotion for our competitors and their families, which you can read about here:
Where to stay when you visit
Habitat Escapes https://www.habitatescapes.com
Located only a short distance from the start of the race, Lower Mill Estate, a stunning space that celebrates unspoilt nature, offers superbly appointed self-catering accommodation with access to its exclusive award winning spa.
Book a stay using the voucher code 113AUG and receive a complimentary Luxury hamper full of locally sourced goodies.
Right, that’s it from me now. Hopefully, you’re all still awake and non of you have ended up snoring into your computer after my long email 🙂
We’re here to help, so if any of you get any questions, or there’s anything well do to help in the run up to the race, please just ask
We look forward to seeing many of you on the July 1st Familiarisation day
Cheers and happy training
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
07595 591612
graeme@113events.com