Volunteering: Ironman Melbourne

Hi All,

I thought I'd share with you my experience last week as a volunteer at IRONMAN Melbourne.

The IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship took place in Melbourne yesterday. There were approximately 2500 competitors consisting predominantly of Age Group Triathletes and also professionals from around the world. I believe that for two thirds of the Age Groupers it was their first IRONMAN. I'm recently retired from work and was happy to give some of my time to help those racing.

Last Wednesday a group of 12 volunteers packed 2500 gear bags. The job was fairly straight forward and I was able to to talk to others about their reasons for volunteering. One lady had to get out of the house as her husband was doing his first IRONMAN and he was driving her crazy . Others had recently completed an IRONMAN or another race and wanted to return the favor for the volunteers that had helped them race.

On Saturday I worked in T2 helping with unloading & racking the bikes and explaining how the transition area would flow on race day. It was interesting to observe the competitors. Some would visualize or even walk through how they would transition in and out of the area. There were nervous comments about the amount of preparation, wind conditions etc and those who couldn't wait to get out on the course. I must admit I had a severe case of bike envy on Saturday.

Race day was Sunday and I wasn't scheduled to start until 12:00. This enabled me to watch the early parts of the race. I spent the afternoon in the transition (T2) tent helping the competitors change, pack their gear bags, direct them in and out of transition. The race leaders were in and out in a flash and so focused, they were definitely "in the zone". The age groupers fell into 2 categories; those that wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible and those who wanted to catch their breath and get their heart rate down. As the day progressed there seemed to be more in the latter category. There were lots of smiling faces to have made it to T2 and the competitors were very courteous and thanked the volunteers. The most memorable were helping world champions and then helping a blind competitor and his guide; absolutely amazing effort.

I strongly recommend that if you get the opportunity to volunteer at a race that you get involved and see the race from a different perspective.