The question that I both love and hate the most on Luray Triathlon race weekend: “Are you the race director?”
It usually means something has gone wrong and I need to fix it, which in a nutshell describes my job race weekend (in addition to picking up trash)….although I did have a quite a few athletes come up to me and say what a great race it was.
Race Weekend:
Race weekend officially begins on Thursday with packet stuffing at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures. With 20 volunteers, two assembly lines and 20 inserts, it took us 1.5 hours to stuff the 1,200 race packets. Very fast!
On Friday, we set up the transition area and mark the swim, bike and run courses. The 30 portable toilets and 250 bags of ice are delivered to the park and we pick up all the food including 3,000 bottles of water from Wal-mart in a truck. Everything is ready for staging on Saturday morning.
Packet pick up runs from 3-7 PM behind Gary’s store. The key to packet pick up is to set up a process that moves athletes through the line quickly. Each year we get a little better. You may remember my step-mom, Charlotte, walking up to you while you were in line to check your USAT card then mark your hand. I like packet pick up because it’s a chance to talk to participants and answer questions about the course.
Saturday Morning:
On Saturday, event staff and park staff are all in the park by 5:30 AM. Office Steve Cave greets me near the park entrance. He’s there early for any of the triathletes who arrive before we’re ready to check them in. Later in day, Officer Cave showed us his 23 pound utility belt and demonstrated how a taser works.
Race morning is hectic, as there are many activities occurring in parallel and the clock is counting down until the 8 AM start:
- Coordinating, training and staging volunteers – Cory Churches and Nina Long did an outstanding job with the volunteers!
- Checking in athletes at registration
- Issuing timing chips
- Body marking
- Monitoring athletes only in transition area
- Placing the turn buoys at the marker buoys set up the day before
- Swim safety briefing for lifeguards and rescue personnel
- Food staging and preparation
- Communicating important information like the new International swim course – we used laminated signs at the swim start and Pat O’Brien (Luray Parks Director) and I yelled out the course to each wave as loud as I could.
- Organizing everyone into their proper swim waves
The Race:
“ARRRRRR!!!!!!” goes the air horn and the first wave is off.
The common and critical theme across all aspects of the race – swim, bike and run – is SAFETY. We absolutely do not want anyone to get injured during the race.
For the swim, we had a dozen boats in the water including three Rescue Squad boats, kayaks, canoes and another motor boat plus spotters on the shore. Our boats were instructed to go towards anyone who needed help.
For the bike, our USAT officials enforced wearing bike helmets and using handlebar plugs in addition to rules on the road like blocking and draftint. The Town of Luray swept the bike course with a street sweeper on Friday evening, again on Saturday morning before the race then again once more on Sunday morning before the race. There was no gravel on the road at all. We staffed police officers and at least two volunteers at every intersection and had several SAG vehicles to pick up any broken down bicycles.
For the run, we made sure to have enough fluids on the course, especially as temperatures warmed up. We also had the Luray Rescue Squad ambulances in the park and on the bike and run courses in case of any injuries or emergencies.
Our volunteers were incredible! A special thanks to the United Way of Page County for providing the bulk of our volunteers from Thursday packet pick up until Sunday clean up.If you haven’t volunteered before, it’s an opportunity to give back to the sport and see the another side of the event.
Once everyone is out of the water safely, I wander around, talk to the volunteers and the athletes and fix anything that is broken. Honestly, after four years, the event almost runs itself.
At this point, I should give a “BIG THANKS” to my dad and step-mom, Charlotte, for spending the weekend working at the race. My dad does a little of everything and Charlotte is in charge of food. Both work all the packet pick ups and help with awards set up, too.
Awards is the last official event of the race. The start time is dependent on when we get 99% of the finishers across the line. The timer has to also make adjustments for penalties, athletes starting in the wrong waves and lost timing chips. By 1:30 PM, we’re done and everyone leaves the park.
Sunday Morning:
Sunday morning is a repeat of Saturday except everything starts an hour later. Overall, Sunday is more relaxed and there is a “been there, done that” attitude with the race staff and volunteers.
By 2 PM on Sunday, the park was empty and clean. The folks from Luray Parks did an outstanding job with trash clean up in addition to parking, staging and the dozens of other tasks they accomplished to ensure a quality quality experience. You would never have guessed that more than 2,000 people had visited the park over the weekend.
Monday Morning:
Monday morning is when I decompress from an exhausting weekend. Brad Rex (Race Announcer) and I ride the bike course to make sure there’s no trash left on the roads or in yards. We only see three gel wrappers in 16.5 miles, which is encouraging given the number of athletes.
All in all, the weekend went really well. Each year gets better and better. What sets this event apart from almost any other is the beauty of the venue and the support of the community.
David
