I like the theme of the “what I learned threads” today. Here is mine. I helped hand out water to bikers at the Cross Plaines aid station yesterday at IMWI – I was the one in a full tux, although the coat came off by noon (we had a Las Vegas theme). We were very structured. One person on the curb ready to hand out a bottle, with other volunteers behind ready to step up. When you marked a rider, you would run in the street parallel to the curb, hand off the bottle, jump back onto the curb, get in the back of the line, grab a bottle and wait your turn for another run. Even when riders were coming one after another, this worked well. But a bit of help from the riders makes it all smoother. Some lessons I learned.
Point to the volunteer holding a water for you. Most of the faster riders did this, but everyone should make it a habit. There were a few times when several riders came one after another and if the first one didn’t point or at least make eye contact or ride along with their hand out, it was difficult to know their intentions. More than a few times, riders who had made no indications suddenly stuck their hands out for a bottle and I missed getting them one because I was already marking the person behind them.
Dump your empties before or after the aid station. We had small soccer nets set up off the road to catch them. Often riders threw them away within the aid stations, with some vague feeling that maybe they shouldn’t heave them toward the volunteers, so they would aim for a curb. We’d get them out ASAP, but a perfect storm of a bottle rolling into the street and too many riders coming for us to safely retrieve it could cause it to be laying there for another rider to hit it.
Don’t stop in the middle of the aid station. It’s dangerous for volunteers and other riders. Numerous riders stopped at our table a few feet off the curb and stood there while they dumped water in their handlebar container. Get off the street if you can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. Other riders had to ride around them and we had to run around them to hand off water. During one of my runs handing off water, I ran into a bike that had stopped just past our table without me knowing it.
Don’t expect a bottle if you are riding too far from the curb. A few riders were screaming water as they rode five or six feet off the curb, with riders behind them along the curb that would have hit us if we had gone out in the street to pass off to the middle of the roader.
Triathletes are polite. I would estimate that four out of five said thank you to me. One of the nicer moments was when a rider who wasn’t getting anything just screamed “thank you volunteers” as he zoomed by.
i am willing to bet i know who said that “thank you volunteeeeeeeeers”. it was more than likely the same guy that stopped for the downed rider on the Keene descent. he is good like that.
I was helping dudes get their gear out of their T1 bags before going on to the bike. I just wanted to respond to the “triathletes are polite” statement and say that I couldn’t believe that these people were going OUT OF THEIR WAY to thank me for helping them get their stuff out of the bag, made me feel really good to be able to help people in some small way reach their goals (hopefully). Oh yeah, and volunteering is TOTALLY a gas! I signed up for 2010, but I told my wife that even if I never do another IM after that, I am returning to volunteer for sure
The pointing thing is key. That and the “thank you”. Always say thank you to any volunteer or cop you see.
x2 - the point is huge, make eye contact and get the volunteers attention so it is a smooth handoff for both of you (also works great at run aid stations).
Can’t say enough about always thanking volunteers/cops, they are out on the course all day for us and sometimes in crappy conditions.
As a new Ironman competitor for IMAZ in November, its nice to read these “What I learned from working…”
It helps to know what to do, expect, not to do, etc.
I volunteered 3 years at different tasks at IMAZ, but getting to know the in’s and out’s of a race are really helpful.
If anybody else wants to post their experiences, that would be helpful.
Oh, and by the way…thanks for volunteering.
As an athlete we can’t say it enough.
As a volunteer, you can’t hear it enough.
I volunteered to hand out water at a half-marathon on Labor Day. Out of 1600 runners I can honestly say there was not one jerk. The runners were exceedingly thankful and polite. If you have not volunteered before, give it a try. It’s a rewarding experience.
thanks for volunterring…were you warm too?
We were lucky because we were in the shade most of the day. But even in the shade, a tux isn’t too comfortable. If I had gotten much hotter after I took my coat off, I’d have been tempted to take off my tux shirt and, leaving on the bow tie, cummerbund and suspenders, go for the Las Vegas male stripper look.
Thanks for volunteering! I was there and you guys did a great job. You make great points, and I thanked as many as I could; also the police at corners. I think this was possibly the nicest, most honest crowd I’ve ever raced with, and I was surely proud to be within them. Although few dropped back far enough after being overtaken, it was never an issue. I want to thank you and commend all of those fellow warriors out there yesterday.
I’ve never done an IM, so just a general question.
What kind of bottle is it? Is it just a bottle of water, or is it a generic bike bottle with water in it?
If so, is the water ice cold, or just regualar room temp. water or what?
The water was the same as the bottled water you buy by the box, although they had squirt tops. We started out handing it out at room temp, but as the day went on, we started putting them in a baby swimming pool filled with ice. But they went fast, so many were barely cool before they had to get handed out.