The Ironman World Championship

The Ironman World Championship. The Big Island's biggest event of the year happened on Saturday, October 13, 2012. We both got a chance to volunteer and help with security and crowd control. 

pure chaos

In volunteering, I really had no idea what I was signing up for. My shift began at 4am, where we met at the pier downtown to get our job assignments. My first post was at a security checkpoint where the athletes would enter to prep their bicycles, and then assemble to dive into the ocean to swim their 2.4 miles. My job was to check to make sure everyone entering had the correct wristband on to permit entry, so I stood with my hands on my hips looking tough to anyone who might try to sneak by without the right credentials. Fortunately, I avoided any would-be smack downs with media and ornery family members. My second post took me to the road where the bicyclists were careening around blind corners headed up the hill. My job was to make sure the bystanders did not enter the street or cross the road except at a certain location. This was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Spectators were literally putting their lives in jeopardy thinking it was ok to dart in front of the oncoming bicyclists going the speed of cars to cross to the other side. At one point a huge group of people suddenly started to cross, despite our cries to cross at certain points only. One last lady jumped out into the street to join the group, but didn't see a bicyclist coming. All I remember was hearing an incredibly loud BANG of metal on pavement and everyone screaming. Chaos ensued as people ran into the street towards the incident, but at the same time 8 more bicyclists were headed right towards them. It literally is a miracle nothing else happened here. Ten feet in front of me the lady lie motionless on the street, the bicyclist was bleeding on his knees, and his bike was a wreck.This was scary. This was a huge problem. Not just for the lady that couldn't move, but mostly for this athlete that had put everything in his life into this race that was now suddenly on hold because a spectator wanted a better view. Needless to say, he was furious. He pulled off to the side to take apart and reassemble his broken bike, and, fortunately for him, within 20 minutes got back on the race course. I can only hope that his body had not sustained any injuries that kept him from finishing. By this point I was ready to go home. This was waaay more than I imagined. When the medics finally brought a stretcher down to take to the lady to the hospital, there was a puddle of blood in the road from the accident. I was shaking. You would think that people would have seen the lady surrounded by medics and decided to be wise about crossing the street, but for the next hour no amount of shouting or waving could not stop the spectators from crossing the busy street.

I definitely felt as if I had experienced the Iron-man that day, and I wasn't even running.

Let me quote some stats to help you get the picture. 

There were:

2,000 tri-athaletes in the race

5,000 volunteers

roughly 10,000 spectators

that poured into our city, population size of usually 4,000 including all staff and students on the UofN campus.

This race is the mother of all triathlons. The athletes' goals on this day were to swim 2.4 miles, hop on a bike to cycle 112 miles, to jump off and run a full marathon of 26.2 miles. 

INSANITY, but for many of these people this was the pinnacle of their competitive careers as athletes. The prize for both male and female 1st placers was $120,000. The prize for both male and female 2nd placers was $60,000. This was no joke. 

NBC will be airing a special on this event on the 27th. Something worth checking out.

The main streets in the town were shut down as the island cheered the  athletes on

Lots of fun encouragements written for the racers along the way

Such a glorious and brutal thing to witness. The finish line. The racers were greeted with an orchid lei, hugs and towels then immediately escorted the the triage tent to treat their overexerted bodies.

The unity in this event was such an amazing thing to see.

 We witnessed RAW PERSEVERANCE. We've never seen anything like it.

Until next week, 

I love you all and Aloha!