The following newsletter went out to all Cotswold113 2021 competitors tonight:
Cotswold 113 – 6th June 2021
Good evening all, I hope everyone’s well and enjoying this little taste of summer weather we’ve had over the last few days ?
We’re a little under 7 weeks away from this year’s Cotswold 113, so I wanted to get you all out a little bit more info on the bike course, how the day’s going to work and a couple of other little bits
In this email, I’ll cover the following:
New Bike Course for 2021
How the day will go, and what to expect on the day
Swim options Swim start
Last minute changes
Wave start info
Camping update
Marshal info
New Bike course for 2021
Last year, we made a fairly large change to our bike course. Some of this was driven by a requirement for social distancing around the lake area (The turnaround for lap 2 last year was away from the lake) and some was to get it to flow a little better for the competitors, Traffic Management and Police teams that control some of the junctions. Anyway, lots of it worked really well, but many of you missed the spectacle of coming back past the lake at the end of each lap, so we’ve tweaked things again so that it works as a loop back around the lake before you head out on lap two.
I’ve uploaded a map of the route we’ll be using this year on map my ride, and you can see that here https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/4257970519
We’ll put a proper map out in the race info pack in a couple of weeks, but on the MMR link above you can see the map with mile markers and direction or download GPX files for any of you that want to come and ride it before the big day.
The kind guys at the council have even resurfaced through South Cerney now too, which makes for a nice smooth section, whereas previously was a little rough in patches.
The route is two laps to make up the 56mile bike section.
It’s pretty much pancake flat too, so if you’re lucky enough to have both a road and TT bike at your disposal, it’s a TT bike course all day long.
How the day will go, and what to expect on the day
As explained in my previous newsletter, due to Covid restrictions we won’t be running any registration and briefings on the Saturday as we do normally, and everything will happen on the Sunday 6th.
We will post out your race bibs around 7-10days before the race, and on race morning, you will register on arrival to transition, and your swim hat and timing chip/strap will be laid out in your spot in the racking ready to go.
We have a carpark that is around 300 meters away from transition too, and this is about a 3 min walk with a bike and a wetsuit etc.
I’ll cover more on what you need to bring on the day for registration in a later email, but for those of you that aren’t BTF members (typically around 30% of our competitors) I’ll also cover in a later mail how we sort day membership for all of you in the morning, but we have that covered.
The transition area will open at 04:00, and the race will start at 06:00 (more on that in the next section of this mail)
As triathlon doesn’t have ‘Spectators’ as such, and 99% of people that come along to our races are a support crew for competitors, everyone will be allowed on site to see the race start and around the finish area. There will be coffee stands and the lake’s cafe open from 04:00, and we will have the guys from Speedhub Triathlon store there with a stand too.
Obviously, social distance rules will still remain in June, and we would ask you all to please remember this on the day.
I’ve covered the bike course above, and I’ll cover the swim later in this mail, so that just leaves the run course, which is 3 laps, and each lap comes back through the lake complex and down past the finish chute and transition.
Like the bike course, the run course is pancake flat, and although is a mixture of tarmac and lakeside hard pack paths, is a road shoe course unless we have a week of rain in the run up to June 6th. Even then, the lakeside paths handle water very well and don’t get too muddy. About 40% of the run course is under the shade of trees too incase anyon’e’s concerned about sunburn on a very hot day. We’ll keep everyone up to date with conditions in the week before the race, but I’d fully expect it to be fine for road shoes for 99% of you all.
I’ll keep you all updated on Water temperature nearer the time, but I’m fully expecting it to be within the ‘Wetsuit optional’ range, which in reality means everyone just wears a wetsuit anyway.
Swim options and swim start
The swim will start at 06:00, and go off in 6 waves which will each be a 10min window for a rolling start running one straight after the other. This will list as waves 1,2,3,4,5 & 6. We will have 3 start chutes marked out on the morning. The first will be for those that want to do a shorter swim at around 400m. The second two will be for the normal 1,900m course. In each chute, we will set a swimmer off at 5 second intervals (ie one swimmer into the water every 2.5 seconds for the main course) The swim entrance is nice and wide and has a shallow ramp into the water so you can wade in and set off rather than some swims were you need to dive straight into cold water.
You don’t need to tell us in advance if you wish to do the 400m/1,900m courses and can make your mind up on the morning. Our timing system will pick up which start you’ve made, and we’ll produce separate results (You can also skip the swim entirely, and start on the bike)
I’m very conscious that the majority of you will have lost a big chunk of swim training at the start of this year with pools and open water venues having to close, and I’d not want anyone who’s not perhaps a seasoned swimming to worry unnecessarily about having to swim 1,900 without the right training, so those other options of a shorter swim, or no swim at all, are for you, and you can still cross the same finish line and get the same medal as you would if you did the full distance. These are truly unusual times, and I hope we can help cater for everyone to get around safely and still really enjoy their day.
I’m also aware that some small groups of you will want to be racing each other, and the social distancing rules at that time (assuming we continue along the Boris Roadmap) allow smaller groups to be together. Therefore, if you all wanted to wait just after the chute, and before you cross the start mat, and cross it together so you have the same start time on the clock, we’re ok with that as long as you’re sensible about it.
The swim will be a single lap of a course around the lake. It’s easy enough to navigate the buoys, and we’ll put a 6 foot swim map at the swim entrance (and in there’ll be a map in the race info pack)
For those of you that are nervous about the swim, but still want to do the full length: Just to reassure you, there’s a couple of points that you can stand up and take a break if needed, and the water safety team will allow you to grab a canoeist and take a couple of mins if you need also. We don’t have a swim cut off, and we’ll allow you to take as long as you like as long as the water safety crew don’t feel you’re a danger to yourself, and are making some form of semi consistent reasonable forward motion.
Last minute changes
From Wednesday this week (21st April), we have to fix the start list with various people such as insurers, governing bodies, timing company etc.
Therefore, if you need to make any last minute changes to your entry at all, please can you take this as 24hours notice until we simply can’t change anything.
For example, you might have got married (or divorced) and changed your surname, you might have joined a tri club, so want a different club listed on the results, you might have moved house and need to change the address we post the pack to, you might have decided you want to identify as a different gender to that which you list when you signed up or really anything else that you want to change on your entry.
After Wednesday morning this week, I can’t make any changes to anything (other than relay team members as they’re run differently to solo entries)
Just drop me an email at graeme@113events.com please and I’ll sort the rest this end.
Wave start info
—–Please read this whole section before emailing me—–
After Wednesday, the race is fixed and the start list is available to me on a massive spreadsheet for me to manipulate and set waves etc.
Typically, we would allow you all, if you wanted, to choose a specific wave and/or race number.
However, unfortunately, this year we can only let you choose a wave 🙁
As you might appreciate, we’ve had to make a number of concessions with various stakeholders to get permission to run the race in this strange time we’re living in. One such concession is for us to take steps to stop people gathering in groups in transition which happens a lot when clubs or groups of mates are racked next to each other in the numerically sequential racking layout. I’m afraid this means that you won’t be able to choose your specific race number this year and they’ll be allocated in a largely alphabetically manner in order to spread groups around, but keep family units together who would largely be travelling down together and within the same ‘Family bubble’ anyway.
Although, you can still choose which wave you want to go off in, and the window for submitting that request by email, if you so choose, is from Wednesday 21st April to Saturday 24th April.
The waves will be
Wave 1 06:00-06:10
Wave 2 06:10-06:20
Wave 3 06:20-06:30
Wave 4 06:30-06:40
Wave 5 06:40-06:50
Wave 6 06:50-07:00
You may also want to ask for a specific wave for your club or group of mates, and here’s how that works :
With a race of this size, we tend to get lots of duplicates of seemingly unique names, not just your Julie Black’s and John Smiths.
Therefore, if you’re asking for a wave for a list of names, please can I ask that you do the following:
1) Check with them first that they actually want to be in that wave, and I’m not going to get a later email from them asking for a totally different wave (This happens a lot)
2) List not just their name, but also their date of birth and registered email address so I can ensure we get the right person
3) If you’re asking for the first or last waves, they’re pretty popular, so please give a second preference too incase that specific wave is all full by the time your request comes in
4) Check with the person you’re asking for that they did actually sign up to the race (This also happens a lot)
To request your preferred wave from this Wednesday, please just drop me an email at graeme@113events.com with ‘Waves’ in the title.
I’ll then spend the weekend getting these all together, and will publish the final start list with waves and numbers early next week.
I’m likely to get 6-700 email requests for waves, so please understand if I don’t email back to all of you straight away, and await the start list coming out next week which will list everyone’s wave and number. We do have a very small amount of wriggle room on waves, so if you later want to swap and you have genuine good reason to have missed the window, please just ask and we’ll see what we can do.
Camping update
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the campsite next to the lake has taken the decision not to open at all this year. We have been trying hard to get an area near to the lake that can be used for camping instead on Saturday the 5th that is within walking distance of the start.
However, I’m afraid we’re making slow progress on this and drawing lots of blanks.
With that in mind, I don’t want anyone pinning their hopes on this being possible (We are still trying, but chances are looking increasingly slim) so would suggest if you are a camping type and want to stay down in the area, to start looking at other options.
There are lots of AirBnB type properties and hotels within a few miles of the lake, and a few campsites within a short drive of the area. The postcode of the race location for your search is GL7 6DF
Marshal request
Do you have anyone coming along with you that fancies being part of our team on the day ?
We still have around 20 marshal positions of our circa 190 that we need to fill if you have anyone that you can bring along pretty please
These are on the bike and run courses, and they don’t need any experience at all, and all we ask is that they’re reasonably enthusiastic, know their left from the their right and are over 16
We’ll give them a full briefing with the course managers first, kit them up with everything they need, pair them up with someone else if they need and really look after them for the day
We pay all our marshals too, and they can choose from either a cold, hard £20 note or a £40 113 Events voucher and we’ll keep them fed and watered throughout their shift too
Anyone that knows events will know that getting marshals is one of the hardest parts of organising a race, so if any of you can bring someone along, it’d be greatly appreciated
Marshals also get to camp on site the night before too and have their own free parking area
Email me at graeme@113events.com
Right, that’s enough of my war and peace length email for tonight.
Hopefully you’ve all managed to read this to the end without nodding off into your phones or laptops
We’re here to help, so if there’s anything we can do for you over the next few weeks, any info we can help with, or you just want to talk triathlon, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by phone or email
Cheers and happy training
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612