Be Nice to the Volunteers!

Don’t let the blog title put you off – I’m hoping this isn’t going to be too dull or too preachy and isn’t meant to be a rant but I really wanted to put some things out there about the importance of volunteers and how the first three races of this season has changed my outlook on both race organizing and volunteering at races. My plan to volunteer actually started off last year when I was planning my race season (yes, a little early….) and was checking out the Chasing3 race calendar www.chasing3.com . Chasing3 are the folks who are running the New Mexico Triathlon Series this year and amongst other races, they did Benson and Cochiti last year. This year they’re doing more races and a race for free program, where if you volunteer to help at selected races, they give you an entry slot for another selected race for free (more details can be found at http://www.chasing3.com/race-for-free/ ) and that sounded pretty good to me so I volunteered at Coyote Carrera and Benson for slots at Storrie Lake and Cochiti.

The first race I volunteered at was Coyote Carrera down in ABQ and I essentially helped out getting people getting body marked and pointing people in the right direction – nothing too challenging but it was fun being involved and seeing the first 10 or so people crossing the line. One thing that stood out while doing a little crowd control to keep people from impeding racers exiting T2 to the pool was a small number of grouchy people who didn’t like being informed that they probably shouldn’t get in the athletes way – hey I’m trying to do you a favor!

Next up was Atomic Man, I did the Fat Man in the cold and light snow and as it was close to home my wife volunteered and helped out with traffic control and directing on the run course. She’s got a low tolerance to the cold so I’m very grateful she helped out in conditions which would approach her own personal hell !!!! However, she also got a few grouchy people, one who “had kids in the car” and wanted to park in the school parking lot after the Little Boy had started and one classic “I pay my taxes” when told a short section of road was closed. Ah, well you always get a few!

The last race was the ever popular Albuquerque World Championships aka Jay Benson and was as usual a great race. This time I helped John out with timing and the bike out/bike in part of the race. Now here we only had one minor grouch but he came back to apologize so fair play to that guy but what struck me at this race was the amount of effort that went into the race set up. I was involved in the break-down too and if you looked around, all the racks, advertisements, barricades etc. had to be broken down and put away and all the course markers and aid stations broken down too. Angie and John told me the Chasing3 crew had been there since 9pm the night before and had worked right through to after the race – would anyone have guessed that’s what they do? Me neither but I do now!

So I think I’m trying to make a few points:

One is that seriously, be nice the volunteers, you might have pre-race tensions and be trying to get in race mode, but the volunteers have probably been up the same length of time you have if not more and are more than likely doing this for free (or at least a free race ;o) and they don’t have to be there. You don’t want to be remembered at a grouch! I know it’s just a few individuals but I’m not writing about the 99% of nice people. BTW every Triatomic was a credit to the club!!!!!!!

Two, next time you’re at a race, look around and think what might have to be taken down when everyone clears out and remember that someone had to put that up – organizing these races is a non-trivial event and be patient if there are minor kinks during race day. Volunteering has given me a whole new perspective on the amount of effort and organization required to put on a race so hats off to Angie and the whole C3 crew. I only saw a small slice of what happens on race day so I can’t imagine some of the stories they have!

Finally, I’d like to get you thinking about volunteering at a race if you haven’t already done so, not only is it pretty fun and you get to meet a bunch of new people, it’s also an eye-opener to what’s involved and you might be able to pick up some tips on what to do or what not to do - I think I now have an idea what’s the most effective way to mount/dismount the bike!

I also want to thank the C3 crew for putting on some great races so far this year and now I’m just looking forward to Storrie Lake and Cochiti and yes, I'll be back to volunteer at more races!!!