diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index add5b19b505c8ec51981ef0f4c38d6cad90961b0..f56698a15caae82d9d85629240c0e193aa2b9ecf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ variables:
   INTERNAL_TAG: "pipeline-${CI_PIPELINE_ID}"
 
   ## Detector and configuration to use for benchmark
+  ## problem: Defining these here mean we can add them as trigger variables later 
   DETECTOR: epic
   DETECTOR_CONFIG: epic_craterlake
   DETECTOR_REPOSITORYURL: 'https://github.com/eic/epic.git'
@@ -472,9 +473,9 @@ benchmarks:detector:nightly:
     - version
     - jug_xl:nightly
   variables:
-    DETECTOR: "${DETECTOR}"
-    DETECTOR_CONFIG: "${DETECTOR_CONFIG}"
-    DETECTOR_REPOSITORYURL: "${DETECTOR_REPOSITORYURL}"
+    DETECTOR: "epic"
+    DETECTOR_CONFIG: epic_craterlake
+    DETECTOR_REPOSITORYURL: 'https://github.com/eic/epic.git'
     BENCHMARKS_TAG: "${INTERNAL_TAG}-nightly"
     BENCHMARKS_CONTAINER: "jug_xl"
     BENCHMARKS_REGISTRY: "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE"