The following newsletter went out to all Cotswold 113 Competitors tonight
Pre Event Update number 3
Good evening all, I hope everyone’s feeling nice and ready for racing on Sunday and not getting too grouchy in your taper ?
We’re just a few days away from the race, so in this penultimate pre race email, I’m going to cover the following:
Reminder on what you should have already looked at
Gov update
What to expect on race day in Covid times
Updates to terms relating to Covid
Tracker and live video
Course conditions and kit choice
Spectators and where to go
What’s coming next
Reminder on what you should have already looked at
Hopefully by now, you’ve read your race information pack and found your number and start time window from our previous mail.
If you haven’t, then you can find the pre event update number 2 with all that info here : https://www.113events.com/cotswold113-pre-event-update-2/
Gov Update
The country is far from out of the woods in terms of Covid spread, but I just wanted to assure you all that the change effective today where to the bubble size has reduced down to 6 does not have an effect on Triathlon, and all organised sport events that can demonstrate that they achieve the UKGov’s (and in our case, also the BTF’s) Covid secure procedures and regulations, are exempt from social bubble rules.
The BTF and UK Gov have permitted our event on Sunday, so we are still all systems go
I posted an update on it last week, which you can see here :https://www.113events.com/9th-sept-update/
What to expect on race day
By now, you should have all had your race bibs and bike stickers in the post, or if you haven’t, please email mary@dbmax.co.uk and we can still sort something out to have you one there to collect on race morning
On race day, your swim hat and timing chip/strap will be located on your racking position.
In the race info pack, you will find info on car parking. It’s a pain to try and get all the cars in within a short time period, so please can you all have £5 cash for car parking ready in your hand when you get to the front of the queue. We cannot give back change as this would mean double handling cash, and we need to reduce the amount of touchy feely things in order to reduce the spread.
Once you’re out of car parking, you can head to transition to register yourself in, which is a 5 in walk.
At transition, you will be greeted by our team, and a member from our medical provider who will temperature check your forehead to ensure you comply with the UK Gov maximum core temperature. If you are over, you will be turned away and will not be able to race. If you are someone who has a valid medical reason to have a high body temperature, you will need to bring a copy of a doctors letter.
Our team will then check your BTF photo license that you must have with you (You can have a pic of it on your phone or a photocopy of it instead).
If you are not a 2020 BTF member with a valid photo license, you will need a photo ID (Again, a photo on your phone or a photocopy is fine too) and £5 cash for a BTF day license. Like car parking, you will be asked to put your £5 cash into a slotted bucket in front of our team, and we are not allowed to give change as we cannot touch your money or handle money to return. This BTF license money has to be handed in to the bank where they will not touch it for 72hours in order to any trace of Covid to be gone.
The internet at the lake is not great, so we cannot take card payments and must be cash only.
We had some long queues to get into transition when we raced in August, so please help us by having your BTF License, or photo ID and £5 to hand when you get to the front of the queue rather than fumbling at the bottom of a bag to find it.
In transition, you will be required to wear a face mask (much like you’d wear in a shop) when racking your bike. Like the temperature check, if you have a medical reason as to not wear a face mask, you will need a doctors note to support this, or you will not be allowed in. We absolutely have to be strict with this and anyone not arriving with a mask to rack their bike, will not be allowed in and cannot race.
You don’t, of course, need to wear a mask once the race has started
The purpose of the mask is that you can impede within someone else 2m bubble when racking your bike and laying out your run kit.
Transition will open at 04:45 and all competitors absolutely must be out of transition (With the exception of relay members) before 07:15
Transition will close to entries at 06:45.
We have a load of pre race toilets ready and waiting for you near to the swim start.
The swim will start in 6 waves, which you can find in the start list, and swimmers will be set off at 5 second intervals.
You can choose on race morning if you’d like to do the full 1,900m swim, or a shorter 350ish meter option swim course. There will be two chutes marked.
If you want to do the shorter swim, you can go off any time after 07:15 and you do not need to head off in your allocated wave and can start as you see fit up to 08:30
If you do not want to swim at all, please let our transition team know in the morning, and they will allow you to remain in transition and start off on the bike when the first swimmers start coming in from the lake (Around 07:20)
All three options still get to cross the finish line and collect your medal and goody bag etc. We will produce 3 separate sets of results.
In Summary, please bring a mask, £5 cash for car parking and £5 cash / photo ID if you’re not a BTF member
Updates to terms relating to Covid
As you might imagine, we have a million little admin things we have to sort to get this race Covid Secure. One of which is aligning with the track and trace regulations. With that in mind, we have had to update our terms to show that we can share your info with the UK Gov in relation to track/trace, and as this means our terms have changed, we have to notify you of this.
It also says that you must not attend race day if you’re at risk of spreading Covid-19, which goes without saying really
You can see the updated section at the bottom of the regular terms and conditions here : https://www.113events.com/cotswold-113/race-tcs/
In reality, the track and trace won’t effect any of you in normal racing conditions as the masks in transition and then the drafting distances on the bike and overtaking rules on the swim/run mean you won’t get within 2m of other competitors.
However, the only time we’d need to report it on our log would be if you needed to be recovered on the bike course in the van by our team or treated by someone from our medical team, and even that would only be if they got the call to say they’ve later tested positive.
Tracker and live video
We will have a live tracker up and running through the results page at https://www.113events.com/cotswold-113/results/
We will also have a live video feed of the swim exit and finish line on our facebook page, which is www.facebook.com/113events
Course conditions and kit choice
I’m going to hope not to jinx it, but the weather forecast looks like almost perfect racing conditions:
The water temperature yesterday was around 16, and with the forecast for sun this week, that’s not likely to change much. This means, that we’ll be firmly within the Wetsuit optional range for Sunday.
I’ve ridden the new bike course a fair few times over the last three weeks, and it’s very flat and very fast. If you have a TT bike, disc wheel and Aero helmet that you’re debating to use, it’s an aero course all day long. It’s largely pretty shaded from any wind most of the way around, but there are a couple of bits where field gates create a gap in a hedge that could cause a blust should the wind pick up.
98% of the course is on a good surface, but being the UK, there’s a few sections where the tarmac isn’t the very best. We will put up signs for these sections and paint potholes, but in reality, there’s nothing you can’t avoid if you keep your eyes open and all the rougher parts have a smooth line through.
If you’re one of the riders that obsesses about tyre choices vs watts, I’ve found a 28mm tubleless tyre pumped up to about 70psi works best for me on that course (I weigh 78kg and that’s on a road bike, not a TT bike)
The run course is around 55% tarmac, 40% hard packed lake paths and 5% grass. If i were racing, I’d use tarmac shoes every time, and even if we do get some rain on race day, the hard packed lake paths deal with low to moderate rain very well, and unless I was really unsure on my feet, I wouldn’t bother with off road shoes.
Although the weather forecast is decent for Sunday, I still want to remind everyone that it’s Sept and it can still be blimmin cold first thing, especially when you’ve just got out a lake. Please make your kit choices accordingly, as you’re always better to have too many layers on and have to remove one, than not enough and get really cold in the first half of the bike.
With a neutralised transition time, you have the luxury of time to get into your kit for biking. If you wanted to get fully changed in T1 or T2, although we do not have changing tents, you can still get changed under a towel. The BTF rules say no nakedness, and we’re pretty relaxed with that rule if you use your common sense please. Ie, a quick flash of flesh as you get changed is basically fine, doing naked lunges up and down the row of racking is not.
Spectators and where to go
Boris’s 6 reduction has further confirmed our decision to not allow spectators on site at all before, during or after the race.
However, there are still plenty of places out of our site (Which is actually only a small section within the footprint of the lake complex) that they can watch from.
If they wanted to come in the car with you, they will get a car parking pass on arrival, so that car can come and go as it pleases during the day.
If you click on the small map below, that will enlarge and show you where on the run course and lake complex they can and can’t go
The orange area is our area, and this is no access all day.
The blue area that competitors will walk through to get into transition (and is the 1st mile or so of the run course) belongs to the beach and country park. They will allow spectators into their area in the morning, but you will need to pay them on the gate (I think it’s about £3 per head – You can check with them at https://www.cotswoldcountryparkandbeach.com)
They have a Beach (Clue’s in their name) and play parks, coffee shop and pizza restaurant, and it’s a good place for a family to watch the race from and enjoy the day. Their end backs right up to our transition, so from within there, you can see the competitors come out the swim to head off on the bike, and then come back in from the bike and off on the run. They have their own Covid precautions and rules, so your spectators would be there problem rather than ours (without wanting to sound too crude)
On the run course, the rest that isn’t in the Beach and Country park has some great places to watch from. On the above map, you will see that Somerford Keynes is marked in Red. If you have spectators coming along to watch outside the lake, please ask them to not under any circumstances watch from within Somerford Keynes. We have built up a great relationship with the residents of SK, and although they’re super supportive of the race going through their village, they do not want crowds gathering on their streets and in some cases, are quite nervous of Covid spread as they have a larger than average ‘Older population’
Please respect our wishes and do not spectate from SK village as this is hugely important to us.
Shown on the Map is Neighbridge Country park, where our aid station is located, and is possibly the most beautiful of the lakes in the area, and is a perfect place to watch the run from.
If you have spectators that want to watch on the bike course, by far the best place is the Cotswold Outdoor centre. The course goes right by there twice (out and back) or is a short 200m walk to the turnaround point if they wanted to see you more often.
It’s about 3 miles from the lake on a straight bit of road that isn’t the bike course, and the address is Gateway Visitors Centre, Spine Rd E, Cirencester GL7 5TL
Please can you ask any spectators you might be bringing with you to please abide by the 6 person social bubble rule. As much as I appreciate they’re not our problem and out of our control if they’re out on the public road, public perception of the race is hugely important to us and the general public will still correctly associate them with the event, and that would reflect badly on us if they are gathering in groups.
What’s coming next
In the next 48 hours, I will email out a link to the Video briefing of the race where you can see myself and Dave’s faces for radio take you through a few key points, and also I’ll send out some more info on what’s expected of racing in these strange times
Other than that, we’re looking forward to seeing you on Sunday morning
That’s it from me. I hope my lengthy waffle hasn’t put any of you to sleep yet ?
We’re here to help, so please give me a call if you have any questions between now and race day – 07595 591612
Cheers and happy tapering
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events team
graeme@113events.com
07595 591612
