Volunteering at IRONMAN 70.3 Maine

by Julie Millard

There’s not much that gets me up before 4:00 AM, but the two events that severely cut into my beauty sleep this summer both involved the Striders! One was the Downeast Sunrise Trail Relay— which hardly counts as “getting up early” as there was no bed the night before— and the other was volunteering at IRONMAN 70.3 Maine.
 
It was pitch black when fellow Strider Lindsey Madison and I rendezvoused at the local “park and ride” (AKA Marden’s parking lot) for the short trip down to the Augusta boat launch. The sky was showing the first glimmers of light as we picked out our loaner kayaks and paddles from the pile and found the other faithful Strider volunteers, Amy and Allison Stabins and Martha Nadeau. We had a short briefing meeting in which we were given our assignments, then maneuvered our kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to our designated spots on the river about half an hour before the first wave of triathletes entered the water.
 
At 6 am, the canon signaled the start of the elite men’s race, and the pack churned through the water in a perfectly straight line. Shortly thereafter, the elite women were off, similarly powering through the course on a perfect tangent from buoy to buoy. For the next hour, wave after wave of swimmers went by, and that’s when our work really began. Volunteers flanked the course all the way down the river, and just maintaining location against the current required some serious paddling. Several athletes needed assistance, often holding onto a boat to catch their breath. Others swam completely off course and needed to be wrangled back inside the markers. Motorized police boats patrolled up and down, shouting instructions through bullhorns at volunteers, particularly when a swimmer appeared to be in distress. When the tail end of the competitors finally proceeded down the river, we were each given an assigned swimmer to escort. By about 7 am, the last athlete had made it out of the river and onto their bike for the next leg. The exhilarated volunteers paddled their way back to the boat launch and made it home in time for breakfast!
 
Several other Striders volunteered for the race that weekend by handing out packets, directing athletes along the route, and in other capacities. Shout out to all the Striders, who included Drew McCormick, Jan Santerre, Kate Scott, and Heather Cable—our club volunteers worked together to earn a $500 grant from Ironman, which we will use to further our mission of supporting running in central Maine! Hope to see you on July 28th 2024…on the Kennebec River