Compton Verney Sprint Triathlon and On The Edge Middle Distance Triathlon 2023 - Thank yous and race directors musings…

Compton Verney Sprint Triathlon and On The Edge Middle Distance Triathlon 2023 - Thank yous and race directors musings…

Hi everyone. Now it has been a week and the dust has settled, I wanted to write this to firstly say thank you for entering our races and secondly, give you a review of the race from our perspective. It’s not a race report, more of a behind the scenes overview.  We are coaches first and foremost and everything we do is done from that perspective. This is one reason why we put on the races in the first place, especially the ‘short swim sprint’. We want to bring people into the sport and try to remove as many barriers to entry as possible with shorter swims and lower entry prices.

I’m glad to say that numbers were up for us this year. This is bucking the trend across the race world generally, with lots of organisers struggling and many losing their businesses. All I can say is please enter smaller local races. They need you. We had 125 entries to the middle distance. Of which 107 started and 96 finished. In the sprint, 208 entered, 173 started and 170 finished. These numbers are way up on last year, especially in the middle (last year we only had 47!). As you can see, lots didn’t even start the race. The weather was TERRIBLE the day before, and we suspect this may have put people off. If this was their reason, they missed out as the weather was perfect on race day!

Talking about weather. On our main set-up day on Saturday, it rained non-stop all day. It was pretty miserable, and made getting things ready very difficult. The sign team worked very hard making sure we had a clearly marked course (so I hope you noticed that?). We wanted to improve our signage over previous years as this was one area that racers and British Triathlon picked up on. This year we did still have some racers go the wrong way but I think this was ‘user error’ rather than lack of signs 😉. We placed over 200 signs on the course. I’m sorry to say that some were sabotaged and others spun. We even had one that had been moved the face the opposite direction. THIS is why I drive the course in the early hours on race day. 

This is our third year of racing. I don’t mind admitting that there are times when I wonder why we do it. It’s tough to get entries, people sabotage signs, its ultra stressful and we make zero money from it! BUT, when we get to around 10am on race day and the finishers start to come in, we realise why. We start to see the pride and pleasure it brings people. Not only the racers but the supporters, staff and marshals too. I love that we get to share in your journey and be there at that magical finishing line moment. As coaches, we have taken many from complete novice to completing their first race and there is nothing more satisfying. THAT is why we do this.

The post race feedback we received has been amazing. Virtually all has been super-positive and some ‘constructive’. It is all gratefully accepted  and we do genuinely listen and try to improve. One piece of feedback said our race was ‘a little rough around the edges’ and ‘like a club race’. I initially didn’t like the sound of that but then thought about who we are and what we are trying to achieve. We are not ‘Ironman’ or ‘Outlaw’, we are a young race we want to make people feel as though they are special and part of the family, not just a number. Yes, our race is ‘rustic’ but 24hrs before the start, there are actual sheep in the fields and we are literally clearing sheep poo by hand (well, rakes) in the hours leading up to the race. 

We are looking to grow and the reality is that we need to to make the race sustainable. Again, can I ask that you enter local races and enter early. There is a trend towards very late entries - put yourselves in the shoes of a race organiser. Early entries give confidence, security and the ability to order medals and supplies in good time without risking waste or not having enough to go around’. Without this, I fear many races (ours included) may be forced to stop.  

Looking ahead to next year, we would like to be heading towards 300 sprint entrants and 200 middle. We will be going to 5 year age-groups so that the middle distance event is a valid qualifier as a European and World qualifier.  I’d like you to help us with this by spreading the word, entering early and leaving feedback ( FEEDBACK LINK). Thank you in advance for this, thank you for being part of the Do3 family.

Last but by no means least, I want to talk about our volunteers. All events like this need an army of volunteers. We had over 40 volunteers this year and they were just fantastic. The volunteers are the people who hold races together, give you a smiling face when you need it and do the bulk of the donkey work (like shovelling sheep poo!). We were about 20 volunteers short of ‘ideal’ but with Mary’s ‘volunteer chess’ we were able to turn 40 in to 60 and cover the bulk of what we needed. If you think we have lots of volunteer identical twins because you saw the same person at more than one spot, you’d be wrong, they were just rapidly moving from place to place!! Can I give a huge THANK YOU to all our volunteers and especially Mary, Anita and Paul - you guys went above and beyond and I am so grateful. 

See you next year.

Dave

P.S Thank you to Corinne too. We did it (just ;) )

Photo Credits: Mark Pavey and Charles Whitton (www.charleswhittonphotography.com)