Volunteers

Loaded up with two generators, I drove to Fountain City, the location of Exchange 6. This is the first major exchange, where Van 1 meets Van 2. Because all teams meet here, this, as other major exchanges, needs to be at a location large enough to accommodate twice as many cars as the usual exchange, and have places for runners to hang out and rest.

At all exchanges, volunteers play the vital role of directing traffic, checking in runners, and trying to keep those cheering on their teams from obstructing traffic and out of danger. The latter is far easier said than done.

Ben Jenson, Dan's brother in law, managed Exchange 6. He is pictured above with his family, all in grey volunteer shirts. The rest of the Jenson family worked Exchange 13 (more on that later). The band playing Exchange 6 was plugged into a large pickup truck, the sole power source. Dominique, our course manager, was concerned that the pickup would blow a fuse, hence the need for generator backup. With Ben's help, I dropped of the generator by the bandstand. As it turned out, she was right and the generator saved the day, or at least the band.

Dan and Tanner have been encouraging volunteers to come up with exchange themes and show up in costume, with awards to be presented to the best volunteers. Pictured above are our Spanish themed volunteers, who managed the Exchange 12 in Stockholm. Amoung the more popular volunteers were the M&M ladies, and Elvis, who came with groupies in poodle skirts and a large cardboard guitar that runners autographed. Elvis won the Ragnarly Volunteer award, but he was one of many who totally captured the spirit of the race.


The trio shown in the photo above at a table in the Stockholm Park had it easy until the crowd arrived. The crowds of runners build up and disburse slowly, but at their peak they are frantic. For an hour or so early in the evening the normally quiet streets of Stockholm (population 97) were jammed with runners. At least six of us did our best to keep them out of the street, both so traffic could make it through town and also so that vans carrying runners could find where to park. Dominique finally strung tape near the exchange to keep runners out of the street, and that seemed to work. Before that, we might as well have been trying to hold back the tides.

I hung in Stockholm from about 2:30 - 9:30 before heading to Maiden Rock, Exchange 13. There I was to work the second shift, and was surprised to see the entire Jenson family working the exchange. Jim spotted runners as they approached the exchange and radioed their numbers to Peggy. Peggy checked them off as they arrived. Sarah sat on the curb by the exchange, reading the latest Harry Potter with her flashlight. I did my best to relieve them but Peggy wouldn't hear of it. She sent me off to sleep for an hour. When I returned, she sent me up to hang out with Jim. After another hour or so (time was a blur at this point), with Peggy still insisting that they were having fun and would stick it out, I left, driving to Prescott, where the local high school served as the next major exchange. There again the volunteers were fantistic. High school teachers directed runners and traffic through tricky turns to the high school. At the high school there was food, showers, and a room for sleeping on mats. With all calm (as I supposed), I pulled into the high school parking lot, put down my seat and went to sleep.