Hi Team,
Just a further update on a couple of things to follow on from my email below of 26th December:
1) Course Maps
Course maps are now up on the event website, the address of which to remind you is - http://www.ec-kitzbuehel-2014.com/de The swim is one 1.5km lap of the Schwarzsee, followed by 2 laps on the cycle totalling 39.4km with 910m of climbing in total with the run being 2 laps broadly around the Schwarzsee totalling 9.4km. There are also some profiles of the courses on the website.
2) Membership Cards
Please check that your membership / race licence card (it's the same card) will be up to date come the event. You will have to present a current membership card when you register for the race in Kitzbuhel and it has to be current. So if you know your membership will be expiring just before or even during the Kitzbuhel race week, make sure you get it renewed before you leave and if necessary speak to the membership team at BTF in Loughborough to help you. No card in Kitzbuhel or an out of date one and you won't be racing!
3) Trisuits and Kit
Those of you who raced last year will remember that both Adidas and Zerod trisuits were approved race kit. This year it will only be Zerod suits that can be raced in. Last year was the first year of Zerod being the approved GB kit supplier, so one year's grace was allowed whereby the previous kit could also be worn but only for that one year. So for 2014, you must have a Zerod trisuit to race in. These can be purchased from the British Triathlon Shop by clicking on the link on the homepage of the BTF website. This then takes you through to the Wiggle website where again if you click on GB Age Group Kit Buy Now that in turn takes you to the GB Age Group Kit page. Please note, as you will see from the message at the top of that page, that currently not all kit is available. With trisuits, Wiggle currently have in stock some small, medium and large sizes and we are told that both extra small and extra large will be available in March as well as the rest of the range. There will then be another shipment arriving in April too to further replenish stocks so hopefully (!?) there will be enough for everyone wanting them for Kitzbuhel. We are also hoping that there will be a ladies specific suit available by then too. Fingers crossed!
4) Bike Transport
Should this be of interest to you, Nirvana are offering on their website an overland bike transport service to anyone living in the UK if you are concerned about your bike going by air. I believe you can book this service regardless of whether or not you are travelling with them. If you are interested in this, then contact them direct at mail@nirvanaeurope.com
That's all for now. Hope this helps.
Hope you are all burning off the excesses of the Christmas and New Year period with your 2014 training regime! Stay safe out there on the roads in particular.
Regards,
Ian Kitchen
GB Age Group Team Manager - European Standard Distance Team 2014
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ian Kitchen <ian.kitchen2@ntlworld.com>
Date: 26 December 2013 16:56
Subject: 2014 Kitzbuhel ETU Standard Distance Triathlon Championships - 19th to 22nd June
To: "iankitchen@britishtriathlon.org" <iankitchen@britishtriathlon.org>
Hi GB Standard Distance Team!
Just thought I would do a quick post Christmas / end of year update for you all.
1) Email Confirmation of Place on Team
You all will, or should have, received from Lauren Bouchard at BTF sometime shortly after the race at which you qualified - or later if on a roll down place - a 'Congratulations' email confirmation of your place in the GB team for the standard / olympic distance event in Austria next June. There was quite a lot of important information in that email, so do make sure that you have read it, if you haven't already done so. Bear in mind that some emails from BTF can end up in your junk box if you think you haven't seen it.
2) Withdrawal
Could I just reiterate if it is not your intention to take up your place that you make that decision sooner rather than later. Let me / Lauren know by email that you are withdrawing, giving your age group too in that email? Some age groups - particularly in the middle categories - have way way more triathletes wanting to compete than there are places available, as you will be able to see from the website with those waiting on percentages below 120%, so the earlier we know if places are not going to be taken up, then the more chance we have of being able to offer those to others awaiting a 'roll down' place. Don't leave that decision any longer than necessary as it is unfair to those still hoping to get to Kitzbuhel in the summer.
3) Entry Fees
A number of you have asked about entry / support fees and when these will become payable. At present we don't know exactly but it should be in January some time when we open the BTF website to receive payments. When the entry fees are made known to BTF by the Austrian organisers, you will get an email from BTF advising of this and asking for payment. It is you paying that entry fee that confirms to us you taking up your place. In the meantime, you have your place, so don't worry about needing to do anything more at this stage, wait for the email requesting payment and pay no later than the due date that will given in that email as that confirms it to BTF who then submit all the entries to the LOC.
4) Nirvana and travel
Nirvana - www.nirvanaeurope.com - have their travel packages on their web site. You don't have to use them and I know a number of you are making your own arrangements which is absolutely fine but see section below on flights. However, if you want to stay in the team hotel - Hotel Kitzhof Resort (see map below) which is 1.7km from the event site - you need to book with Nirvana. Also, if you are competing at an international event for the first time then you might want to seriously consider booking through them. You will meet up with other team members, many of whom have years of experience and will be a great help to you in answering any questions you have when there. Also it will take the pressure off you, knowing that travel and accommodation is all sorted out for you and that you are staying with other team members. It's good for team spirit too!
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5) Flights
Just a word of warning on flights and bikes for those travelling independently from Nirvana, given the problems in getting bikes to Alanya this year which some of you will well remember! If you are making your own travel arrangements, you are 100% responsible for everything and that includes getting your bike to Kitzbuhel. Dawn Vaughan, myself and BTF are not putting ourselves through again what happened with getting bikes to Alanya this year. However, we do believe that anyone booked with Lufthansa should have had confirmation their bike is included, so should be fine. We also understand Easyjet have overcome their booking problems of the last two years and can give accurate confirmation on bikes too. However, those of you booking Monarch or Thomas Cook - be aware and careful! They can only carry very small numbers of bikes on these charter flights. The booking agents may well give you an assurance that your bike will be fine but, I reiterate, the flights can only take a very small number of bikes. If there were to be some 300 passengers on a particular flight and say half of them are triathletes with a bike - they won't all get on. Last year many suffered the worry, having had their bike taken from them at check-in, of seeing their bike sitting on the tarmac!
If you are making independent travel arrangements, please do not be complacent. For those booking with Nirvana, they will be using flights which assure bike carriage. Even then, if there were to be any unforeseen problems down the line Nirvana will do what they need to do for their customers to get the bikes to Kitzbuhel at their expense if needs be.
6) Arrival in Alanya and date of race
Bear in mind when you are making travel plans, the race is more than just the day of the race itself. Important aspects leading up to the race, like swim familiarisation, registration, bike racking, team photo and briefing, will all take place no later than the Saturday before the race. So do take this into account before booking your flights / accommodation as the absolute latest anyone doing the standard distance should look to arrive should be the Friday evening of the 21st. The standard race will be early on the Sunday - 22nd June.
7) Race Information
The event website is as follows - http://www.ec-kitzbuehel-2014.com/de - if you open this in Google Chrome you should be able to translate it into English! The schedule taken from the website for Standard Distance athletes is as follows but could be subject to slight variation but not the race day itself:-
Thursday 19 June 2014
08:00 to 09:30 Official Swim Training Age Group, Schwarzsee
19:00 Opening ceremony
Saturday 21 June 2014
09:00 to 13:00 start number pick-up Age Group Olympic
18:00 to 20:00 Check In Age Group Olympic
Sunday 22 June 2014
7:30 wave start Age Group Championship Olympic Distance
16:30 Award ceremony of all race of the day
18:30 Closing Ceremony
8) Your email address and communication
If you change your email address between now and the event, you must let me know and also, more importantly, the BTF office in Loughborough as nothing will be sent out by post, all communication will be by email. You may also find useful the Facebook page that my colleague, Dawn Vaughan, who is the team manager for the sprint team, has set up. Whilst all important information will be sent out by email from either myself or Lauren Bouchard at BTF, team members may find this useful so go to 'European Triathlon Championships 2014' through the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/337049439757430/. To access it I think you will need to be accepted onto it by Dawn.
Good luck with your training through the winter months. Stay safe. We want everyone to be in peak condition for June. I will be in touch next year from time to time as and when I need to let you know anything of relevance or importance. If you want to contact me on any issues of concern that I can help with then please do so at - iankitchen@britishtriathlon.org
Have a good new year and best wishes to all for a successful 2014.
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