[ARRL-OK] Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

[N7HRT at aol.com]

Mark your calendars!!! 
The Oklahoma City  Memorial Marathon,
A Run To Remember, 
is scheduled for Sunday, April  27th!! 

As in the past, the starting gun will be at 6:30 AM; the official  Marathon 
route will remain open till 1:00 PM. Race organizers expect around  10,000 
participants in the Full and Half Marathons, 10km Walk, and 2km Kids  Marathon.
Recruiting for volunteers has already begun. If you volunteered  last year, 
you have probably already been contacted by the Marathon Volunteer  Coordinator.
Thomas Webb, WA9AFM/5, is the Communication/Emergency  Preparedness Chair on 
the Marathon Board Of Directors. Tom has been recruiting  from the various 
amateur radio clubs around the Metropolitan Oklahoma City area.  If you were a 
volunteer last year and wish to join in this event again, e-mail  Tom at 
tmwebb at cox.net. 
All volunteers will receive an OKC Marathon Volunteer  t-shirt. Not only will 
this be your uniform of the day for the Marathon, but a  great reminder of 
this outstanding event.
The Marathon route will remain the  same; starting at the 9:01 Gate at the 
National Memorial and ending at the  intersection of 5th and Broadway. 
This will be the eighth Marathon honoring  those who were killed and the ones 
who gave of their time, talent and treasure  during recovery and relief. 
Amateur radio communications support has been an  integral part of the Marathon 
since the first run in April, 2000.
With the  26.2 mile course winding its way from downtown, through Bricktown, 
past the  Capitol through several of Oklahoma Citys residential neighborhoods 
to Lake  Hefner and back downtown, clear and accurate communication among 
safety  officials was vital.
There in lies the mission of the amateur radio  community; public safety and 
welfare communications to make sure the runners,  volunteers and spectators 
had a safe and enjoyable day.
The radio operators  will be assigned to the primary medical aid station, 
with race officials, relay  exchange points and with medical units along the 
course. The net control station  for the Marathon Network will operate from the 
Salvation Army Emergency  Operations Center at SE 44th and Bryant in southeast 
Oklahoma City. .
There  will be extensive use of Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS). 
This will  provide police, fire and emergency medical services with a display 
of where the  runners were along the course. In the event emergency equipment 
has to be  dispatched, officials can quickly determined if the Marathon route 
would be  effected and appropriate locations and emergency units advised.
Also, this  will allow race officials to instantly determine the Lead, Tail 
End, and SAG (a  taxi for runners who have withdrawn from the race) vehicles 
are located.
The  radio operators are another great story contributing to the success of 
the  Marathon, said Chet Collier, Director of the OKC Memorial Marathon. These  
individuals love what they do, and they love Oklahoma City, he continued, Awe 
 literally could not run a successful event without their work.
The Memorial  Marathon has special meaning to the Oklahoma amateur radio 
community. Within  minutes after the explosion at the Murrah Federal Building on 
April 19, 1995,  the Oklahoma County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Net 
was up and  running providing emergency communication support to rescue and 
support units.  
The net operated on a 24 hour-a-day basis for over two weeks; a total of  
over 360 hour of continuous operation. Until Hurricane Hugo struck several years  
later, the emergency net supporting the Murrah disaster was the longest 
running  amateur radio emergency net in U.S. history. Over 330 amateur radio 
operators  from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas volunteered their services.  




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