Thinking of Volunteering for a Race

[wannaduacentury]

I live in the Atlanta metro area and the ING marathon was one that I considered (which prompted me to post this thread).

I'll definitely keep that one in mind and let you know.

For PW and Diedre- What is ING marathon? This sounds interesting I'm an hour from you. Jenn

[Pedal Wench]

For PW and Diedre- What is ING marathon? This sounds interesting I'm an hour from you. Jenn

The ING Marathon is in March -- March 30th, to be exact: http://www.inggeorgiamarathon.com/site3.aspx

Hopefully, I'll have enough volunteers to give each wheelchair athlete one escort. You ride just ahead of each athlete, pointing out obstacles, showing the way, and most importantly, watching for traffic. The wheelchair race starts a few minutes before the running marathon, so the coarse might not be closed to traffic. Last year, a few intersections were tricky, and I had to stop some cars that were coming out of parking lots. For the training runs, we're just out there in the traffic, so we're just providing visibility and morale support to those athletes, protecting them from cars, since they're much lower to the ground.

For the training runs, all levels of cyclists are encouraged to volunteer. For the actual marathon, you need to be able to ride 13-14 mph, as they can move pretty quickly uphill, and we hit 27mph on some of the downhills last year.

Edit: After reading your initial post, Diedre, another thing I did was as I was riding a bit ahead of my athlete (who won the women's race!!!!) I would yell to the gathering crowd, "Wheelchair racers coming through, let's make some NOISE!!!!" to make sure the crowds were cheering for her. These folks get spread out, so I wanted to make sure folks knew we were coming through.

[tygab]

yep, I try to volunteer for events also. Since I participate in events/races, I know what it means to racers to have the volunteers there doing everything from routing us at corners and course marshaling, to making sure we have food and drink. If it's not your race day, why not try and make someone else's a little better? The positive impact you can have is worth it. And you usually get a race t-shirt too.

[mcoleman]

There can be other unexpected benefits, also. DH just did the Florida Ironman and I volunteered in the women's change tent. The night before the race, they announced that they would have a special line for volunteers at the sign ups for next year. All you had to do was wear your t-shirt. The regular line was huge and I believe it sold out in 7 minutes on line. I have no interest in the Ironman distance, but I thought that was a pretty cool idea. The folks at IM are trying a few things differently this year with sign ups. It will be interesting to see what changes they make permanent.
BTW-I loved working in the change tent. I have done other jobs at races, but that was my fave!

[wemoon]

Last year was my first season of events and was just trying to muddle through getting trained, registered, and to the events so I didn't volunteer at all. This next season though, I would like to volunteer. I agree with Running Mommy about how those who participate in events should give back and volunteer.