2009 Dow Run
I was a little surprised to see Sparks's note on heading off for Tour de Cure. I suppose I shouldn't have been. Hams often provide communications for various public service events, and races of various types seem to frequently be able to benefit from our communications.
Our local club participates in a number of bike, walking, running, wheelchar, and similar events. As it turns out, this weekend is the big one, in terms of operators, the Dow Run/Walk. This event typically draws a huge number of runners, and consequently requires a large number of operators. In recent years the club membership has dwindled somewhat, but thankfully we have been able to draw help from surrounding counties.
Sparks also mentioned that he will be doing a certain amount of coordination. Well, I will too. For the past several years I have served as net control for this event, tracking where all the various stations are, keeping track of there the runners are, etc. Frequently there are some medical issues during the event and amateur radio becomes a quick way to get the EMTs where they need to be. Every year there are incursions of cars onto the course, and we warn the runners and notify the police when the problem is especially severe. Yes, of course there are police on the scene, but they can only cover a tiny fraction of the 10 km course.
One of the more surprising things we do it transmit the starting gun. An amateur shadowing the race director broadcasts the starting gun so that the various timers along the course can synchronize their stop watches.
Of course, there are always surprises. Any time you get 1000 people running around town there have to be some surprises. That, to a degree, is what makes it good training for emergencies.
Indeed, that is my primary interest. An event this large and complex requires a lot of discipline on the air, and that is good practice for our members. Working together on the air also gets us more familiar with each other's operating habits, something that can make us more effective when we need to do this under pressure. We run the net from the county's emergency command vehicle. This gives me and my assistants an opportunity to stay familiar with this vehicle so we are comfortable when we need to respond to an emergency.
This does make for a rather nice Saturday morning, a chance to see folks that you might not see every day, and generally a feeling that perhaps you did a little bit of good.