The following email went out to all Cotswold Classic 2020 competitors today
Cotswold Classic – Middle Distance Tri 02/08/2020
Good afternoon all
We’re only a few days away from this Sunday’s event, so this will most likely be my last email instalment of info coming out before the weekend.
This is going to be a long one too, so please get yourself a nice strong coffee and a seat as there’s some very important info in here, so I need everyone to read it in full pretty please (please don’t skip straight to the Water temp section either)
In this email, I’ll cover the following:
Online Briefing & Race information pack
Race day protocol
General expectation of you and any spectators out in the public areas
Track and trace / Terms and conditions update
Water temperature update and Wetsuits
Online Briefing & Race info Pack
Hopefully, by now, you have all read and digested the race information pack
If, for any reason, you haven’t, you can find it here and you really need to read it please
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/downloads/
As we are unable to hold the Saturday registration with our normal briefings, we have produced a short video briefing which is compulsory that you watch please as it covers many of the Covid Related changes about the day
Here you can see not only our ‘faces for radio’, but also this is the quietest Dave has possibly ever been for 10 minutes in his entire life, which is pretty nice for my right ear as he didn’t get the name ‘Noisy Dave’ by being a church mouse 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvT4lvhOXXA
Race day protocol
When you arrive for Carparking in the morning, you will be asked for £5 cash to park (The field belongs to a local farmer, and he generally donates some of the takings to Wilts Air Ambulance). We are not able to take card or contactless payment and we cannot give change as we are not allowed to handle cash or return it back to you car, so you will need to have either a £5 note (preferably) or the correct change to hand please to drop into our bag/bucket.
If your car needs to leave the car park during the day and return, just ask the guys there to check you out on the way out, and you can then return any time during the day without having to pay again (This really only applies to relay teams)
When you arrive at the transition area, you will be temperature checked by contactless forehead thermometers before you check in, and the Medical team will have a questionnaire for you on Symptoms that you might be displaying or have displayed in the last 14 days. You will not be allowed to race until you satisfy their requirement
If, as some people legitimately might, you have a medical condition that means that your body temperature reads high normally, you must bring some form of exemption note from a medical professional, or you will not be allowed to race
I’m sure you all appreciate how serious this is, but we simply cannot take any chances and have to take every precaution possible to ensure our race is entirely Covid free
Once you are through the medical check, you can proceed to bike check in. Here you must have your helmet on and fastened, your race bib to hand and bike sticker attached to your bike in any location (it can be anywhere and serves only to ID your bike against your race bib when you collect it from transition after the race).
If you are a 2020 BTF member, please have a copy of your membership card with you in either physical form, a photo on your phone or a photocopy. If you don’t have it with you, or are not a BTF member, you will need some form of photo ID, or a photo of photoID on your phone or photocopy, and £5 cash for a BTF day license.
We will then register your number that you have bought a Day license, and the team will take £5 cash from you in a no touch system of a slotted tin, so we are not able to return change at this time.
If you are not a BTF member, or don’t have your card, you must have £5 cash on you or you will not be allowed to race.
As I will touch on later, we will have several people from the BTF there, and we cannot cut any corners or bend any rules.
You must wear a mask in Transition when you rack your bike, much like you now have to wear one to visit a supermarket or petrol station (you do not have to wear one when racing, obviously)
The transition will all be numbered, and in your numbered location, you will find your timing chip and strap that has to be worn on your left ankle, and your coloured Swim cap that relates to the wave that you are in
You will then start the race in a rolling fashion within your 15 minute wave window. (transition opens at 04:30 and closes at 07:00, and the first wave starts at 06:30)
You can find the start list with everyone’s wave and race number here: https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/cotswold-classic-start-list/
There is not a specific order that you must start within your 15min wave window, and with 10 second intervals between swimmers, we can comfortably get all competitors started within a single wave.
You will see two chutes clearly marked for either 1,900m or 300m Swim, and at this point you may choose which option you would like to take.
Transition times are neutralised up to 10mins for Swim-Bike and 5mins for Bike-Run. How this works is that if you are within the 10/5min limit, your overall times will show a zero for T1/T2 and your race finish will be just Swim/Bike/Run times only combined.
If you’re over the 10/5min limit, your T1/T2 times will only show the difference, ie :
You take 7 mins in T1 = T1 time on results – 0m
You take 13:50mins in T1 = T1 time on results = 3:50mins
This will allow you plenty of time to manoeuvre around other competitors or to stand back and wait for other people to get changed should they be impeding within your transition space. We will have several referees in Transition too, so should anyone intentionally break the 2m rule, that will be the end of your day there and then.
The details on the bike and run courses are all within your race info pack and online briefing video
It goes without saying that you must absolutely keep >2m to other competitors at all times from the point you get out your car at the carpark to the point at which you get back into it to head home at the end of the day.
General expectation of you and any spectators out in the public areas
As you will see from the Briefing video, I am currently sporting some of the biggest eye bags on the planet right now due the stress of getting this event absolutely right. It’s been a somewhat complicated path to get to where we are right now.
We are officially the first Triathlon in the UK to be permitted to run this stage of relaxing of the lockdown.
This means that we will have a significant number of eyes on us, and the sport as a whole, to make sure this can run exceptionally safely and to ensure we do not increase the spread of Covid 19.
We can put in place as many measures as we like, but without the cooperation of you all, it simply cannot be run safely so we are totally relying on all of you to wear your Common Sense hats and to please ensure that you keep >2m apart at all times, and to ensure you constantly wash your hands after you touch anything.
It’s very unfortunate that we have had to ban spectators on site for this day and it was not a decision we made lightly, but there simply wasn’t a viable way that we could reasonably be assured that we could manage track and trace and social distance at all times for anyone outside of you guys, our teams and the support teams for the event.
It’s very likely that many of you will have friends or family that are going to be spectating out on the bike or run courses, and I would like you to ask them a couple of things on our behalf please :
Please keep >2m away from each other no matter if you’re a family unit or not, as public perception is key
Please don’t congregate or spectate in residential areas.
We have built a great relationship with the local residential areas, and they really get behind the races we run
However, a bigger chunk than average of the local residents are of retirement ago, or approaching the age where you could consider them vulnerable.
They are all more than happy for us to bike and run on the roads around the area in a socially distant fashion, but do not want to see groups of people who are obviously associated with the race congregating at the ends of their drive and flouting social distancing regulations, and regardless of the rules, their perception of what they feel is safe or unsafe is massively important to us.
It’s hugely important to our future that we keep all these locals on our side, and on a broader scale, it’s also very important to the future of UK Triathlon this year for other events and organisers that the 2nd of August Cotswold Classic shows the world that triathlon really is the great sport that we all know and love, and that we can operate in these strange times without leaving a nasty taste in anyone’s mouth or an unnecessary increase in spread of Covid19.
On the bike course, the normal BTF drafting rules apply, and you must keep 12m behind the bike in front, and leave 2m clear when you overtake. On the run course, you must remain >2m and I would like to see that closer to 3-4m where possible please, especially in residential areas.
Below is a map which shows which parts of the run course is enclosed within our race site, and Spectators must not under any circumstances attempt to enter this area.
In this map, you will see the Orange area, which is where the Start, Transition, Swim and finish line is located. This area you cannot enter as we will control this whole area for the duration of the race as this is our ‘controlled bubble’. The blue area is the Cotswold Beach and Country park, and houses around 1.5miles of our run course and finishes at the edge of our transition. Although your spectators would have to pay an entry fee to get into their site, they do have a beach and a good cafe to watch from., and when you’re in there, you’re out of our control and under their own rules. You can find more info on those guys at https://www.cotswoldcountryparkandbeach.com
The area marked in Red is the Residential area of Somerford Keynes, and please please please can you ask any people you might have coming along, not to spectate on the run course from there
At the far left side of the Map is Neighbridge Country park, and spectating from there is totally free, and if someone wanted to drive up there to spectate, I think the pay and display car park is £2 or so (or it’s a 10-15min walk from our car park). We have our aid station there also and it’s a cracking little lake and country park to watch the race from.
Click below for a bigger version:
For the bike course, there is an Outdoor centre and Cafe on the Spine road near to the A417 where the cyclists will be travelling in two directions (Twice, so 4 passes per competitor) and they do great coffee, cake and pizza. It’s located next to the Devere Cotswold Hotel
Like I mentioned earlier, and sorry to harp on about this, but casting Triathlon in a positive light on Sunday is massively important, not just to us for the future of our races, but to the sport as a whole as the BTF and UK Government DCMS will be watching closely on how this Runs this weekend, and that could effect their permission for many other events that are hoping to run still this year, or next year if this Covid nightmare sticks about.
Triathlon has a great reputation in the local area, and I can genuinely say that our two races are embraced by the local community, but it only takes one person to object loudly because cyclists are riding in packs, or spectators are congregating without social distancing, and that could be the end of us and our races, so please for us, be on your best behaviour and ask any spectators out in the public area to do exactly the same please.
Tracking on the day. We will have a life tracker up and running here: https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/results/
and we are working on a facebook live link for a finish line camera that will be linked from the same page.
Track and trace / Terms and conditions update
As part of our obligation, we must record everything that happens on the day incase we are requested for info by the UKGov’s Track and Trace system.
Largely, this should not have any comeback on anyone racing as the conditions of ‘Close Contact’ are as below, and not really applicable to you all racing at a good social distance unless you’re either A) recovered from the bike course by one of our team, or B) treated by a member of the medical team
However, what this means is that we have had to update our terms and privacy policy to declare that we can share your info if required.
Our terms that relate around pre race health have also been updated in line with Covid regulations, and you can see the full Covid update here (it’s the section at the bottom) :
https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic/race-tcs/
By attending the race you are agreeing to these new terms and also declaring that you are fit and well, and have not displayed any symptoms of Covid 19 in the 14 days up to 2nd August, have not been in contact with anyone that has, have not been requested to Self isolate as a result of the above, travel guidelines or a previous Track and Trace Contact.
Water temperature update and Wetsuits
Despite the fairly large amount of rain we have had over the last 4 days, the Water temperature was, last night, measuring in at just a smidge under 22deg.
The rules around the wearing of Wetsuits, in line with the BTF regulations, are that below 23deg they are optional, but above 23deg you cannot swim with a wetsuit. This rule also means that buoyancy shorts are not allowed (this is a question that is often asked)
You can see the full list of the rules here : https://www.britishtriathlon.org/britain/documents/events/competition-rules/british-triathlon-competition-rules-2019.pdf
It’s section 4 to save you looking through it all
We will monitor the lake Temperature closely this week, but if the weather forecast is to be believed, it’s very likely that the Swim on Sunday will be ‘Non Wetsuit’
Our facebook and twitter pages will show updates towards the end of the week, and on Saturday we will make a provisional ruling, with the final official ruling being made on Sunday morning 1 hour before the start of the race.
We do have ‘some’ wriggle room on temperatures in that we can offset it with early morning Air temperature. However, if the water is very warm, it’s simply not safe to cook everyone in wetsuits and we could potentially end up with all sorts of heat exhaustion and dehydration related medical problems, so we will make the judgement based on the safety of everyone concerned, not just people’s love of a wetsuit, sorry
This is the forecast for the coming few days
I think it’s safe to assume that should the weather deliver the forecasted 26 & 28deg on Thursday and Friday that the Swim will almost certainly be Non Wetsuit on Sunday, so please bring your correct swim kit accordingly if you are travelling down for the weekend
If you are now one of the Swimmers that feels like you cannot swim 1,900m without a wetsuits, and I’m conscious that there are a few of you, there is still the option on the morning to swim 300m instead, or just start on the bike.
Finishers of either full swim, reduced swim, or no swim at all, all get to cross the finish line as normal, collect your medal and goody bag, and finish as you would normally, so it’ll still be a good day out and we’ll make it as fun as possible.
Alternatively, it might make you happier to know that we have no specific Swim cut off, and have had several people swim the entire course head out of water breaststroke for the whole 1.9k over the last few years and still finish the race. Our water safety crew will allow you as long as it takes as long as you’re making some kind of forward motion and they don’t feel you’re a danger to yourself or others around you
Like mentioned above regarding temperature, we’ll keep our facebook and twitter pages updated towards the end of this week and make a provisional decision on Saturday morning.
Right, that’s it from me for today. I hope you’re well still awake and I’ve not put any of you into a boredom induced deep sleep
If you need anything from me over the next few days, it’s easier to ring me as I’ll be at the lake rather than in the office, and will only pick my emails up in the evening
We’re here to help, so please don’t feel like you’re pestering us
Cheers and see you all Sunday
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
07595 591612
graeme@113events.com