We worked at two trail/road crossing stations this year; the Vansville Turn (in the woods behind the Vansville Bar in Phoenix) on Friday night, and at the Phoenix Farms road crossing on Sunday afternoon.
The Phoenix Farms crossing was great; very easy to do, with four of us, plus several spectators that helped line the road to keep the dogs going straight. Great weather that afternoon, too, with plenty of sunshine for photos. All the teams passed through in a 45 minute span of time.
On Friday night, at the Vansville Turn, things were a bit different; obviously we can't control the weather, and the heavy wet snow made for very poor visibility for everyone concerned.
This seems to be an important checkpoint, since on Friday night, both races are underway. At the Vansville Turn, 150 racers need to make a right turn, while 35 racers need to go straight through the four-way intersection to the finish line at the Vansville Bar.
We were given conflicting information as to which direction the teams would be coming from, and we really couldn't be sure about this until we actually saw the first team come through. It was necessary to tell each team to turn right if they were in the 150, and go straight if they were in the 35. We managed that without much trouble, but, in my opinion, four volunteers at that intersection is not enough; 6 or 8 people would be much better. The 150 racers needed to negotiate a short right hand turn at the bottom of a hill, so a few extra people lining the track at that point would be helpful.
Also, it would help to have some communication with previous checkpoints; we had no way of knowing how many teams were left out there, and we were finally told at 2:45 a.m. that the final team would not be coming through, and that we could leave the area.
This was a very long shift, originally scheduled from 10:25 to 12:55, but after arriving early and staying late, we ended up being there for nearly 5 hours. Possibly this duty could be divided up into two shorter shifts.
Lastly, those in our group who were trying to record bib numbers and times had some difficulty writing on Friday night, due to the heavy wet snow. There is no shelter from the weather at this station, so the sheets got quite messy by the end of the shift. Possibly a SmartPhone or other digital recording device could be used; just speak the bib number and time, play it back later and write it down.
I'm certainly not an expert on any of this, and it's only the 2nd year that we have volunteered. The event as a whole seems extremely well organized, and hopefully some small tweaks at the Vansville Turn will make it even better next year.