WANT TO VOLUNTEER?
Individual volunteers are still needed to help this weekend. Most shifts are filled, but volunteer coordinator Lisa Anderson still needs some volunteers to help the night of the race.Those wishing to volunteer can show up the day of the event and go to the volunteer tent located near Ironman Village at Ross’s Landing. There will be coordinators at the tent who will assign jobs. Interested volunteers can also email chattanooga@ironmanvolunteers.com in advance.
Chattanooga’s year of the Ironman comes to a close this weekend with another race Sunday, which means one more day thousands of volunteers are needed to coordinate the race, organize packets and do the hundreds of jobs required to run the event.
It also means another day of road closures, sold-out hotels and limited parking.
Organizers and racers alike understand the burden a city takes on when it hosts the events, and no city – outside of maybe Kona, Hawaii, which hosts the annual Ironman world championship and other events – has undertaken a year like this. This will be the fourth Ironman event this year in Chattanooga – an Ironman record.
“We understand that our races have a certain impact on the community,” Ironman CEO Andrew Messick said during the Ironman 70.3 world championships earlier this month in Chattanooga. “We close roads, we inconvenience people, there’s cyclists all over the place, and to have a community that is embracing of the benefits that Ironman brings makes a big difference for us.”