COUNCILLORS from South Cerney Parish Council are demanding that they have more involvement in the organising of a triathlon following fears over safety, noise and traffic.

In the Cotswold 226 on August 10 competitors completed a cycle and swim in the Cotswold Water Park and then finished with a 26.2 looped run into South Cerney.

Race organiser Graeme Hardie said that he would like the triathlon to finish in South Cerney next year.

At the parish council meeting on August 13, councillors discussed the event and were not welcome to Mr Hardie's idea unless the event is better organised.

Councillors said they were disappointed that the event was organised with permission of the district council and county council and not the parish council.

Philip Nicholas said that not enough safety measures were put in place to protect runners.

He said: “There was runners running across the Spine Road in a zombie like state. It is extremely perturbing to see them running across the road as I only spotted on steward looking out for traffic.”

Mike Stuart, chairman of the council explained the council received complaints about traffic congestion and noise disturbance related to the race.

He said: “I have received three emails from Jo Aldridge at the United Church saying that a service there at six o'clock was virtually disrupted by noise from the tannoy system. She said if we knew this was going to happen we would have postponed or cancelled the service and that if we knew in future that would be good.”

James Harris explained he was concerned that Mr Hardie asked youngsters to steward the race but did not provide them with high visibility vests.

He added: “People travel from all over the country and we owe it to them as much as us to ensure it is a safe event. We are not killjoys, we just care about the safety of competitors.”

Peter Jay said he would not be happy if such a such a badly organised event happened in the village next year.