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Superior Spring Trail Race Volunteer Communication 3 2018

Date: Friday May 11, 2018
Subject: Superior Spring Trail Race Volunteer Communication 3 2018

Hello All!

[If you have signed up to volunteer more recently, a list of past volunteer emails can be found HERE https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/volunteer-updates/ should you care to review them!]

Thank you again for giving freely of your time and volunteering for the Superior Spring Trail Race on Saturday May 19th, 2018 – This email is a quite lengthy, but doing the job safely and correctly is very important to the success of the race so thanks in advance for taking the time to read through this in its entirety! We have a lot of excited runners and the trails are in pretty dang good shape – we are looking forward to a fun weekend with all 145 of our awesome volunteers!

Volunteer Assignments:
Volunteer Assignments have been made and are available HERE https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/volunteer-assignments/ – if you see something that does not work for you, please let us know right away. You can search the list by volunteer position or by last name – be sure to do both as many of you are assigned to more than one position. Most of the volunteer assignments are pretty straightforward but you can find job descriptions and directions on how to get to where you need to be https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/volunteer-jobs/ along with what equipment and food your aid station will be provided https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/aid-station-supplies/ and even how to work an aid station https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/aid-stations-101/. Also be sure to read up on all the race info on the website especially that which is under the Race Info section so you have the best possible sense of what is going on at the race and can be a good resource for runners, spectators and other volunteers.

*We have really good coverage for race weekend but If anyone that does not work on Monday wants to help us clean-up at our home in Hastings between 9AM and 3PM, just shoot me an email – we will not turn you down!

Key Positions / Captains / Leads / Report To:
Trail Marking & Sweeping 25K / 50K – Bill Sikorski & Paul Hasse
Trail Marking & Sweeping 12.5K – Todd Rowe
Volunteer Medical – Chalayne Palmgren (Carlton Peak), Lisa Messerer (Oberg), Rob Ver Straeten (Sawbill), Dimitri Djrekonja (Finish after 12:00PM)
Medical – Lake County Ambulance (on-site), Lutsen EMS (on-site), Cook County
HAM Radio Coordinators – Rick & Jayne Johnson
Packet Pickup (Friday and Saturday) – Cheri Storkamp & Craig Yotter
Oberg Aid Station Captain – Sam Olson
Oberg Parking / Traffic Control Captain – Bill Pomerenke
Sawbill Aid Station Captain – Dale Immerfal
Sawbill Parking / Traffic Control / Crossing Captain – Kelly Mortenson
Supply / Resupply – Brendan & Maria Johnson & Team
Finish Line / Area – John Pitera & Katherine Patterson also John & Cheri Storkamp
Timing – Tyler Heinz & Craig Yotter

Medical / Safety and Runner Tracking:
As always, our direction to our volunteers with medical training who are acting as good samaritans is that they can go ahead and help with anything that is very minor (bumps and bruise kind of stuff) while anything that they are not comfortable addressing and certainly anything major will be called in by our HAM / Amateur Radio Operators. New this year, we are excited to have a Lake County stand-by ambulance service on-site all day Saturday at the race finish / Caribou Highlands along with Lutsen Fire & EMS’s proactive involvement as they will have a group or two on stand-by at the race finish area ready to deploy to the trail in the event of an emergency.

Runner Tracking:
Our fantastic Ham Radio volunteers may need a little help during the busy times writing down runners numbers – if your aid station is well staffed (which they both look to be!) and you have a free person, please feel free to offer (or they may ask) – if they don’t need you that is fine too. It is very important that since this race is on the edge of some remote country that we account for the whereabouts of runners at all times. This will entail sitting at a table and writing down the bib numbers of runners as they come through. If a runner DNFs make sure their number is reported to the HAMS so they can call it in – aid station captains and HAM Radio folks please coordinate this via a quick briefing in the morning!

Road Crossings & Parking:
We need to have two volunteers where the Superior Hiking Trail crosses Sawbill Trail / Cook County 2 – we will have two people with vests and flags stationed here and signage on the road on each side of the crossing – although this road does not get a ton of traffic, this is a fairly high speed road so this is very important – flaggers are to stop runners and not cars, then allow the runners to pass when it is clear. We will also position a few people at the top of Onion River Road where it dumps into the Oberg parking lot since right at this intersection, the Superior Hiking Trail comes in and it is always a chaotic mix of cars entering the lot at low speed and runners – these flaggers will help keep order at this intersection and in the parking lot where the aid station is also located – aid station volunteers please offer to relieve these assigned individuals from time to time so they can get a short break – use the restroom, eat etc.

IMPORTANT – The US Forest Service has asked that there be NO race related parking in the designated lots at Sawbill or Oberg for the Superior Races (this includes volunteers, spectators, crew etc.) but we need to allow non-race-related users into the trailhead parking lots to park for day use. The aid station captain and the HAM Radio operators may park in the lots. At Sawbill we will have volunteers parking cars on one side of the road (cars pointed away from the lake) before and after the turn-in to the aid station / trailhead. At Oberg we will have someone at the top of Onion River Road directing traffic to turn around and park on Onion River Road facing the lake. We have found that this positions takes some communication with drivers and “kid gloves” when dealing with the public.

Name Badges:
Name badges on lanyards. In the aid station bins will be lanyards with name badge holders and magic markers to write down your name on the card (both sides) and insert into the holder. Bare with me – I know not everyone loves name tags but just as we have found with the runners (and having their names printed on their bibs) we have found 1.) we meet so many people on race weekend that it is hard to remember everyone’s name and 2.) knowing peoples names and truly getting to know people facilitates the sense of community – please if you will, participate! Also, I am a busy guy on race weekend, but not too busy to meet you – if I do not come and introduce myself, please introduce yourself to me!

Lodging:
Those that indicated that they need lodging will want to read up HERE https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/volunteer-lodging/ Our units are going to be 503, 504, 505, 509 and one unit yet TBD. A Caribou Highlands site map can be found HERE https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/maps-and-data/ Room assignments will be displayed on the sheets attached to the doors of each unit – you can go to any unit to learn which unit you will be staying in. If you are not comfortable with the arrangements there are other good lodging options right a Caribou Highlands and camping options available in the area. Bring a sleeping bag, pillow and towel. Do not leave valuables in the units since we do not lock the doors so everyone can get in at all times – if you are away be sure to bring valuables with you, lock them in the car etc. ***IF YOU NEED A PLACE TO STAY AND HAVE NOT YET INDICATED TO US, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK HERE https://goo.gl/forms/tetiJQRluIsHoRCt2 AND LET US KNOW WHICH NIGHTS (FRI & SAT) – IT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE COUCH OR FLOOR SPACE AT THIS POINT / THIS LATE IN THE GAME BUT WE WILL FIT YOU IN – Thursday night we will have a place for the trail markers and those helping with setup on Friday as well.

Trail Marking:
Trail markers and sweepers have been sent a separate email. Those who are marking trails should plan to meet at Caribou Highlands town home unit 505 at 7:15AM on Friday May 18th, ready for a 7:45AM Departure. Make sure you have enough food, water, clothing etc. to be comfortable on the trail.

In Closing:
If you are assigned at an aid station, your volunteer t-shirt will be there in a bin, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET IT SO WE DO NOT HAVE TO MAIL THEM, your aid station captain or someone he / she assigns should get them to you, but also, do not be afraid to ask! You are welcome to graze on aid station food but also feel free to pack a lunch if you feel you will want more – then, after your aid station closes, please join us at the finish for chili, to watch the final finishers and help us get cleaned up after the race! If you are assigned elsewhere, your shirt will be at the finish line area, there will be a spot where we are handing these out / the same place we are selling some swag – you can go there, tell them you are a volunteer and get your shirt!

Unless something out of the ordinary comes up, this is the last group email we will send out to volunteers this year… as always should you have any questions please contact us. We are looking forward to seeing everyone for another safe, fun and successful race!

Thank You,

John Storkamp
Race Director
[email protected]