Today I volunteered at the Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon. It was a lot of fun! Since I've never participated in a triathlon before, (at all) it was neat to see all that goes on, both from the athlete's side and the worker's.
I was dropped off about 6:30AM and it was drizzling a bit. Once I checked in as a volunteer, and grabbed my t-shirt, I searched out the race director who was going to give me my orders for the day. I was going to be his gopher, doing odd-jobs, and whatever needs helped with.
One of my first jobs was to clean then fill the Gatorade and water dispensers, and take them to the various liquid stations. Then, I connected 5 hoses together, and stretched them out to the water's edge, where the athletes would be coming out after their 500 meter swim. I filled the little kiddie pool for foot-cleaning, then got ready to spray off the swimmers.
There was some algae in the reservoir that some of the athletes would want washed off. Or, they just wanted to get sprayed down with hose water.
It was pretty cool watching the different group waves start out, swim around all the buoys, and then come out of the water. Once the last swimmer was out of the water, I went to keep the finish line Gatorade station supplied with water. I also helped the director bring down the PA system from the watch tower to the finish line.
During this time, there was a little girl wandering around, not talking to anybody, and looking scared and lost. I went to tell the security, but, by the time I told them, her parents had found her, and all was well.
Once the race was over, I helped with all of the tear-down, which was hard and dirty.
Overall, it was really fun getting an inside look at a triathlon, and I hope to do one soon!
View the pictures here.
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