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.)
70.3 is half the distance of a Full Iornman.
A full Iornman is 2.4-mile swim/ 112-mile bike / 26.2 miles
(a marathon) 140.6 total miles.
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 injuries 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 enitre 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
10 minutes out
5 minutes out
Pros are in the water.
TIA
1 comment:
Awesome you are girl, this would be amazing to do. I can't wait till you do one.
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