The Aberfeldy Multi Sports Festival and Middle Distance Triathlon will be taking place next weekend the 20th and 21st of August.
The weekend kicks off on the Saturday with the Drummond Hill 10km Run and the Go Swim Loch Tay Events and closing on the Sunday with the Scottish Middle Distance Triathlon Championships.
Event Director Richard Pearson speaking to Heartland FM about the running the event last year and how they felt it went said: “I think generally it went well. I think that athletes coming back to racing after 18 months, it was a big experience for them, and I guess that some athletes were a bit race rusty and so that was interesting to see how they coped with that.
“We were still under some restrictions last year, we had to maintain physical distancing in certain touch points, things like registration and race briefing and award ceremonies, and we introduced levels of additional hygiene stations, hand washing stations where we need to.
“But generally, I think it went pretty well and also athletes were just so pleased to be back racing again.”
The Aberfeldy Multi Sports Festival kicks off at 10am on Saturday 20th at the Kenmore Recreation Ground as athletes set off on a 10km trail run up and around the trails on Drummond Hill and along the banks of the Tay.
Following on from the Hill run is Go Swim Loch Tay which include a range of swimming events including a 5,000m, 3,000m, 1,500m, 750m and a family friendly 250m race.
Sunday brings the big one, the Middle Distance Triathlon, kicking off at 7am with a 1,900m swim in Loch Tay, before a 90km Road Cycle event starting at Wades Park, taking in the scenery with a climb up Schiehallion and coming back before a 21km Run, taking in Loch Rannoch and finishing back up in Wades Park.
While the majority of restrictions have been lifted the organisers are still looking to keep the athletes safe, Mr Pearson explained how they will be doing this: “We’re not under any government restriction in terms of numbers, that’s unlimited at the moment, but we are still conscious that some people may be nervous about being around big groups and so we’re asking people to respect that and maintain their distance when in crowded areas.”
Mr Pearson went on to explain how they would be handling the race starts: “The hill race will now be a mass start, but we’ve emphasised in the athlete guide that just to respect peoples space and to just give people that space if required, but no we are reverting back to a mass start now for the hill race but for the swim start we will allow that staggered start.”
For more information on the events visit, https://www.aberfeldytriathlon.com/