- I solicited volunteers - I needed at least 40 to meet the minimum Ironman aid station requirements. I had to organize the volunteers into three different shifts, get their shirt sizes, enter them into the Ironman database, send emails with pertinent information, etc.
- Along with my Work Team, I selected a charity to donate the aid station money to (for our volunteer efforts, the Ironman donates $1200 to a charity of our choice). This year, we selected Let's Move Boise. I then worked with the organization to obtain and submit appropriate tax paperwork to Ironman.
- Work on getting food donations for our volunteers. This proved to be one of the hardest parts. I first tried to figure out Walmart's donation policy/process, but had a hard time figuring out what I needed to do. So I decided to move on - I sent a formal letter to Winco requesting a gift card to purchase food for our volunteers. When I didn't hear back after 7 weeks, I contacted the corporate office twice, but never heard a word back. Not even a "no". I started to get a little panicky - so I contacted Rosauers (a new grocery store in town), submitted a formal letter, and was told I should hear back within about 7 days. I didn't hear anything back. I called to follow up and was promised a return phone call that day. I didn't hear back. Ugh, what a nightmare. A special thanks to Erik Pray and Washington Trust Bank. Erik (a former BYP member) had volunteered to bring down a BBQ and cook our food for us. When he heard I had been unsuccessful in getting food donations, he used some community funds he had available through Washington Trust. The BBQ was great... THANK YOU ERIK!!
- Music is always a nice addition to our aid station. Not only does it pump up the athletes as they run by, but it helps make the time a little more exciting for the volunteers... I coordinated with Wild 101 (multiple emails/phone calls) to set up a PA system and play music for us. It was great :-)
- I also attended a couple team captain meetings the two weeks prior to the event.
Race day ended up being crazy! Matt and I went to pick up the big Budget truck with all our aid station supplies at 9:30 Saturday morning and dropped it off at our aid station. We were set with volunteers from 1-9pm, with the first athlete expected to pass by our aid station at 2:48, so we went home, expecting to rest for a little bit before we had to go back down to set up. Well, I got a call at about 11:15 that the bike race was cut short due to weather (from 56 miles down to 15!), and that I needed to get back to my aid station and set up asap, since they were now expecting the first athlete to pass my aid station around 12:45. I started panicking because I didn't have any volunteers to even help get set up until 1:00... and I didn't have people's phone numbers! I called the one person whose number I did have and emailed another, and I ended up getting three guys to come help Matt and I get set up early. Of course it was freezing cold and raining, but everyone was awesome and we got set up quickly. And then of course our first runner didn't pass by until about 1:40 :-) But at least we were prepared for them. I just felt bad for my late shift people who didn't really have much to do besides clean up since the race ended a couple hours earlier than I expected. Oh well, I realized that some things were out of my control. The weather did end up clearing up quite a bit, and it ended up being a decently nice afternoon.
I am especially thankful for Matt - he was such a trooper and helped me out the entire day.
I am especially thankful for Matt - he was such a trooper and helped me out the entire day.
I continue to be amazed by the athleticism and the endurance of those who actually participate in the race. I'm hoping that the Ironman comes back to Boise again next year since I'm looking forward to participating again. I figure I've learned a lot this year, so next year should be smoother!
No comments:
Post a Comment