There are quite a few elements in what follows so please read all the way through.
The unfortunate headline is that we cannot go ahead with our event as originally planned at Alton Water on 6th September.
Anglian Water have had a ban on group activity on all their sites until the end of August, but they had been hopeful that they could accommodate us in September and booked us in accordingly and we have proceeded in good faith on that basis.
We secured a Race Permit from British Triathlon for the event last week and had revised all our procedures to reflect the social distancing and the many other requirements detailed in the very latest Event Permitting guidelines published at the end of July
These guidelines necessitate a very different race day experience with an individual time trial start, a non-competitive event, no relay options, no aid stations, no ranking of results, and a socially distanced transition area. We have already organised a triathlon under these new guidelines and everyone had a very enjoyable, if different, day.
No mass start and site space constraints mean that the race has to take place in waves. Each wave must completely finish the event, clear transition, and leave the site before the next wave can arrive once transition has been cleaned.
Implementing these changes leads to a much longer race day and Instead of being out of the water by 10am, and the race largely over by midday as in a normal year, we were looking at occupying most of the core Alton Water site and parking all day well into the late afternoon.
Unfortunately, despite strenuous efforts on both sides, the extended timescale of the race day, and the many changes we have had made have still not delivered an event format that Anglian Water can accept.
So we have no venue available so what to do? Here are our proposals
• STANDARD DISTANCE & ALL RELAY TEAMS – DEFERRED TO JUNE 20TH 2021
If you have entered either the standard distance or one of the relay events, we will defer your entry to the 2021 race on June 20th at Alton Water as we had previously said would be the case in our email of 31/5/20.
• SPRINT AND SUPER SPRINT RACE (NOT INC RELAYS) – PROPOSED VENUE CHANGE
For those who have entered the super sprint or sprint triathlon or aquabike events then we propose to move these events to Trifarm in Boreham, Chelmsford, 45 minutes away from Alton Water, and hold them on the 6th. Faster swimmers will start at 7:30am, second wave at 10:00am, and the last wave at 12:30,
This way we get half of the race to the start line .
For you sprint/super sprint entrants we would ask that you follow the links on their to opt in to the race, or defer your entry to next year, please do this as soon as possible.
TO TAKE PART: Please book in on the following link: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=19593253&appointmentType=16261823
TO DEFER TO 2021: Please book in on the following link: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=19593253&appointmentType=16261837
If a significant number of sprint/super sprint entrants opt to defer then we may offer individual standard distance entrants the option to race the sprint distance and refund the difference in entry cost between the two races.
Anglian Water have restated their commitment to ourselves and the race, and we are all keen to make the Alton Water Triathlon a regular landmark event and we will do everything we can to finally try and bring you the third full edition of our wonderful event, at the third time of asking on June 20th 2021.
However we would encourage as many of you as possible to join us at Trifarm on the 6th, we know you will enjoy it if you do
Any questions or queries please email us at hello@trifarm.co.uk
Bill, Mark & Ruth
The Alton Water Triathlon Team