Zman and I started our 4th of July off volunteering at the Minneman Triathlon in Oak Grove. I've done the race twice and last year took 2nd in the Clydesdale division. It's WAAAY too soon after CDA for me to racing so I figured I'd give back. I'm a member of the club that sponsors it so I figured I better sign up. We were assigned to the finish but had to be there long before the athletes - 5:15 am. The sun was coming up over the lake as we left the cabin and it was gorgeous. Even Zman thought it was cool. It did make for a really long day with the party and fireworks later but he seems to have recovered.
They grabbed us to pass out chips which was pretty cool - sooner or later every athlete came to see us. I haven't been a spectator at a sprint before. The Minneman has a special novice division which had 2 waves this year. The distances are particularly short - .25, 13 and 3 and it attracts a lot of newbies. It was great having them pop down their kickstands to get body marked and answering their questions.
One of the things I love about this sport is how generally open to newbies it is and how helpful people are. Sure there are a few overly intense jerks but most the most part everyone is out to have a good time.
An athlete came up to us and had forgot her goggles. I directed her to the PA who asked over the soundsystem. No fewer than 6 pairs of goggles were delivered to the PA table for use by anyone who forgot theirs.
Here's a pic of Zman passing out chips.
After the start we made our way to the finish line. We didn't have long to wait for pro David Thompson (placed 2nd at Escape from Alcatraz) who broke his course record - coming in under 54 minutes. I'm sure he was back out on the road that afternoon completing his training for the day.
There were about 5 kids passing out water and taking chips. They had absolutely no feel for who needed a little space after crossing the line but all the athletes were good sports about it. I was at the exit to the finish corral - making sure we got all the chips. A lot of athletes forget about their chip, grab a water and keep moving.
I met another member of the triclub which was nice. It was a beautiful morning and a fun time - even if we missed out on the hotdogs. Zman and I more than made up for it later at the neighbors. Wendy even made me a special fruit pizza! There were 2 ROUNDS of desserts and I tried them all.
1 comment:
I thought the fourth discipline was sampling high-quality beverages made with hops, yeast, water, and barley. Volunteering is good too though.
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