Like many of you we’ve been shocked by the situation that has hit all of us with Coronavirus and are desperately trying to find our feet in a new uncertain situation. We’ve been trying to guess where this will go next, find the latest information and come up with a plan.

We have so far updated a number of participants about upcoming events and our plans but wanted to share a general update on where we are so you can have some confidence in know how we will proceed and why.

In terms of Fullsteam we are a small family run business with a team of freelancers and subcontractors who work on specific events. For those of us involved this disruption has come at the worst possible time, we have at this stage been working since last summer planning and preparing for a season, and have committed to a majority of costs for a large number of events which will now not proceed and for which we will not receive income, as most people generally enter last minute.

Sports events outside of the large or high value events you see with big brands attached from a financial perspective do not have very good margins and large amounts of cost are committed well in advance of the event. Most event organisers do not generally talk about this reality as we are always grateful for the support of our communities, do it for the love of it and not the money and frankly it doesn’t come up very often.

Through the majority of March, April and likely May we currently expect to receive little to no income to the business. Many overheads such as rent and payments to suppliers however still need to be paid if we are to stay in business and deliver our remaining events this season which puts cashflow at a premium.

As standard we insure all our events on a standard policy against cancellation to try and protect ourselves from these rare situations that are out of our control. Unfortunately Coronavirus as a pandemic/communicative disease is excluded from cancellation insurance and so like the majority of the rest of the we do not have the benefit of this protection.

To date despite the nice speeches given no financial assistance has yet been received by any company in the wake of Covid-19, and financial assistance is not likely to be received until May-June time at the earliest. Based on current announcements we are likely to receive little to no support.

This means like many other people and business out there we will be working hard in new ways to be able to stand on our own two feet and go forwards with the support of you our community.

In the coming weeks there will be some exciting new developments, some new winter events, products and more and all we can ask is that you stand with us at this time and show your support.

At the time of writing we have cancelled all events up until our Swim Solstice event on the 20th of June have been cancelled.

We remain hopeful that events after this date will be able to go ahead but will be watching the situation closely and if we feel we can not safely the deliver the event or will be restricted from doing so we may have to postpone/cancel the event.

Our normal Terms and conditions state that in the event of this scenario we will not be able to offer a refund due to the fact that by the time of cancellation we will have incurred the majority of the costs of delivering the event and therefore the funds are simply unavailable to reimburse participants.

In the event of a cancellation/postponement of the event you will be offered the following choices;

• The same event either this year where one takes place or next year/2021.
• Free transfers to an equivalent event e.g. a sprint triathlon in either 2020 or 2021.
• The equivalent value off any other event in either 2020 or 2021.

With some events where we believe we are likely to reach our capacity or would already be close to capacity we will facilitate the resale of places.

We hope that this gives you the confidence that you can continue to book races with us throughout the season and know that we will not leave you out to dry in the event of a cancellation. We have a full calendar of events and more on the way looking to the future.

We will try to time the announcements of any cancellations appropriately to balance us calling off suppliers and allowing you time to make alternative arrangements. Like all organisations though we are carrying a risk with regards to availability of personnel, suppliers and any last minute changes in government guidance.

Further details relating to any specific event will always be communicated via email.

If you take out the booking protection at the checkout this covers you in the event you cannot attend due to coronavirus or a family member being taken ill with coronavirus.

Details of Booking Protects full policy on this can be found here and we recommend its purchase (we receive no monetary gain from the sale of Booking Protect).

This is likely to be a challenging time for all of us in the sports industry as well as the general public and its the support of you our athletes that will carry us through and enable us to organise events for many more years to come.

Thankyou for your support so far