The Volunteer Diaries: Anlyn
In our new regular series we speak to a member about what it’s like to volunteer for the club. Volunteering is one of our core values and we couldn’t put on all the events we run without the support of our amazing membership. This month we hear from Anlyn who helped marshall at the Maria Thompson Memorial Road Race.
When joining KWCC, my main motivation was to meet new people and diversify my cycling. Little did I know it would bring me SO much more.
Chapter 1: Volunteering
All clubs require volunteers to function properly, but to be honest, I never really understood the importance of that until I joined KWCC.
Having seen how nice it is to have such a variety of events organised by the club in the summer, and realised how encouraging it is to have even just a few marshals cheering or taking pictures of you on the side of the road, as you’re giving it your best at a race or TT event. Having received and experienced much more in five months with KWCC, than years of cycling, I can say I made the best decision to join KWCC in May this year.
So, in order to give back a bit of all that that has been given to me since I joined, I chose to volunteer for my first ever race event – the Maria Thompson Memorial Road Race, on September 8th.
Having never participated or even watched a road race before (apart from the Tour de France highlights), I had no clue what would be expected from me, but I had a great role recommendation from Phil F. I ended up being a “finish line judge”.
The weather was forecast to be wet, so I arrived prepared (as usual) with lots of spare clothes, umbrella, jackets, and biscuits of course! These Biscoff were a treat for anyone needing sugar on the finish line.
Phil F. did an amazing job to welcome and coach our team of 5 finish line volunteers in the morning, as we were nicely sipping coffee at HQ. Most of them I had never met or talked to before, but Phil was patient and ensured we understood our roles. I think for most of us it was out first volunteering role so we were all pretty much in discovery mode. Then, it was time!
We set off to the finish line before the race started with our bikes or cars. As the first race laps began, we rehearsed recording riders numbers as they went past us, proudly wearing our yellow high viz vests, and enjoying the fact that even the sun came to join the party at some point. I expected to stand in the rain for a long time but in the end the three hours flew by, and it did not rain more than a slight drizzle. Success!
For a newbie like me that’s usually stressed about the unknown, the event went really smoothly. Chris acted as a finish line leader, coaching and reassuring the team in our roles and even took care of the timekeeping – which to me would probably be the hardest role of the race. On top of doing brilliantly at recording the riders numbers, Yusuf did an amazing job painting the line on the tarmac, and Greg & Sean kept the spirits up – always smiling and simply happy to be here.
The team worked harmoniously together, figuring out the best way to record rider numbers from all angles, remembering how many laps were completed for each group, who was in the first peloton, who was dropped … It goes so quickly that it was comforting to have four other pairs of eyes there.
My eyes were also on the only woman participating to that open race, dropped from the main peloton but she managed to keep racing solo until her last lap, chapeau to her.
Overall, I really loved the friendly atmosphere throughout the day, and the sensation of being part of something. Even if my role mainly consisted of recording as many videos as possible, and encouraging the racer as they passed us – including the participants that were not part of the race (they loved it!) – I can say I was there and I helped.
I want to encourage all Wheelers to give it a go, volunteer for any role you find exciting and useful for the club or cycling community in general.
First you’ll never regret it and second, you might be hooked on it and – like me – look forward to next year’s batch of fun events.
