11/01/2023 - Important information.
It is with great regret that we must tell you the 255 Triathlon Festival of Endurance will no longer take place in 2023. We appreciate this will be very disappointing news for you.
Firstly, let us reassure you that all competitors will receive a full refund within 7 days.
We want to provide you with a clear explanation as to why we have been forced to cancel the event. To put it simply, the number of people entering the event is nowhere near enough to make the event financially viable.
In 2021 we had 96 solo athletes and 71 teams take part. In 2022, despite having been voted South East Event of the Year, we only had 28 solo athletes, with the number of relay teams increasing only slightly. Despite introducing additional race options and offering significant early-bird discounts, we have so far only had 10 solo entries and 9 teams for 2023. These numbers are significantly lower than we had at this time in previous years, and predict final numbers up to 50% lower than last year.
The event made a financial loss in both 2021 and 2022 which is to be expected with any new event, but in 2023 the losses are projected to be significantly higher (in the tens of thousands). The costs associated with delivering high-quality triathlon events are increasing and hiring a motor racing circuit makes them even higher.
The truth is we just don't know why numbers at the 255 Triathlon have declined so significantly. Although many events across the country, including free events such as Park Run, have also seen a decline in recent years, our other TriBourne events at Eastbourne, IronBourne and Brighton & Hove are very healthy and continue to grow. To put this into perspective, in the last 2 weeks we have seen over 350 athletes enter TriBourne events, but only one of those entries was for the 255 Triathlon.
This has been a very difficult decision for us. We are both athletes and passionate about the sport and the concept of the 255 Triathlon Festival of Endurance. Our ethos has always been to deliver high-quality events whilst always putting the athlete first, but we simply can't sustain an event with a loss of tens of thousands of pounds and no sign of long-term growth.
Once again, we are very sorry to disappoint you with this news. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely
Mat and Dale
The 255 Triathlon relay is unlike a traditional triathlon relay format, yet is very simple: As a team of either two, three or four you must complete the 255km race between you. You can make exchanges between team members at any point in the race with only two conditions:
The 5km swim consists of four laps of 1,250m giving the opportunity for up to four team members to all take part in a swim. The bike will be 52 laps, each of 3.8km, giving the opportunity for up to five stints of 10 or more laps. The 50km run will be 13 laps, giving the opportunity for up to 13 individual stints from as little as 3.85km each.
One team member will submit the entry and make the payment on behalf of the entire team (less any BTF day licence fees needed for the additional team members). This first team member will enter their own details as team member #1 and enter the email addresses of their teammates. Once payment is processed, the other teammates will then receive an email containing a link which they must follow in order to input their own personal details. At this point, any team members who are not BTF members will be asked to pay an additional £6 for their own BTF day licence.
As a team of three, you could choose the classic triathlon relay format with a swimmer, cyclist and runner each completing the entire leg of their chosen discipline.
With the rising popularity of both aquabike racing and ultra-running, a team of two could be formed with an aquabike competitor completing both the swim and bike, and an ultra-runner then taking over to complete the run.
As a team of three, you could each take part in all three disciplines, but play to the strengths of individual team members. In this example, team member #1 is the stronger swimmer, completing two swim laps, team member #2 (the stronger cyclist) takes a longer turn on the bike, and team member #3 does the majority of the run.
This format is a great opportunity to combine a long-course and short-course athletes into a single team. The long-course athlete (team member #1 in this example) would complete a total distance very close to the traditional 'Iron' distance triathlon, with the second team member completing the equivalent of standard 'Olympic' distance triathlon.
In this example, a team of four can each complete one quarter of the race, each completing a total distance approximately equivalent to a standard "Olympic" distance triathlon. Please note, due to the total of 10 laps of the run it is not possible to divide the run equally between four teammates.
The only rules relating to relay exchanges is that exchanges must be made at the designated point at the end of a lap (i.e. complete laps or multiples of complete laps), with the exception of the bike where a minimum of 10 laps (38km) must be completed between changeovers. With a team making handovers are often as possible, this would allow the race to be divided into 19 stints as shown in this example.
For the duathletes, there's the option to team up with a swimmer to form a team of two.
As a team of two, you could split the event equally between you, each completing just slightly further than a traditional 70.3 middle distance race.
The optionas are pretty much endless. You could even just make it us as you go along depending how your team members are feeling on the day. If someone is having a bad patch, you could make a spontaneous exchange to give them a break. If things are getting competitve you might even make tactical changes to your strategy as the race dynamic unfolds.
