State Affiliate and Volunteer News

With online registration the only method to enter you could imagine the pressure that I felt. Not to only get her in the race but selfishly knowing I might have a free Saturday to get some fishing in with the kids. A half marathon up a mountain isn’t a skip. This could become a whole day of fish and leisure.

With the butterflies in my stomach and the heightened anticipation of the race I tried to sleep the nite. The alarm was set for 4:30 am, on March 1- - coffee wasn’t necessary as I planned to sneak in a few more winks. Online registration opened at 5 am prompt – that’s Mountain time and 7 am for the Keystone State.

The destructive flood of online racers with the same idea crashed the server. Message boards filled! Calls to the race office received a message “not to call the race office”. Some online transactions were confirmed and some not. The plug was pulled in less than an hour for online registration. I didn’t get back to sleep.
Thousands of anxious, sleepless and late for work runners awaited the official announcement from the race committee.

Their release came five days later. “We’ll fill the remaining spots of the first wave (the rabbits), open the entire field of the second wave which contains 1,000 positions, honor those entering the three race series, previous age group champions are in, donors of the trail fund are in, those running backwards are in, etc. you get the message. After the list was tightened there would remain – what seemed like – two open positions. 10,000 runners will vie for this in two weeks and two hours later – online registration only – I will sleep in a bit.

On the re-do, I elected to get internet savvy and ahead of time created an online account for her – to eliminate trying to recall my address, phone, zip code and her shirt size in the middle of the night – I recovered my wallet from the sand box ahead of time and brewed the coffee. Wait, wait, wait . . . click, point, scroll, check box, confirm – she is in. Whew! It is time to celebrate! Bring out the frozen waffles. Race filled in 10 minutes. Dedicated server allowed all the racers to simultaneously enter and complete transactions online without even a hiccup.

Now, I am only left to wonder “How good will the fishing be on August 18 – the end of summer- hot, muggy, are we going caddis or trico. I will have to ask Winterton, he knows where the good fishing holes are. He’ll suggest the San Juan worm – always works. Besides, I am usually in this race and always like hanging around the finish line to witness brutality first hand.”

Maintain a current membership and be responsible for you. We are all often afforded the special treatment with starting times, pay at the desk, I’ll catch you later on my membership, add my doubles partner, move me up, move him down, I missed lunch got any, me ref – you are kidding, Your online systems require current membership – the only requirement – make it easy for the volunteers that attempt to serve you. Stay current and stay on the wave! You need to be current before you enter. Don’t have $35, take out $15 (or ref three at $5 in some areas) for the Limited Event Membership.

Enter the race on time, phone entries not accepted, your email inquiry not accepted, mail in entries not accepted, PDF entry form not available, FAX – no, sorry!

Trust me when I say your local and state event directors and volunteer, board members work very hard to stage and pull off successful events weekend after weekend. There last bit of worry should not be payment of entry fees or collecting membership dues. They have much more to worry about – did someone pick up the tournament shirts, where is the guy with hospitality, the box of awards were right here a minute ago, check the lights in court four, is the air conditioner working, your doubles partner will be how late – we’ll move the match, etc.

Oh, and do not forget the most important thing:“Darling, I entered you in a little race; you have five months to train.”

Upcoming Racquetball Magazine Features

Sep/Oct 2007
State Feature: Michigan and Twayne Howard

Jul/Aug 2007
State Feature: Maryland/DC and Steve Graham

May/Jun 2007
State Feature: California and Peggine Tellez

Mar/Apr 2007
State Feature: Florida and Andy Pawlowski

Jan/Feb 2007
State Feature: New Mexico and Gary Mazaroff

Sep/Oct 2006 - Texas and Lance Gilliam
July/Aug 2006 - North Dakota and Mike Orr
May/June 2006 - New Hampshire and Kelley Beane
Mar/April 2006 - Delaware and Jeff Zegna
Jan/Feb 2006 - Illinois and Laurel Davis
Nov/Dec 2005 - Utah and Randy Martin
Sep/Oct 2005 - North Carolina and state president Lynn Stephens

Further informations in german can be found here!