I’m a runner, but you didn’t stray to my other website and I didn’t accidentally post running stuff to the wrong website. This is about volunteering to help at a race, specifically the Queen Bee Half Marathon and 4 Mile Race.

The position I’ve had at this race is shadowing the race director (RD). I’ve been doing this for four years now, so this is the accumulation of all that knowledge.

Preparation

Obviously, charge both my HTs and gather related equipment (headsets, backup batteries). One of my HTs is a Wouxun, so check the programming (I do this early using last year’s frequencies and CTCSS tones and then check for any changes when the frequencies are released; CHIRP makes it easy to deal with this).

Since my position involves telling the race director about the progress of the race, I created a cheat sheet of tactical names, mileage, and callsigns. This way, I can tell the RD a location better than “water 4”.

Cheat sheet. Callsigns of the innocent and frequencies blurred.

The cheat sheet was nice to have – particularly because I was telling the RD things like “lead runner at mile 1.2” as opposed to “water 1”, which is a little past the marked mile. Additionally, I put a tick mark next to people as they checked in and noted the time when they were released.

Other stuff I tend to have with me:

• Small memo pad
• Pen
• Pocket knife
• Glasses wipe
• Hat (damn receding hairline and general baldness!)

Race Day

I arrive before my scheduled time, mostly because I park at my office (free, secure, and right where I tend to be released from). Find the RD (I know generally where to look, and know who to ask that can get me pointed towards him), and make sure he sees me (if he’s busy). I generally wait until this time to check in with NCS (net control station) as sometimes questions come in. If there are things the RD is doing that I can help with, I jump in and help.

The first race to start is the half marathon. After a half hour, the 4 mile race starts. This year (different from years past), I broadcast the count-down to the start of both races. The remainder is telling the RD where lead runners are and if there are any issues and relaying questions that need to be relayed. Fortunately, many of the stations have been doing this as long as I have (as long as the race itself), so there aren’t many questions anymore as we’ve all refined the process a little – for example, NCS makes sure I know if the lead runner is male or female (since this is the QUEEN BEE half, they would like the first finisher to be female).

Beyond that, I make sure the RD knows if there are a lot of runners dropping out or if I hear anything on the air that I think he needs to be aware of, but since this is become a well-oiled machine and the weather usually cooperates, there hasn’t been much.

Random Pictures

If I did this blog post when I should have, I likely had a reason for taking most of these.  However, the race was in October and it’s now February, there’s no way I remember why I took these.

Today is going to be my first RTTY contest. I’ve never done RTTY before last night. Fortunately, one of our Milford Amateur Radio Club members, Bill WS6K helped me (and others) out by creating macros and doing some how-tos. We talked through the setup on the club 2m repeater, and he even kept with me after my HT died, and my second HT had a dead battery, so I hooked my second HT to my little Astron power supply which caused a lot of hum on my signal.

So we got things working and tested. Hope to put a lot of people in the log today.

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