Tuesday 29 September 2009

One for the Volunteers

The final round of the Kawasaki Sandpit 2 Man series was held in the northern end of Woodhill Forest on Sunday the 27th of September. The series was organised by the team from the Kawasaki Sandpit

Round three ran over slightly different terrain to the first two rounds. Less windy single track and more open energy sapping return roads and fire breaks and for those riders who rode the first lap and the faster second leg riders-a nice big killer bog.

The faster open tracks were for those of us that to put it mildly are age and fitness challenged; pretty tough going.

Don't get me wrong we had a bloody great day. I missed the main bog as by the time I went through on my first leg it had been taped off. I did however have my own little melt down and got well and truly stuck in a drain


It took me a good ten minutes to manhandle my bike out of this drain and I was totally rooted by the time we were both back on dry land. And no I didn't feel guilty about not helping the guy who followed me into the hole and got well and truly bogged just as I had managed to get myself out.

I am not privy to the cost of these events and whether the guys made any money out of the series. I sure as hell hope they didn't have to dig into their own pockets to make sure that the series ran smoothly.

It must have been a huge logistical exercise to put this race on let alone the entire series and the team needs to be commended for their efforts. If they made some money well good on them.

Events like this series are organised by clubs all round the country and rely on a huge pool of volunteers who freely give up their time to help out so that people like me can go out and have a good time.

The team from the Sandpit and a team of volunteers have spent most weekends for the last three or four months setting up the tracks and pruning pine trees. Then there are all those others that turn up on the day to pull bikes out of bogs and tow back the breakdowns.

And when the race is over the course arrows and bunting have to be pulled down, the dead bikes recovered and any repairs put right.

And don't forget the good guys from St Johns who look after all the broken bodies.

It doesn't matter what the sport or event is. Most of the mass participation events in this country wouldn't go ahead without the support of dedicated organizers, administrators, and general dogs bodies who freely give up their time to make these events possible.

So the next time some seemingly over officious administrator or bungling ref at your kids Saturday morning sport gets up your nose remember that without them there wouldn't be a game. Instead of giving them a hard time a thank you wouldn't go amiss.