Racing and the volunteer state of mind
Get ready, Chattanooga! Our city is about to be saturated with thousands of athletes, tourists and spectators arriving for the 2018 Sunbelt Bakery IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga presented by McKee A Family Bakery.
Endurance athletes from all over the country, and even around the world, come to compete in this world-renowned race comprised of a 1.2-mile swim down the Tennessee River, a 56-mile bike ride through the beautiful rolling hills of Georgia and a 13.1-mile run through our scenic city.
They will be given 8½ hours to officially complete the course and many will also be racing for one of this year’s 30 age-group qualifying slots for the 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships to be held in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa later this year. Sunday’s race will be an exciting climax for these athletes who have spent months training for this event.
While many other cities around the globe host an IRONMAN 70.3 race, the Chattanooga race has become one of the most highly-rated events on the circuit, selling out quickly each year. In last year’s Athletes’ Choice awards, Chattanooga was voted second in both the Best Race Venue Experience and Will Recommend to a Friend categories; we tied for third in the Best Host City Experience; and received a fourth-place ranking for the Best Overall Bike.
“Chattanooga’s welcoming community provides athletes with the opportunity to enjoy a beginner friendly course while experiencing southern hospitality,” said Keats McGonigal, Senior Regional Director for IRONMAN, via email.
We are also the only city in the world to host a full-distance IRONMAN, an IRONMAN 70.3 and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship (which drew 4,500 athletes representing 91 countries in 2017). Becoming a host city to such large-scale events has had a positive economic impact on the city with revenue dollars well into the millions per event.
But now in our 5th year of hosting IRONMAN races, none of this is news to us locals. In fact, there probably isn’t much about the course, the training, the athletes, or the impact on the city that you haven’t already heard about.
Let me focus instead on another aspect of the race—one that is often overlooked. And yet it’s huge. In fact, it requires 3,000 individuals putting in over 12,000 hours!
No, I’m not talking about the training hours the athletes put in; I’m talking about the volunteers. These individuals are champions just as much as the athletes are, and most live right here in our city. A quick glance at the list of volunteer needs for an event of this scale is nearly overwhelming. And yet races like this could not happen without their support.
“The response from the volunteers in Chattanooga makes this one of the best events on the IRONMAN circuit,” says McGonigal. “They truly come out and embrace the athletes.” Talk about southern hospitality at its finest.
Some people volunteer days before the race to stuff packets and help with registration, others host professional athletes in their home for the duration of their stay. The crazy ones show up at 4 a.m. on race day to help with things like body marking and set-up, and others are there to hand out medals and clean up as the exhausted athletes bask in their completed accomplishment.
So what does race day look like from the vantage point of a volunteer?
“I have a business card that says ‘professional volunteer’,” laughs Katie Schumacher, who has volunteered at nearly every IRONMAN event in Chattanooga. “I thought it was a great way to give back to the community.”
A former tri-athlete herself, she says she volunteers because it helps the athletes. She has served in many capacities over the past few years from heading up the kids’ races last year, to body-marking, to being a Homestay Captain which meant finding the locals who would be willing to open their homes to host professional athletes. A die-hard volunteer, she is one of the ones out there at 4 a.m. and will stay through the end of the day helping where she can, or simply cheering on the athletes.
“I really like getting out there to cheer for the folks that are barely making it,” she said. “They are so appreciative because they are just done.”
Encouragement from spectators and the support of volunteers is the boost most athletes need to complete a race of this magnitude. For Rebekah Gilman, herself an IRONMAN who completed both the 2017 full and half, giving back to the race community by serving as a volunteer was simply par for the course.
We may think the volunteers are there to serve the athletes, but she says, “Volunteers get just as much out of the experience as the athletes do. It’s a rewarding and inspiring experience.”
For her, knowing that her encouragement and support may have played even a small part in getting just one of the participants to the finish line of a race is gratifying.
This year she is the Volunteer Captain for an Aid Station run by local organization SPARC (Sports, Arts & Recreation of Chattanooga) a local non-profit organization that is a chapter of the Disabled Sports USA. They believe that “persons, regardless of ability, should have the opportunity to participate in competitive and recreational activities in an integrated setting, i.e., persons with and without disabilities participating together.”
Gilman explained how IRONMAN gives race participants Volunteer Appreciation Bands at registration which the athletes are encouraged to pass on to volunteers who made a difference in their race. Some of the volunteers at their aid station are in wheelchairs or have various other disabilities and she has seen the athletes give high fives and even hugs to the volunteers as they pass by.
“Our volunteers light up when they get these bands,” she said. “My favorite part of being at an aid station is seeing the face of someone who’s struggling light up just by cheering for them or giving them a few words of encouragement.” She sees volunteering as a two-way street and loves interacting with the athletes.
Beyond the personal feel-good benefits that volunteers experience, there is also a monetary benefit for some. The IRONMAN Foundation provides volunteer grants to local nonprofit groups who volunteer, as well as to one local organization each year who demonstrates “service through sport and commitment to community”.
Last year’s recipient of this grant was On My Own 2 Feet, a local running program through the Chattanooga Track Club that aims to help homeless men and women become more active by coaching them through a 5K training program. As a result of the funds received, the program was able to expand to include a biking component, and high-quality Breezer Bikes were purchased to award to graduates of the bike program.
Rita Fanning, co-founder of the organization and long-time volunteer for many races and non-profits, says that volunteering for the event in order to receive grant funds was a no-brainer for their group. This year her team will once again head up “Environmental” for the race.
While it may sound like a fun way to volunteer, Fanning says it is actually the toughest job. “What it actually is is carrying out the trash,” she explained. “We’re in charge of picking up all trash off of the ground, emptying all the trash cans etc. It’s a really nasty, dirty job but somebody’s has to do it and it pays a really great volunteer grant and that’s why we do it.”
As Volunteer Captain, Fanning is in charge of ALL “Environmental” volunteers which spans eight shifts over three days. “I’m there at every shift, except the 4:30 in the morning shift—I am NOT a morning person,” Fanning laughs.
While the majority of the volunteers on Fanning’s team come from Chattanooga Track Club volunteers who help with On My Own 2 Feet, some of the homeless (and formerly homeless) participants of the program have stepped up to help as well.
“One of the homeless guys that volunteered last year had been very ill, actually in the hospital, and he couldn’t wait for them to let him out of the hospital so he could come and volunteer,” says Fanning. He wanted to give back.
“They loved it!” she said. “IRONMAN Foundation does fabulous, fabulous things. It’s a wonderful organization and people don’t know that,” says Fanning, who is so appreciative of the grant money and what it means for the expansion of programs like On My Own 2 Feet.
Through grant money, IRONMAN Foundation seeks to leave the IRONMAN legacy behind in race communities, creating an impact that extends long after event day. In 2017, the Foundation provided $1.5 million in grant funding to 1,380 organizations in IRONMAN race communities.
Maybe we can’t all be “IRONMEN”, but we can all find a way to participate through volunteering, cheering, and encouraging these athletes.
“At the end of the day these races are really about everyday people pushing and challenging themselves,” says Charlene Simmons, a local athlete and volunteer. “Volunteering for these events helps these racers achieve their dreams. Being part of that is inspiring.”
After bidding farewell to the structure of the corporate world over a year ago, Robyn Wolfe Fogle now spends her days pursuing the things she loves. Among her passions are freelance writing, rock climbing and running.