Here are some of the comments from the 2005 Los Angeles Marathon
I did notice that LAPD asked us a few times for the lead men's & women's positions. Would have been a lot easier to give them that info if we had hams in the lead vehicles again.
I couldn't believe the organization this year. The tent was there, the tables were there.... the side panels were there...... Dang. We had lots of red shirts (the worker bees) two blue shirts(the nurses) and a dark blue shirt (the doctor). Most of the crew was new but the organizer nurse was the same.
Radio wise, it went like it was supposed to. check in, check out... very little other traffic.
All in All, it was a GREAT day.
Oh yeah, this year we had two LA City RA's and an event ambulance at our location, just in case. Never had THAT before, and luckily we didn't have to use them.
Last year was my first year volunteering for the Marathon at La Brea and Venice. They had the Mile 11 banner, water tables, and porta-potties all within 100 yards of each other. And, a fast food restaurant if we wanted a "real bathroom." This year I volunteered at the mile 11 location. The location was divided in three locations. The Mile 11 banner, water tables, and bathrooms. According to "Mapblast" the distance between the water tables and the Mile 11 banner was 2,250 feet (or .5 mile). That is the distance that the clock had to be carried and we had to walk (one way) to set up the clock. The water people had two men carry the clock, they were not happy. The distance between the water tables and the porta-potties was 1,500 feet. That is REALLY a long way for a volunteer to go when they really "have to go!" The runners don't really care where the potties are as long they are on the course somewhere. The water captain said she has volunteered for the last 20 years and she has never seen the distances between the 3 locations that far apart.
MAJOR PROBLEM:DROP-OUT BUSES - We had one at the start for a while (0730-0900), then he left. About 1230 when we had a full bus load and had waited over 2 1/2 hrs. for it to return, then we called on the MEDICAL NET for some help for the NCS. Again at 1315 or so we are still waiting for it's return, another load waiting. That happen again at 1400, Med team has left and runners are waiting for a ride back to end of race area.
Question for Head Medical DR. in charge: When should the Dr's get there and when should they leave? Major Medical Mile 15 The med-team was worried that they(DR.'s) did not get there soon enough and left to soon. Arrived at 0930 and left at 1230. The
med-team left in two groups, last grp. at 1345 with runners still waiting for a ride.
We will not leave until ALL down-runners have been picked up.
Good stuff:
1. We had a tent and 4 cots! (did not have any last year).
2. Plenty of medical personnel.
3. 2 ambulances parked 10 feet from us (literally), one from LAFD and a private one with 2 paramedics in each.
4. An LAFD captain.
5. The captain did a great job at getting the pickup bus to come and take people to the finish line (within 10-15 minutes!).
6. We ran out of Tylenol and ice packs – but I got on the cell-phone and connected one of the medical personnel with a hospital official she knew and we got re-supplied! (That’s a first…). Also, a representative from Tylenol brought us some more pills on her bike…
7. Since we had the LAFD personnel, the roving paramedics visited us periodically, which was a great help.
Bad stuff:
1. The medical team had to dispense Tylenol and water to drink it with. Since other runners (the ones not needing medication) saw the water they wanted some too. We had to turn them down and tell them the water station is “up the hill”. They were not very happy about it.
2. The medical station ran out of water and cups (the paramedics went to the water station and took some from there). For some time we had to resort to partially filling up other empty bottles.
Suggestion: maybe the medical station needs to be across from a water station (like last year) where water is not a problem.
3. My position on June and 6th, was a bit of an RF
hole.
All in all, things went more smoothly than in the past. There are always folks waiting to be transported from someplace …, but judging from the sound of Mile Net, we had a very good year.
I had a great time and look forward to helping next year.
I think the operators in the field did extremely well. Our numbers may be low, but those who do still volunteer have obviously learned from their years of experience. All but one had the odd split programmed correctly, & everyone did the right thing when Gerritsen showed up on the Shadow Net. Couldn't have been handled better. When we get more volunteers signed up for next year (notice I didn't say "if"), we need to think about passing along some of this OJT to them before the day of the event so we can maintain this high level of operating excellence.
One observation I would make is that we don't give our FIRST-TIMERS enough of the knowledge they need to perform and feel confident. Sure, most of it is in the printed package, but we need to do a better job of priming them for what they will encounter out there. The confusion between the mile mark location and the water station location was heard on the net over and over during the morning. I know of one couple who set up operations by a small private water station near their mile marker and never realized that they were NOT at the REAL water station until after the race was over. There is one sheet of paper listing the address and location of the mile mark, and a completely different sheet listing the water station location with map. We always miss the chance to educate them about the (sometimes large) difference.