Cotswold Classic – Competitor newsletter #3

Good afternoon all, I hope everyone’s well and enjoying the summer that has recently appeared (and then disappeared for the last two days) ?
We’re a little over 6 weeks out from the race now, so I’ll start to get more regular updates coming out to you all with info on the race, and stuff that’s relevant to the point in time we’re at in the run up to the event weekend
For those of you that have signed up in the last few weeks, you can find newsletter number 2, which has a load of info on the course, and details on our Familiarisation day on June 9th etc, at https://www.113events.com/cotswold-classic-competitor-newsletter-2/
Apologies for the radio silence over the last few weeks, but we’ve been busy getting ready for our June 2nd 113, which is now looking in great shape and will kickstart our season off nicely.

In this email, I’ll cover the following :

Race Info pack
Last minute changes
Getting involved
Swim course info
Still time to enter
BTF members / Race pass
Family finish
What to expect over the next 6 weeks 

Race Info pack
The link to download the race info pack is HERE
Please can I ask that you all have a good read through this, as it covers pretty much everything you need to know about the day from carpark location, to aid station menu etc.
It’s the info pack for you all though, so if you feel there’s anything else that needs adding, please just ask and we’ll update it as we go along
I am, of course, available if you get any questions, or there’s anything you’re not sure on, so please just ask
If your housefold is anything like mine and Nicci’s, the only peace and quiet you get is on the toilet, so print it off and leave it there and you’ll get some quality time to digest it, but please do read it.

Last Minute Changes
I’m afraid We’re now past the point where we can defer people as we’ve had to commit to numbers for race day, although I’m conscious that people do still get injured or unforeseen things crop up that might mean you can’t race with us
We often get people that have injuries, but didn’t realise they took out the 3rd party ‘Unable to race’ Insurance policy through the entry system when they signed up, and the easiest way to check if you’ve taken it, is that it’ll show at the bottom of your entry confirmation as Xcover.com and would’ve been around £12 or so, depending on your entry type. If you’ve entered through a group, it’ll be in your group booking spreadsheet.
They cover a variety of things from injury, being posted away with work, losses in family, house fires etc, and you can find a link to their terms on your confirmation email. They’re an insurance company, so will need you to obviously substantiate any situation, but typically pay out in a couple of days, and the claim process is really easy, which is why we chose to work with them.

There’s still chance to do some changes to your entry though, and we can change names against entries up to 4 weeks out from the race, and we can swap people between the Solo, Relay and Aquabike categories as they see fit, ideally up to 3 weeks out, but can do it race week at a push
For anyone that does still perhaps need to defer, rather than applying a blanket No, I hope that the fairest way we can still accommodate those requests is that we ask that you share some of the costs we’ve incurred against numbers for July. We can do that any time, and obviously, the closer we get to the race, the more we have to spend against volume, so this cost will naturally increase
We could also, if you’re keen to defer now, do a deal on you coming and marshalling with us on the day instead as we’re very keen to get more people on our team – More info on marshalling below
Just get in touch and we’ll work something out

Getting involved 
As anyone who’s ever organised a race will know, getting marshals is one of the hardest parts of the job.
We have around 180 paid marshal positions at our races, and a good chunk of them are regulars, but the remainder come in as friends and family of competitors.
if you bring a marshal with you, you.they can camp and park for free together in the marshals carpark field 100m from the start line over the weekend, and all our marshals get paid either £20 cash or a £50 113 Events Voucher, and we’ll get them a full briefing, make sure they have a laugh during the day, and keep them fed watered and in an event team shirt to them to keep. We try and pair them up too, so they’re not stock out somewhere on their own, and can sort transport if required.
Marshalling is a lot of fun, and you get to support the competitors from the easier side of the fence and the enthusiasm of the marshals is what really pulls the competitors through in their darker moments.
Our two basic shifts are :
Bike team – 05:45 briefing, finish between 11-12 depending on location
Run team – 07:45 briefing, finish between 13:45-14:45 depending on location

All we ask is that they’re enthusiastic, know their left from their right, and are over 16*
*We can have under 16’s helping a marshal if they’re coming as a family, and they can take advantage of the free food, drinks and ice creams as well as getting an event shirt (we do them down to toddler size), but I’m afraid we can’t pay them as our insurance doesn’t cover us for that.
We’d, of course, put any families on the run course so they’re not near a road.
Just drop me an email at graeme@113events.com and we’ll welcome them in with open arms

Swim course info 
I covered a good amount about the bike and run courses in the previous newsletter (link to which is at the start off this email), so today, I will cover a bit about the swim.
Our swim starts in two different formatss, and over a series of waves. We have either an initial mass start wave for those that want it, followed be a series of rolling start time windows for people to set off at their own pace on their own
Mid June, when the start list is fixed, you’ll all get a chance to choose which wave you’d like, so keep an eye out for that email, as until I get the start list off the entry system in an Excel format, I can’t allocate waves etc yet. It’ll be around June 16th, so keep an eye out
The 1,900m swim is a single anti clockwise lap of the lake, and there’s a map of it in the race info pack.
We will provide you with an event swim hat, so all you’ll need is your swimming kit and goggles.
The lake is currently around 20deg, and I suspect it’ll be around 20-22 on race day, which puts us firmly in the ‘Wetsuit Optional’ range of the BTF guidelines for OWS events. What this means, is actually all of you will wear a wetsuit other than maybe 2-4 that choose to swim Skins, which is also totally fine.
The lake is around 6-7 foot deep for the majority of the lap, but there are a couple of spots you can stand up in, and you’re more than welcome to stop for a couple of minutes and stand to regain your composure/adjust your wetsuit/empty your goggles etc. We have no issue with that, and would rather you stop and then get around in comfort, than feel you can’t and struggle
I’m aware we have some more nervous swimmers amongst our entries, which find the swim the most daunting part.
If you feel this is you, we will have some Nervous Swimmer hats available by the start line (these will be a different colour hat to the Bright orange that the rest have), and anyone wearing one of these will get the water safety team keeping an extra eye on them to ensure they’re ok.
It’s important that you only take one of these if you are genuinely nervous as we had a strong swimmer take on a couple of years ago as he just fancied his own water guide, and this obviously dilutes it for the rest
We’ll have circa 40 canoeists and a variety of rescue craft in the water anyway, so our water safety cover levels exceed the minimum standard by around 300%.
You can swim the course in either front crawl, breaststroke, or even Butterfly if you’re feeling very brave, but we ask that you don’t swim backstroke. The reason for this is that if you get into any trouble in the water, we ask that you roll onto you back and raise your arm in the air, and the water team will see that as a sign of distress and come and see you. Understandably, someone swimming backstroke can appear to be doing this, so we ask that you please don’t. If you want to roll on your back and swim along staring at the sunshine without using your arms, in order to get your breath back for a minute or two, please feel free.
We don’t have a floating cocktail bar out on the lake, but the canoeist will allow you a minute to hang onto their craft to regain yourself if required (they won’t pull you around I’m afraid)
The swim is almost the most daunting bit of the race, so if you’re worried, please just get in touch and I’ll try and re-assure you or offer some advice.

Still time to enter
We still have slots available for the race, so if you have friends or club mates that are still thinking about it, we have Relay/Aquabike and individual places available at www.113events.com
We can rack them next to you and you start together if you want to smoke them out on the course, or put them in an earlier wave if you just want to catch them up, or vice versa
Entry closes online on June 16th

BTF members / Race pass
As anyone that’s raced in the UK this year already will have seen, the BTF have changed the way in which they provide day licences for non members. Their new system is called ‘Race Pass’ and many of you that are not BTF members, will have already bought one through the entry system when you signed up
it’s a brand new system for the BTF, and it’s fair to say that they’ve had some teething problems with it.
For anyone that is either not a BTF member and hasn’t bought pass, or was a BTF member and their membership expires before the race, we will email you all a couple of weeks out from race day with instructions on how we can get it sorted for race weekend.
We have a plan in place with the BTF for next week’s 113, and we’ll tweak and adjust the system post race so we have slick operation running at the classic. Don’t worry just yet, and I’ll email everyone nearer the time

Family finish 
I often get questions from you all asking if they can cross the line with their kids, as after all, they’re often the ones that have been neglected during the training and should enjoy the culmination of your hard work together.
Some races don’t allow it, or provide an alternate family finish line, but the simple answer with us is yes, absolutely they can, and we love seeing people coming down the red carpet chute and crossing our main line with their kids and getting them in on their finish line pic.
The only rule we have is that you’re considerate to other people also finishing, and mindful that someone else may be trying a sprint finish to get under a certain time. Other than that, you’re all good, and we even have best supporter medals to hang over the kids necks too.
If anyone doesn’t have kids, Nicci and I have a grumpy 17year old you can borrow for the occasion 🙂

What to expect over the next 6 weeks
You won’t hear much from me over the next couple of weeks, as we’re flat out with the 113 Prep, but after that, I’ll get into the swing of the pre race emails properly.
If you have recently joined the race, please see the previous newsletter linked at the top of this email, as it has info on the June 9th Familiarisation day and how you can book on to that to come and see the courses and meet myself and some of the team.
After that, around Mid June, you’ll all get a chance to choose a wave and/or race number/block of numbers to be racked with your mates, and then I’ll start sending links out to pre race briefing videos, start lists and al the various BTF things. We’ll keep everyone updated on course conditions, and there’ll be some advice on things to bring, and how transition etc works on race day.

Other than that, that’s it for me for today
if you get any questions at all, please just ask as it’s what we’re here for. You can call me any time on 07595 591612 or drop me an email

Cheers and Happy training

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