by Jess Evans
September 25, 2018
USARA is looking for volunteers for the National Championship Adventure Race in Indiana for Friday and Saturday, Sept 28 and 29. This prompted me to think of how valuable volunteers are to adventure racing.
AR Volunteers make an already great sport, awesome. An adventure race cannot be successful without the volunteers who take time out of their lives to sit at a Transition Area for hours waiting for racers to show up. I have volunteered at several races and always love being out there for the racers. I feel the excitement as the racers enter and leave the TAs. I am probably more anxious for them than they are because I hope they find the CPs and get to the finish before the cut off. When I volunteer, I am delighted to be a part of and supporting the event. All the racers are nice, in good spirits, and determined to keep going. It is inspiring to watch them during a race.
As a racer, I look forward to seeing those volunteers. They are in good spirits, encouraging, and provide creature comforts that are lost between the TAs. Sometimes being in a TA can be confusing. You are not sure where the flag and punch are, you are not sure where to drop your bike or grab your canoe, you are not sure who can help you, or you are not sure where your bin is to restock. The volunteers are calming and guide you through the TA. It is obviously very hectic for them, trying to herd cats from the look of things, but they are still there doing a near impossible job of getting the racers in and out.
I want to give a BIG thank you to all the AR volunteers out there. They are simply wonderful.
