Date: Friday June 28, 2019
Subject: Afton Trail Run Volunteer Email 3 2019
Hi All,
First and foremost, a huge thank you for volunteering for the 26th Annual Afton Trail Run on Saturday July 6th, 2019 – you are all part of a really special team, if you have not helped at Afton before, you will know what I mean by the end of the day on Saturday! We are blessed to have nearly 200 volunteers helping at this years race! The race sold out once again this year in record time with 975 runners representing the US, Canada, Mexico, China and Japan! Participants ranging in age from 8 to 75! The following email is a bit lengthy, but please be sure to make some time to read through it in its entirety.
Volunteer assignments have been made and are available HERE: https://www.aftontrailrun.com/volunteer-assignments/ Please be sure to sort the list by volunteer position and search by your name as you may have been assigned to more than one job. If for some reason you see something out of place or something does not work for you, please be sure to let us know (I have been known to make a mistake or two!) – if we did not give you enough or gave you too much please drop us a line so we can adjust accordingly. Beyond your specific volunteer assignment(s), anyone that has the energy to hang out at the end of the day and help us get packed up and loaded up is certainly encouraged and welcome to do so – the bulk of this work is between 3:30 and 6:00PM. Also, we won’t turn down help at our home in Hastings for the big unload and cleanup on Sunday – it always proves to be an entertaining day, let us know if you want to stop down (9am – 3pm or so)… we will provide all the PBJs and Mike and Ikes you can eat – those doing Sunday cleanup – we will send you an additional email. Finally, if you are assigned to work at an aid station or the finish and happen to be a good / above average photographer and would like to shoot some photos, please let us know!
Specific information about your volunteer assignment, directions and more can be found HERE https://www.aftontrailrun.com/volunteer-jobs/ A list of supplies we provide at the aid stations can be found HERE https://www.aftontrailrun.com/aid-station-supplies/ feel free to put your personal touches on your aid station by bringing additional fun foods, decorations, cow-bells etc. – be sure to bring personal items you may need such as bug spray, rain gear, snacks, a chair etc. – feel free to snack on aid station food as well! Never worked an aid station? – this is helpful: HERE https://www.aftontrailrun.com/aid-stations-101/ Please be sure to read up about the race on the website paying specific attention to the race Info pages and have some general knowledge about the race, this makes you a good resource for runners and other volunteers.
In my last volunteer email I gave everyone a heads up about some parking changes this year, please review THIS https://www.aftontrailrun.com/2019-afton-trail-run-parking-plan-all-runners-must-read/. Volunteers will be able to park in the Afton State Park parking lots, but once full, will also have to shuttle. Those working Aid Station 1/2 and Aid Station 5 will still park near their aid station per usual (per the instructions under Volunteer Jobs on the website). Some of the people helping with parking will be helping later than years past as it will be imperative to stay on top of parking this year. Those volunteers will receive an email with additional instruction next week.
For those working Aid Stations your volunteer shirts will be sent out to the aid stations, be sure to look for, ask for and grab it! Everyone else can pick theirs up at packet pickup or at the finish area where we are selling some merchandise (you will need to grab your shirt as we will not seek you out to give it to you – thanks for your help with this) If you didn’t get a shirt or need a different size, please do NOT be shy about asking for it. Those working aid stations, be sure to come up and eat lunch (burgers and veggie burgers) after you are done volunteering!
Those working Friday setup, the times are published as 10:00AM until 3:00PM, but we usually get done earlier than 3:00PM, so, bring your running clothes and get out and preview the course before heading home!
Finally, if it looks like your aid station / volunteer position has “too many” people, don’t fret… we all want to be super useful / helpful / effective and shoulder a big load but one of the reasons the Afton Trail Run has a great reputation both locally and nationally is that we have one of the greatest volunteer forces of any trail race / ultra anywhere, and that is not something we say just to sound cool, it is actually true! It is a very long day and having a lot of people volunteering helps take pressure off of everyone and allows people to take a breaks from time to time and ensures that runners are getting great personal attention – this is huge. We need people to be as fresh as possible at the end of the day when it is time to do even more hard work and get packed up and cleaned up!
Aid Station Captains (aid station volunteers can report directly to your aid station / aid station captain)
Aid Station 1/2: Brian Klug
Aid Station 3/4: Mark Smith
Aid Station 5: Jeffrey Swainhart
Aid Station 6: Kelly Mortenson
Parking Captains (a separate email will be sent to those that are helping with parking with more detailed information next week)
Dan Mattimiro (Park Entrance)
Robert Litchy (Afton State Park Lots)
Emma Storkamp (Afton Alps Lots)
Packet Pickup Coordinator (those working packet pickup report to Cheri)
Cheri Storkamp
Finish Area Captains (volunteers in these areas can look for / report to either of these individuals)
Cindy Martisko
Cheri Storkamp
If anyone has any questions please let me know. Thanks again for giving your time and helping to make the Afton Trail Run what it is!
Thank You,
John Storkamp
Race Director
racedirector@aftontrailrun.com