Monday, September 21, 2015

Volunteering at the ITU World Triathlon

I had a bad experience volunteering at the ITU World Triathlon this past weekend.

I'm linking up with Wendy and HoHo to vent my frustrations.


Having run so many races in my life, I know how important and valuable race volunteers are in ensuring a successful event. I had been wanting to give back. After I attended the ITU World Triathlon training celebration, I learned the Chicago Grand Finale event was in need of thousands of volunteers. What a great opportunity (or so I thought!) I've never seen a live triathlon before, let alone one of this magnitude, so I was very excited.

That's where the fun ends.

I signed up for two volunteer shifts: 1) Friday night packet pickup; and 2) Saturday afternoon finish line.

Friday
We were under a local flood watch starting at 7 PM. I'm used to these events going on rain or shine, so I packed a bag full of rain gear and braced myself.

I was at the Chicago Cubs game for a work outing that afternoon. Reluctantly, I ducked out early and battled Friday night rush hour traffic to get to my volunteer shift.

When I arrived, the woman in charge was in a state of distress. She told me everyone was evacuating due to pending storms, she had just sent out an email notification a few minutes ago, and she really just needed time to think and figure everything out.

On one hand I was frustrated to have wasted so much time going there. I was unhappy to leave a company function early for nothing. But on the other hand I was relieved I didn't have to volunteer in the rain. I absolutely understand that weather emergencies happen.

However: 1) I NEVER received the woman's email notification, even in my junk mail; and 2) I later learned the decision to evacuate had been made several hours preceding my arrival. Why didn't anyone send out that "notification" sooner and/or make a stronger effort to save us the time and hassle? They already had all of our email addresses and cell phone numbers for race-day needs.

The poor communication foreshadowed my experience the next day, which was much worse.

Saturday
I arrived for my afternoon shift and checked in. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. A few other volunteers were sitting around, and the folks working the volunteer check-in were milling around. This is what it was like:

I stood there awkwardly waiting. Finally, the same woman from the previous night came by and asked whoever was ready to come with her.

When we signed up to volunteer, we were told we would have a pre-volunteer meeting to discuss the details of what we'd be doing. That never happened. Instead, I was just sent on my merry way to work one of the aid stations.

I was certainly there to help out in whatever way. But I had signed up to hand out medals or refreshments at the finish line, and I was dressed with this in mind. Had I known I'd be at an aid station, I would have prepared differently. E.g., I wouldn't have worn jeans, since aid station volunteers get splashed all day long.


I got to the aid station and received ZERO direction.

Folks were barehandedly mixing Gatorade in a couple of vats, then communally dunking cups to fill them. Nobody was instructed to wash their hands beforehand. Even if they wanted to, the portapotties nearby had no handwashing facilities. I shuddered at how unsanitary the process was.

Nobody wanted to handle the Gatorade due to its stickiness and all the bees it attracted. As a result, most folks gravitated towards handing out water. There were times when I was the ONLY one handing out Gatorade.

Normally, races have the water/Gatorade distributors grouped in some way, which makes it easier for the athletes to get what they need. Here, everyone was just randomly handing out whatever.

There were three volunteers who were standing there chatting while the rest of us worked.

Some folks sweeping discarded cups frequently stepped right in front of me, obstructing the cup hand-offs without warning.

All of this resulted in a lot of confusion, ample cursing, countless unnecessary collisions, and floods of spillage.

I was literally covered head to toe in Gatorade. This made me quite the magnet for bees.


In short, the aid station was a disaster.

VUIP ("Very Un-Important People")
We were told that volunteers who worked two or more shifts would receive VIP status, with "extra swag, a drink ticket to be used after your shift, extra raffle prize entries, and additional snacks and treats in the volunteer tent. We are also working on securing a small section of the bleachers for our VIP volunteers." (I copied/pasted this directly from a pre-event email.)

What did I receive? A grand total of two water bottles, plus my volunteer shirt. That was all. (At the aid station, I was offered a sandwich box, but never actually received one.)

I had to ask even to get those water bottles. Otherwise, I would have walked away with literally just the shirt on my back.

To be very clear, I volunteered at this event for philanthropic purposes. The swag was not my motivation for being there. That said, I thought this was a ridiculous bait and switch.

In conclusion...
I will never volunteer at an ITU event ever again. When races lack organization, it is ultimately the athletes who suffer. As a runner, I was extremely disappointed to witness an event of this magnitude be organized so poorly.

On Saturday, I wrote an email to the volunteer organizers sharing my experience and frustrations. To date, I have not received any response.

On a positive note: I have a very renewed appreciation for the hard work that goes into race volunteering. Working the aid station was no joke. Thank you so much to all of you who DO volunteer!!!

28 comments:

  1. Oh wow this blows my mind. Especially at that event! What a total cluster. And the Gatorade. Yikes. I often wondered how sanitary it could possibly be given the rushing around that is done at aid stations. So sorry about this experience, Emily!

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    1. Total cluster is right, and I appreciate your sympathy! I know not every race is this disorganized, of course. I've seen at RnR races, they have the beverage dispensers with the side spouts, so folks aren't manually dunking cups by hand. Even so, I'm starting to think about bringing my own hydration on a go-forward basis!

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  2. Wow! If runners needed Gatorade at your station, you couldn't keep up! What a mess.

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    1. You are absolutely right! There were several times when runners had to backtrack for Gatorade since they didn't realize I was the only one handing it out. So awful!

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  3. Wow! What a cluster. I sure hope you hear back from the race director! And I hope no one got sick from the Gatorade! Unbelievable! Your story makes me glad I carry my own fuel.

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    1. Thanks Wendy, I hope to hear some kind of response to my email, too. But given how communication is clearly not their strength, I am doubtful that they'll address it. It'd be much easier for them to just ignore me, ha!

      YES - good thing you carry your own fuel. I really think I am going to start carrying my own hydration from now on, too. I'm sure this stuff happens elsewhere, so it's a wonder more people don't get sick!

      Thanks very much for co-hosting this link-up - I LOVE the topic!!! =)

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  4. Oh, wow. I may never drink Gatorade at a race again. Bare hand mixing? Ugh. Let's pray most aid stations are not like that. Obviously, the person in charge of the volunteers was in the wrong position. I'm also amazed some of the volunteer didn't do anything. What a mess. At least you did what you could! Thanks for linking up with us!

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    1. I think most aid stations use rubber gloves. When I worked an Ironman bike station, we were all issued gloves for handling bottles!

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    2. HoHo - thanks for co-hosting the link-up, I love the topic! Agreed, the volunteer coordinators were clearly in over their heads. It's a shame that folks sign up to volunteer, but then show up and don't do anything. But hey - what can you do when they are just volunteers, right? It's a really tough mix.

      Lauren - In the past I never paid attention to aid station hygiene, so it's comforting to hear that at Ironman you were issued gloves just for bottles! I would think Ironman would have the highest of standards!!!

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  5. I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a bad volunteer experience! I really hate when you offer your time and then everything is chaos and unorganized! It's happened to me before as well. Hope it goes better next time!

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    1. Appreciate the sympathy, Alexandra! It is indeed very frustrating to offer your time and then have a bad experience. Volunteering can really bit hit or miss that way, yes? Sorry to hear you've gone through similar bad experiences, and likewise - I hope your future volunteer efforts go better, too!

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  6. I'm sorry your volunteer experience was not great! I can attest as someone supporting athletes that the communication was also not very good -- I was seeing people post on Facebook that they ran out of timing chips on Thursday, a few hours before ppl got an email about it. I knew that the Expo was closing early on Friday at 10:30-11AM, but it took them until 3:30-4 to post to FB about it. Most triathlons are NOT like this, so I hope you give it a better outlook overall! Not sure how other ITU races in other locations are, but this one did seem to have more kinks than you'd normally hear about.

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    1. Appreciate the sympathy, Lauren! Thanks for sharing the details about the communication on the athlete/spectator side. That is really disappointing, but not surprising, to hear they ran out of timing chips and didn't communicate the expo closing to the athletes earlier, either. I can certainly imagine that ITU was an anomaly - if all triathlons were like those, nobody would do them! I'm glad you shared your experience volunteering at Ironman - what a relief!

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  7. I hear you! I don't give to get, but have had some not -so-great experiences. It really makes me appreciate all the hard work it takes to organize a race. I love volunteering!

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    1. Thanks for understanding, Stephanie! Volunteering can be so rewarding! But at the same time it really does depend on good organization. I'm with you - each time I've volunteered at a race, it makes me really understand how much preparation and effort goes into even the littlest details!

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  8. Sorry to hear that your volunteering didn't go smoother. It is very frustrating when races are not well organized. We volunteered at the Disney half marathon one yr and we go really nice wind breaker jackets and breakfast.

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    1. Much appreciate the sympathy! I've heard great things about volunteering at Disney races! If I lived closer to Disney, I would really enjoy working a runDisney race. So wonderful to hear they gave you nice jackets and breakfast! I bet it was so much fun to be part of the Disney race experience from behind the scenes. =)

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  9. Oh no! What an awful experience! I've been really keen to volunteer but haven't yet gotten round to it! I think I'll start with something small to get experience! I hope they take your feedback onboard or else the future of events will hang in the balance when no one wants to volunteer!

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    1. Thanks Elle! I'm like you - I've only volunteered at races a couple of times, and always want to do more. Great idea to start with something small to get experience. It can be painful to get thrown into things as a volunteer, for sure. I am hopeful but not optimistic to hear back from ITU because I think this is a one-time event in Chicago. But you are so right - based on this experience, they'd be hard pressed to get anyone to volunteer in the future!

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  10. I always expect volunteering experiences to be unorganized and frustrating, but this takes the cake. I can't imagine having an event as complicated as a tri (although, really, all events are pretty complicated) and being this unorganized. I wonder if you'll ever hear back from them. What a bummer.

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    1. I am going to start expecting volunteering to be unorganized and frustrating, too! When I volunteered at ZOOMA Great Lakes, which was also a bad experience, I was less irritated because they are a much smaller organization and operate on a much less prominent scale. But for ITU to operate this poorly was truly horrifying. I am hopeful but not optimistic I'll hear back from them. They've already demonstrated communication is not their strong suit, so why would they waste time responding to my complaints, right? Ah well. Lesson learned for future volunteering expectations, for sure!

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  11. What a mess! As a volunteer or runner, there's nothing worse than a race that's poorly organized. Not to mention the over promise, under deliver mentality. Sounds a lot like another local race org I've grown to hate - Team Ortho. BLECH!

    Hopefully you find a better volunteer opportunity in the future. :-(

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    1. Thanks for the sympathy! Oh my goodness, I've heard so much bad publicity about Team Ortho. So awful to hear about their lack of organization, too. I've heard horror stories from the athletes at Team Ortho events, so I can only imagine how bad it must have been for them on a volunteer standpoint. The overpromise, under deliver mentality was awful. I would have been better off if they just told me upfront that I'm not going to get anything for volunteering other than some athlete appreciation, you know?

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  12. Sorry to hear about your yucky experience. They should have sent you an email and the volunteers should not have been putting their hands in the Gatorade. Yuck! I won't be doing that race next year. Then again, I wasn't planning on it, nor could I likely qualify! :)

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    1. Appreciate the sympathy, Pete! Likewise, I won't be doing ITU next year, or any year, really. I won't be volunteering and never mind that I can't qualify, either. The point is that I won't be there. ;-) I'm so glad to have your solidarity in NOT being there next year!!! =D

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  13. What a horrible experience! It was exciting to hear about it at the Fleet Feet fun run.

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    1. Zenaida, it was awful. It was night and day compared to the Fleet Feet event. =(

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