Volunteering can be hard work, or it can be awesome fun – depending on the group you’re with. “With our club it was easy and fun – had I not known everyone it would have been more boring,” quoted Yestay, one of our vollies. Well done gang, I’m glad you kept it interesting for him 😉 Another of our vollies, Kurt said, “This was Pam and my second time volunteering at Melbourne 70.3. We both absolutely love it. It’s so incredible seeing top and aspiring athletes get it done. There’s also nothing more rewarding than giving someone a ‘great job’ or ‘keep it up’ and getting a thanks or even just a nod in return. Supporting our friends is also one of the big highlights of the day; trying to burst their eardrums with inspiration as they cruise past. As a beginner triathlete myself, it’s also extremely inspirational watching everyone. The day goes very quick…time flies when you’re having fun.”
PLUS, not only is it fun to hang out in the sunshine and fresh air with mates, it’s essential for major events to go ahead…and so we got paid. That’s right folks – for providing 20+ volunteers, we were awarded $1,610 into the club coffers. This enables us to maintain the clubrooms and equipment, and subsidise social events.
PLUS, competing triathletes depend on your support to hand us drinks, gels and food as we *sprint/jog/hobble past the aid station (*delete as appropriate!). One of our Bayside Tri Club (BTC) competitors Matt wrote, ‘Wow, that was simply awesome – the BTC support at R3 was so, so good! Thanks all you amazing volunteers.’
A big shout out to Chris Dunn for organising and co-ordinating BTC’s contribution to the event. Thanks and ‘you’re totes awesome’ to all of our BTC volunteers: Chris Dunn, Dave Adams, David Lamb, Graeme Pitts, Hannah Bush, Kurt Häusler, Hayley Gorman, Pam Zulueta, Mark Saxon, Robert Bingham, Emani Bingham, Kirsten Wilson, Yestay Kurmanov, Alison Slater, Jonathan Reeve, Karen O'Shaughnessy, Mark O'Shaughnessy, Chris Day, Lucija Valentic and Simon Walker.
To thank all of our wonderful volunteers throughout the year each of you will receive an entry (one entry per occasion of volunteering) into a prize draw. At the end of the season do we’ll pull a name out of a hat to win a cycle kit on us (or equivalent merch of your choice). So far this year we have fielded volunteers for the Duathlon, Around the Bay and Ironman 70.3 Melbourne and if you volunteered then you’re on our list/in our hat. Well done team!
