Racing, kind of...

A fun day out in the sun today, actually taking part in a race. Sort of.

Since I have been injured I have been keen to get out and volunteer at some of the local races. There was one just before Christmas but I had prior engagements on race day, however, I was still keen to be involved so I pencilled today's race into the plan and made sure I was available.

The race today was the Race 2 of the local Tri Series. The race was a sprint distance down in Rockingham. It is a race that has been held for a few years now and is always very popular, with around 1200 competitors today over a couple of different events. The course is a flat, fast, fun one, so it is easy to see why it is so popular. have never done the race and so that was another reason why I was keen to be down there.

I wasn't sure what to expect from volunteering, but it ended up being a lot of fun. It was also very interesting seeing the race from the other side. I was in transition helping to direct traffic and just generally be present. I was interested to see just how many people came up and asked me race related questions beforehand during transition set up. My first reaction was, 'why ask me, I know as much, or possibly even less than you about this course'. But I realised of course that I was in a uniform and that automatically made me a source of official information in the competitor eyes. I also realised that I have made exactly the same assumption when dealing with volunteers in the past and occasionally been a bit annoyed when they hadn't known the answer. I made a mental note to myself today to cut the volunteers some slack when I am up and racing again.

During the race I spent most of the day being a human witches hat on the bike course. Directing bikes either to do their second lap or head into transition. Interesting work, if slightly vulnerable, standing in the middle of the bike course and direction bikes either side of me. Feet are a bit sore, throat is slightly hoarse from yelling and calfs are a slightly cooked, but it was a fun job and a good way to see the race.

Besides wondering if today would be fun or not, the other thing I was unsure about was how I would cope being around a race that I wasn't competing in. Usually I struggle with it, but surprisingly today I was okay. I think part of it was that today's race was a long way from what I usually do. Firstly it was a Sprint Distance, which isn't really my thing. Secondly the Open race was draft legal, which is a format I am fairly nervous around, having never done it before. The possibility for injury is just a bit too great in draft legal format for me, so I suspect I wouldn't have raced it, even if I was fully fit. That fact allowed me to just sit back relax and watch the race, enjoy the atmosphere of being a spectator. Which I most certainly did. Also a really good chance to catch up with some mates.

One observation I made while being in transition is the number of issues that first timers had, simply due to a lack of familiarity with the rules of triathlon. Now I will fully admit that some of these rules are often not very clear and so I don't particularly blame the first timers, but it prompted me to think about writing a first timers guide sometime soon. In fact I think I will have a go at that some time during the week. Possibly over a couple of days. If it works out well I may even make it a permanent link like I did with some of gear guides.