Here is an article I wrote that appeared in the Second Wind Running Club newsletter for Sep/Oct 2011 about volunteering for races.
How many times have you seen this in your In Box?
From: Tricia Crowder
Subject: [Secondwind-l] VOLUNTEER CALL
It seems like every race, these notes eventually stop coming, indicating that volunteers have been found. So if you’re like me, you don’t always respond to the call. As it turns out, many of the races that Second Wind helps manage are staffed by the same people time and time again. Perhaps involuntarily, our involunteerism is wearing them out. But really, when we don’t volunteer we are missing the best parts of being runners.
I’m writing this the day after the 2011 Howl at the Moon 8-hour ultra at Kennekuk, where I was an aid station volunteer for the third time. I knew I wanted to be there to see old friends and make new ones. Because I was injured, I couldn’t run it so I worked it, which brings me to my first point: Working a race is a great way to stay connected to the running community when you can’t run. When I do come back and start racing, it won’t be a hey-where-you-been situation. Instead, it’ll be a natural progression back into the running part of running. You see, as running sage Tony Suttle is fond of saying, it’s not about the running.
In the six years or so that I’ve been running, there have been hundreds of people, both behind the scenes and part of the scenes, who have made my race experiences not only positive but possible. They are the ones who make races fun, safe, and organized. Working a race is a way of paying it forward.
Sometimes there’s the general sense of helping a collective group of runners. Then there’s the special sense of helping someone in particular. At the Howl yesterday, I smiled when I thought about the previous year’s Howl when I offered my help to an older woman who was struggling on the course. She didn’t know anything about S-caps or gels, and on such a hot day, it was clear that she needed some. I gave her some from my stash and walked with her until she revived. Then I offered to pace her for a loop, for which she was grateful, but then I immediately regretted it when she told me she was a walker and not a runner. I wanted to run a loop, but I walked with her anyway. It turned out to be one of the most memoable and rewarding loops I’ve ever done. The distraction of talking about her family and her life helped her finish the race. I was so happy to see her embraced by her husband at the end of what was to be a successful Howl for both of us.
Working a race can even be life changing. In 2009, I worked the overnight shift of the McNaughton aid station. That year, runners competed in 50-, 100- and 150-mile distances as part of the McNaughton Park Trail Runs ultra in Pekin. The lights of our aid station shone like a beacon of hope as runners who had run all day soldiered on through the night by headlamp. I got a glimpse of the ultra world at that aid station, and the seeds of my running aspirations were planted. Working a race can give you a preview of what it’s like to run it.
After working local races, you may want to branch out and work one completely out of your jurisdiction. I did that last year as a volunteer at the Ozark 100, in Missouri, miles from here. I felt right at home, and I got to experience a new running venue by running part of the trail after my aid station duties were over. Not only am I a member of our local running community, but I am part of the larger community of like-minded individuals, united by our love of running and the great outdoors.
I was surprised when Tricia told me recently that our club routinely has to struggle to come up with enough volunteers to staff races, especially during the races themselves. Part of the problem is that many would-be volunteers can’t do race-day jobs because they are running the race. That’s when we need to step up, if we’re not running that day. Working a race is also a good way to get our non-running or not-running-that-day family members and friends involved in what we do and in the camaraderie that comes from working with other race volunteers.
If you run 5Ks, try working a marathon. If you run long trail races, try working a short road race. Curious about triathlons? Working one is better than a front-row seat. Want a little excitement? Try working the finish line of a short, fast race. Keeping runners organized in the finish chute, pulling bib numbers, or clicking times keeps you on your toes. In the last stages of a race, when most of the crowd has left, you may be the only ones cheering for a runner as they finish. You may have a bigger impact than you’ll know.
Runners are part of the race. They are its raison d’être. But it’s also the volunteers that make the race happen. We depend on each other, and in many cases, we are each other. How many times does it feel good to be truly needed? In a race, it’s every time.
===1) Gregg Rose, coordinator for the Howl 2011 aid station, awaits the first runners.
3) Darby Rude hoists the Gatorade at the Howl aid station.
