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Kona Report - Ironman
by Member Cindy Gilbertson
Seth and I had a great time volunteering at the Ironman World Championship in Kona this year. Since my parent’s own a house and a boat there,
--->Seth got to volunteer as a rescue boat captain for the swim. He said it was very exciting and what a unique view of the swim. When you watch the coverage look for Rescue Boat
2! Luckily they didn’t have to pick anyone up, but there were about 6 people who didn’t finish the swim. The oldest competitor (78 years old) in the race was named Lauren and he just barely made the swim cutoff. Seth insists he made it due to my Mom’s cheering and encouraging him on. They looked up his number in the race program so they could cheer him on using his name. They all felt excited that they were able to help.--->I got to my volunteering job at the finish line just in time to see Chrissie Wellington finish, very cool. Unbelievable how she won despite having to change a flat tire! My volunteering job was to catch the athletes at the finish line. A friend of
mine did this with me and we had a blast! As soon as someone would cross the finish line, we had to run over and put a towel on their shoulders and make sure they didn’t fall down or go in the wrong direction. We ended up having some adventures! One guy, obviously covered in sweat and who knows what else, grabbed us up in a huge bear hug and told us he loved us! We cringed a little, but it was fun to see the people who were so excited and emotional about finishing. Another guy fell flat on his face before we got to him, the medics had to help us pick him up, he ended up being ok though. There was also the guy who kept running past us, I have no idea why, he just kept running! They let the relatives of athletes do some catching as well, so it was fun to help one lady catch her son at his first time in Kona. She was so excited!
-->So after our volunteering shifts, we went home for a little while and then decided we should go back to cheer on the last finishers. We were at the finish line from about 10:30 until midnight. It was so cool and inspiring to see the final people finish, they were so thrilled to have made it. We cheered so loud to try to make sure the people who were close to not finishing made it in time. Hopefully this helped
encourage them!
--->Overall, it was a great experience and we were so thrilled to be
a part of it. And boy did it inspire us to do some more races. In fact, Seth is just signing up for his first full Ironman race and I’m going to sign up for my first 70.3. The best quote of the day was when I caught a guy at the finish line; he was happy and a little miserable too. He asked me,” Why do we do this sport?”, obviously a little tongue in cheek, but I think we’ve all wondered that at least once. I responded, “Because you can; because you inspire so many; and because now for the rest of your life you are an Ironman!”
By the way, we wanted to wear our K-Man shirts for pictures, but only Ironman or Ford clothing is allowed for volunteers.!
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