The following email went out to all Cotswold113 2020 competitors this morning
Pre event update #4
Good morning all, I hope everyone’s well ?
We’re just a few days away from this Sunday’s Cotswold 113, so I wanted to get this last email out with the last few bits of info.
In this email, I’ll cover the following
What’s expected of us all
Briefing video link
Covid reminder
What’s expected of us all
I’m going to try and not make this a lecture, as it’s definitely not intended as such, so bear with me.
Triathlon is newly back to the UK, and we all love that we can go racing again after such a terrible time for the world this summer.
However, although the local area generally love our races, there’s naturally going to be some isolated cases of reluctance to accept that it’s totally safe to run, especially with the Government’s latest tightening of social bubbles.
With this in mind, although we can provide you all with the tools and facility to race entirely safely and without risk of spread of Covid through contact, hygiene or proximity, we really do rely on you all to ensure that when you’re out cycling on the bike course and running on the run course on the public road, that you absolutely keep the required distance away from everyone as public perception of what is right and what is wrong is, in many cases, different to the rules and law.
The drafting distance on the bike is 12m with a 2m overtaking width, and on the run course, where possible, it’s 2m at least.
Triathletes are generally a really good bunch, and I’m fully expecting everyone to behave impeccably as set out by the great example shown by competitors back in August. You do, however, always get exceptions and there is a very small minority just want to get their heads down and race as fast as they can without considering the broader implications of their actions.
We don’t like having to do this, but if we see anyone intentionally not socially distancing whilst racing, it will be an instant DQ and your day will be over at that point.
I appreciate that many of you are racing as Husband and wife, son and father etc, and that you don’t need to social distance as you’re within the same ‘Bubble’. However, Joe Public doesn’t know this, so please ensure that in the interest of public perception of safety, that you always do remain at the correct distance whilst racing
it appears that there’s a strong possibility that this Covid mess may be around for a while, and there’s a good chance it might run into next Summer’s racing, so the future of our sport in the UK as a whole, and our events specifically, is very much in the hands of you all on Sunday
I know this has sounded like a lecture, and it’s not meant to be as I’m really aware that everyone that races with us is always on best behaviour.
With regards to spectators. We have had to ban them on site for reasons explained perviously. Honestly speaking, we would prefer that you didn’t bring any that congregate on the public highway to support off site too. It’s your prerogative to make that decision as it’s not something that we can control. If you do have spectators that want to watch the race from the Public areas, can you please please please ask them not to spectate in groups larger than 6, and not spectate at all on the run course within Somerford Keynes. It reflects really badly on us, and although it’s not something that we can control, it’s something that’s directly related to the race itself and I still get dragged over the coals for if someone does make an official complaint to the Authorities.
We would really like to be able to run our races next year, and in this Fragile time, it’s a very fine switch between having everyone’s full support, to suddenly being brandished as irresponsible through reason outside of our control, and support and permits from local areas getting pulled for the future races.
VIdeo Briefing link
The following link will take you to our video briefing, where you can see Myself and Dave’s faces for radio taking you through the key points for Sunday : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZQOijCr7Hs
I apologies that it’s a little bit of a mishmash of footage from August’s briefing and the current race, but I hope it gets the points over and it’s important that you all take the time to sit and watch it please.
Covid Reminder
It goes without saying that we must insist that you must not attend the race under any circumstances if you are displaying, have displayed in the last 14 days running up to Sept 20th, or have been in contact with anyone displaying the following symptoms in the last 14 days running up to 20th Sept:
- A high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
- A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
- Have travelled back into the UK from any one of the UKGov’s quarantine list of Countries since Sept 6th, and are currently required to Self isolate at home
By attending the race, you are declaring that you are free from all of the symptoms listed above, have been free for 14 days prior to Sept 20th, and have not been in contact with any person displaying any of the above symptoms in the 14 days prior to Sept 20th
All entrants will be subject to a questionnaire and temperature check provided by our Medical Partners on arrival on site
It all sounds very formal, but we have to take the Spread of Covid very seriously although we will try and make the race as much fun as possible within the current circumstances
Right, that actually is it from me now in terms of pre race emails.
We’re looking forward to welcoming you all along on on Sunday
Cheers
Graeme, Nicci and the 113 Events Team
Graeme@113events.com
07595 591612