[CoARES-D10] Ft. Collins Marathon

[Jeff Ford]

Greetings all,

This is an update by way of email to let you all know more info about
the marathon coming up Sunday.  Much testing has been done and there has
already been much running of the race course both by hams as prospective
marathoners.

I'll start first with times.  Those stations working Aids 1 through 6
should be on station and ready to go no later than 05:45 Sunday morning
so as not to interfere with traffic up and down the canyon.  The
half-marathon will start from Aid 5 (AKA Green Pipe) at 07:00 so the
Ted's Place and Bagel Hill stations should be on site and ready to go by
06:45 with all other following stations to be in place and online by
07:00.

Over the last couple of years we've been spoiled with the benefit of
having Cliff Mikkelson's (N0ZUQ) repeater in an ideal location to cover
this event in its entirety.  Circumstances have changed and while we
will still be using Mr. Mikkelson's repeater its new location does not
allow us to use it exclusively.  All stations starting with Ted's Place
and continuing through the end of the course will use this repeater.  We
have also been very graciously offered the use of Dennis Dyer's (W0XYZ)
brand new portable repeater for which we've found an excellent location
and it will do a fine job for the vast majority of the canyon portion of
the race course.  We did manage to find one aid station, number 6 or the
guard-rail station, that is completely shadowed from both of those
repeaters such that they can neither hear or hit that station.  For that
station only we will be using a 2-meter simplex frequency but the same
frequency will be live as a backup to the repeaters for the duration of
the race and any station that cannot get into their designated repeater
may use the simplex to contact either Dennis (W0XYZ) or net control
(K0JEF).
Frequency assignments are as follows:

All canyon stations (Start through Aid 5 'Green Pipe'): 449.100 negative
offset 100Hz PL
All lower stations (Ted's Place through Finish line): 449.425 negative
offset 94.8Hz PL 
Aid 6 (Guard-rail) and backup simplex: 147.510 100Hz PL.

Locations as of now are as follows:

Start/Supply Truck                  KC9FOO      Dave
Aid   1     Rock Tunnel             W0EP        Chris
Aid   2     Ouzel Day Use Area      KC0QOK      Marty
Aid   3     Poudre Park             KB0GAE      Tom
Aid   4     Raft Put In             AC0BI       Shawn 
Aid   5     Green Pipe              W0AVV       Randy
Aid   6     Guard-Rail              KC0ZZT      Justin
Aid   7     Ted's Place             KC0DSJ      Chet
Aid   8     Bagel Hill              N0ZUQ       Cliff
Aid   9     Lyon's Park             WA4OHW      Ed
Aid 10      Taft Hill/Bike Path     KG6TDB      Jay
Aid 11      Shields/Bike Path
Aid 12      Lee Martinez Park 
Finish Line 1:
Finish Line 2:
Bicycle 1:                          W0CDN       Chris
Bicycle 2:                          N0EAS       Eric
SAG 1:                              N0PT        Dave
SAG 2:                        
CSP:                                KC0SIQ      Shawn

Very few of these assignments are set in stone so if there's a conflict
or you need/want to do something else just let me know.  If anyone knows
someone who would be able to help please get them in touch with me right
away so I can get them briefed in and plugged into one of the remaining
5 slots.
As was the case last year, you can do as little or as much in the way of
participation at the aid station as you'd like.  Your job there is to
relay race information, supply/status information, and emergency
information to and from net control.  Information that net control will
need to know consists of things like; when the first runner passes by
the aid station and what their bib number is, when the last runner
crosses the aid station and their bib number, when the aid station
closes down for the day.  Anything else you choose to help with is up to
you.  I've mixed drinks, handed out drinks, shuttled supplies from one
aid station to another, picked up the cups and junk the runners just
throw on the ground, carried injured runners to the finish area,
followed on foot after the last runner through areas that we felt might
be dangerous to the runner, etc.  This thing can be a lot of fun as the
volunteers who man these aid stations are great folks to work with.

Thanks again to all of you for volunteering.  This race just simply
can't be run safely without our involvement and it's great that the
community can rely on folks like all of you to help out when most
needed.
If you have any questions or need of equipment don't hesitate to contact
me via email or phone.  Those of you going into mobile units please
contact Missy Korb at ddmkorb at comcast.net ASAP to get contact info for
your drivers if you don't already have it.

73,
Jeff Ford (K0JEF)
jmjdford at digis.net
(970) 214-4135