Volunteer Experience

It does make a difference when you thank (and become) a volunteer.

I was motivated by SUE7013’s recent IMFL volunteer report and decided to go ahead and volunteer for the Miamiman race this past weekend. I had done this race the last two years, knew the course and figured it would be fun to see friends in the race and be able to help out.

Helped out a bit on Saturday with registration – line forming, USAT license checking, etc.

Got to the site on race day at 4:15AM and was assigned to guard the back entrance to the park and to not allow unauthorized vehicles to come in – the race director was not allowed to close the gate or set up any kind of barrier. They did a good job of organizing the parking (to the extent that it was available) and athletes were given a pass in their packet to one of three entrances/lots. These entrances were guarded by police officers who allowed absolutely no one without a pass to have access, and instead sent them to the “spectator” lot which was a road into the park that ended at the gate I was guarding (which was the back side of one of the athlete lots). I was basically told to not allow anyone to pass the gate that was not a volunteer, vendor, employee or VIP. As you can imagine for the first 2 hours there was a steady stream of athletes that had not remembered to bring their parking pass and had already been turned away at other entrances by the police officers. Ended up staying at the spot until 12:00 as there were many spectators still arriving and people coming to the park that had no idea there was a race going on – ended up preventing a lot of cars from heading toward the road where the bike course was flowing through the "parking lot", and keeping the bike course volunteers from being distracted by extra cars trying to find non-existent parking spots. The spectators were generally nice, and one guy even gave me an iced water. It was 50:50 with the athletes though, pretty comical some of the excuses they had for why they should be allowed to park closer. Here’s a few of the athletes that made my day memorable:


PRIMADONNA ATHLETE
“Do you know the race director????” “I know the race director, and the volunteer coordinator, and blah, blah, blah employee.” “I’ve done a ton of their races.” Hmmm…so why didn’t you open your race packet and remember to bring a parking pass? “I don’t care what you say, I’m the regional duathlon champion and there’s no way in H I’m parking way the F out there.” …..OK, you may get a better transition spot if you are fast, but your athletic ability does not guarantee you good parking. And looking at the race results it doesn’t appear that he was the champion that day any way, maybe he should have just stayed in bed.

MAYBE THE VOLUNTEER WILL JUMP OUT OF THE WAY IF I DON’T STOP
Hummer approaching at 30 mph, slowing to 29 mph, turning, turning, not paying attention to the waving ORANGE light saber. Finally stops…..there is no way this guy is getting past.

DRIVER AND ADDITIONAL BACK SEAT RACER ARGUING
Bared their arms and legs to prove they were registered for the races, but sorry you were turned away by the police so why should I let you in. Kept arguing. Asked the guy why he’s wearing an Ironman hat and afraid to walk an extra ¼ mile….. He admitted the hat was for a “half-Ironman” and smiled. Congratulated him on his half-iron finish and pointed him to the spectator lot.

FOREIGNER WITH VISA, BUT NO PARKING PASS
“I came all the way from Colombia to deal with THIS and YOU?” uhh, yup, glad I had the opportunity to meet you, good luck in the race.

CHALLENGED ATHLETE GUIDE WITHOUT PASS
Recognized him from the day before escorting one of the blind athletes, just didn’t get the pass from the athlete – hey, go right ahead. But then thought to myself “so how did the blind guy drive to the race?” Family I hope.

I NEED TO DROP MY BIKE OFF
First, you were supposed to drop it off the day before, and hey...how about riding it there.

CAR WITH A BIKE ON TOP AFTER THE RACE STARTED
OK, looks like it might be a vendor vehicle. Why is he not stopping? Oh, maybe SAG. Oh crap, shirtless guy in the passenger seat with blood coming out his nose. Hope he was alright.


Sure is funny how you get treated by athletes when you are there to try to help ensure their safety.

Congratulations to everyone that entered the race and remembered their parking passes!

Will I volunteer again? You bet.