The Camel Run 2011 has come and gone and once again we have had a hugely successful race and received a glowing report from Western Province Athletics. A big thank you to all those members who helped on the day by marshalling, directing parking, handing out finish cards, date balls and buffs  and anything else you may have been called on to assist with. But a successful race does not just happen, it takes more than one morning to put it all together and co-ordinate all the bits and bobs necessary for such smooth operation.

I have had the privilege to be the secretary/minute taker for the Satori Camel Run Race Committee for the past two years and I can give you a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes and who the people are that are scurrying around getting things organised and giving up a lot of their personal time.
It all starts with a preliminary meeting in May each year when our esteemed race director, Keith Gurney calls the first meeting. Over the last four years Keith has been the glue that has held it all together, giving assistance and guidance where necessary. At this meeting the various portfolios are confirmed, deadlines are sorted out and then each person goes on their merry way and does what needs to be done.

Actually, that is not entirely correct because before the meeting our IT whiz, Jeremy, makes sure that the website is updated and ready for the entry process. We are a demanding lot and just when he thinks that he has thought of everything we (read Charissa) usually throws him a curve ball. “Hey, Jeremy, can you add a separate link for members who want to do the marshals race and another option for those who don’t want to or cannot do the marshals race but still want a T-Shirt”  “No problem” is his usual response. So at the first meeting Jeremy and his very capable team of Bianca and Scott advise us of the date that entries open, the closing date and exactly how the process will work.

At this early stage the route needs to be confirmed and Mark Tolsma is our man with this job. Once the final route is decided on, an official measurement of the distance is done by an official type person that Mark guides through the course.  And slowly the organising machine starts to move.
Bianca and Scott are kept busy with entries, answering questions, correcting errors, sending out reminders for payment.  Ever wondered how all those race cards get sorted and put into envelopes? This team is responsible for this tedious task, stuffing cards into 1001 envelopes is not an exciting job but it is an important one. We auctioned off the last entry this year as a way to raise more money for the charity. This involved more IT magic and monitoring from this team. The 1001st entry was finally auctioned off for R888.00.

Craig and Bridget discuss the race route with Mark so that they know where to place all the bunting and the cones. They start on a specialised training program to ensure maximum energy for setting all of this up on the Saturday before the race. It takes them the whole day but it is done without complaint. They have however, been know to collapse into an untidy heap by the evening and only copious amounts of wine can restore them.

Becky starts recruiting those all important marshals and determines possible problem points so that the best people can be allocated to these locations. She also puts together an information pack for each and every marshal showing where they need to be and at what time. This year we had a total of 47 marshals and about 20 of them were not even club members.  Every year it is a struggle to find sufficient people as Satori is a small club with limited resources. There have also been times when  members have let us down on the day.  This can cause a huge headache for Becky and the morning of the race is one of frantic dashing around making sure that all her marshals have turned up and are ready and waiting in their designated spot s. This year she had Lee Ann to help her do the marshal check. This is a demanding portfolio which I believe causes a few grey hairs and high blood pressure on occasion.

Katrina is a clever soul because she is a busy women and has learnt the all important skill of delegation. For the last two years Katrina has recruited Leigh Goldschmidt to oversee the food and drink vendors. Katrina works closely with her to ensure that all the necessary licenses are submitted by the vendors. She also looks after issues like electricity, lighting, dustbins, vendor placement. All of this to make sure that the runners and their supporters are fed and watered on the day.
Mark Kemp was our man in charge of parking and the pre-planning stages were a bit tense as he negotiated with the soccer club for the use of their fields for the cars. He also had to have a back up parking plan, not easy in this area, in case of heavy rains that could have made the fields unsuitable for parking. Luckily the weather gods were on our side this year and we had perfect parking conditions. Mark sets up the parking with some help on the Saturday. He also has a team of parking marshals that he briefs and their job is to direct the traffic on race day and make sure that all the runners behave, in terms of the parking at least.

Grant’s pre-planning for the start involves the ordering of any additional signs, placing an order for the hire of the porta-loos and ensuring that there is enough bunting tape, steel stakes, cable ties and willing helpers. The Saturday is spent setting up the finish shutes, erecting and placing all the sponsor flags and generally ensuring that the club house is clean. His garage is the storage spot for bins, marshall bibs and flags, km markings and all the other bits and pieces he needs for the start. He also works closely with Mark Tolsma who is responsible for the finish.

Mark T needs to organise tables and a gazebo for the race officials, determine the best design of the finish shute, find a location for the finish board and gather some helpers to hand out the buffs. He also co-ordinates the time keepers and those folk handing out the finish cards. Every year he brings his trailer along and that is used as the tog bag point.

Steve and Darren spend their time focusing on the legal formal stuff. Various officials need to be contacted. The police, the traffic department, an ambulance service, security services, a race announcer, the race officials and a few more that I cannot remember.  You cannot just put some cones along the road and run a race and arranging all this paperwork and permissions takes time and can be frustrating. Our race permit is usually only granted on the day before the race and Darren used to worry about this but now he just takes it in his stride.

Dr Roland also has to get himself organised for race day and he is at the club early on the Sunday morning to set up his medical assistance point. Luckily we have never had any medical emergency but race rules stipulate that we have to have a doctor on hand just in case.
Even further behind the scenes is our treasurer, Lorna. Keeping us advised of what we are spending and whether we are sticking to the race budget. Lorna also sorts out the prize-money and makes sure that the necessary cash is available on race day for any COD payments.

Charissa meanwhile is frantically sweet talking potential sponsors, gathering information on buffs and organising the delivery of branding for race day. Water tables also fall under her control and she needs to make sure that we have enough tables and that they are staffed with enough volunteers. The water sachets also need to be ordered, delivery arranged and once delivered they need to be distributed to the various water tables. The Coke guys need to be booked for the finish and the water tables.  And if that is not enough, Charissa is also responsible for organising the finishers’ buffs. This year was a real nail biting affair as we were hoping to get the buffs sponsored  but this did not materialise so at the last minute Charissa had to dive into our race funding and sweet talk the committee in order to get those great buffs made.

The race director needs to keep abreast of what is happening in all the race portfolios and regular meetings are held to ensure that everyone is on top of things and all potential problems are addressed.  It is no easy task to gather all these folk together in the same place on the same day and invariably Keith needs to set up separate meetings with some of the portfolio heads during the lead up to the race.

SATURDAY
As mentioned above, the race markers, the start and finish and the parking are all set up the day before the race and this can take anything from a few hours to most of the day.  Earlier in the week Steve had arranged to have the club thoroughly cleaned and spruced up. He recruited his wife, Cheryl as the supervisor and hired a few of the wives of the rugby club to do the job for us.

RACE DAY
The committee get off to an early start and most of them are at the club or on the race route by 05h30 in the morning. They get busy making sure that the bunting and other race markers are still in place and putting the finishing touches to the set-up. The parking marshals have to be on site early as well as the runners start arriving from 06h00. We had some runners who thought the race started at 07h00 and they arrived with the Coke truck! Bianca and Scott set up the late registration table and sort out any other queries that come their way. Steve, Mark T and Grant are on hand to deal with lighting, bins, race officials and anything else that needs attending to. The club is a hive of activity and the runners still have to arrive.

The race gets off to a good start but the committee is not yet done. As soon as the race has started the parking marshals start taking down all the parking markers and they are finished long before the race is. The marshals and water table folk stay on duty until the last runner has passed them. The people manning the finish do likewise and they remain at their posts until the sweep comes in with the last runner even though the race has officially finished. While the race is on the prize-giving area is set up so that all is ready for prize –giving to start on time.

Once the race is over, prize-giving must commence. Charissa handles this with her usual style and it goes off well. In the background however, the start and finish team begin to dismantle everything that they had put up the day before. Everything must be packed up and accounted for as we will need to use it again next year. All the branding must be returned to the relevant bags and put aside for collection.  The finish board needs to be packed up and someone has to return it to Western Province Athletics. The tables that we have borrowed need to be returned to their owners. All rubbish must be collected and a general tidy up done. It is only a small group that stays behind to do the clean-up but they work quickly and by 12 noon it is all done.

And still, the work is not done. All the results have to be captured, collated and verified and this requires a few nights of midnight candles for Mark T, Lynne, Bianca and Jeremy. It is usually at this time that any attempts by runners who try to beat the system come to light. Only once this task has been completed can a line be drawn under the 2011 race.

A week or so goes by, the results are in, all the stuff has been packed away, outstanding items returned and photos have been loaded onto the website. The committee anxiously awaits the official race report from Western Province. The committee has one final meeting to discuss the report, table any concerns and make suggestions for improvements for the next race. Then it is time to crack open a cold one or two and relax, until next year.