Volunteering in Branson at the 70.3 Iornman.
For those of you who don't know much about Triathlons it is were you do three sports in a row. The typical and most common is to swim, bike, and run.
The 70.3 Iornman it is 1.2 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 13.1 mile run (1/2 marathon.) Half the distance of a Fulll Iornman. A full Iornman is 2.4-mile swim/ 112-mile bike / 26.2 miles (a marathon)
We have done sprint triathlons 400 meter swim/12 mile bike / 5K run. It might not sound like much next to Ironman but let me assure you it is hard. We were planning on doing an 70.3 Iornman this past race season but due to injeries we were not able to. Lord willing we will be doing an Iornman this up coming year 2012.
We wanted to volunteer for the one in Branson for so many reasons.
The three main reasons were we wanted to see how they were run, what to expect, and to show our support for the sport. It was such a wonderful experience and an awesome event. So many walks of life and so many different ages, sizes, colors, ethnicity, regions, and countries were represented.
Our experience volunteering was an honor!
We were in charge of several parts because they had such a poor turn out for volunteers this year. I am assuming because it was very cold and rainy both days. It rained the entire day Saturday and part of the race day.
We were able to connect with almost all of the 1400+ people. It was amazing. We did body marking (wrote numbers and ages on the athletes), bike check in (so many cool bikes), bike exit (transition 1) We called out everyone's number as the left for the bike portion of the race and bike enter (transition 2) were we asked them to dismount the bike and were able to say encouraging words to everyone when they were tired from such a long and hilly ride.
So many grateful athletes. We were thanked often by them, even during the athletes exhaustion.
Such a powerful thing to see so many people from all walks of life giving all they have for a personal goal, to finish, to become an Iornman! It gets me even more excited to do one. These triathlon athletes are a rare breed.
I am proud to be a "TRIer".
If you ever have the opportunity to volunteer for such an event it just might be life changing.
Making it a lifestyle!
TIA
30 minutes before the race starts
10 minutes out
5 minutes out
Pros are in the water.
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