Other Info:
Contact Bill Morine at N2COP (.at.) ec.rr.com or 910-452-1770(h) or 910-367-1758(c) for more information.
General:
The only iron distance (140.6 miles) triathlon in the Carolinas and Virginia, and one of only 15 in the USA in 2009. 1,500 athletes will be participating. Communications opportunities for:
- Swim - 2.4 miles (Wrightsville Beach) 6 AM - 9 AM
- Bike - 112.0 miles (New Hanover, Pender, Bladen, Sampson counties) 8 AM - 5 PM
- Run - 26.2 miles (New Hanover County/Wilmington) 11 AM - 11 PM
We also need SAG volunteers as ride-alongs in vehicles driven by bike support vendors.
There are changes this year in both the run and bike courses, and we’ll get the maps out to you shortly for review. The Communications Plan won’t be finalized until late September or early October when we’ll learn of all the changes and where communications support is critical. At this point we anticipate that all communications will be on 2 meter repeaters. Some recommendations this time will be that those who volunteer to be part of the bike course SAG vehicles (Support & Gear) will need to have at least a 25 watt rig and a magnetic mag mount antenna. We’re also going to recommend base station power (>25 watts) and a moderate gain J-pole or beam antenna for bike course aid stations outside of New Hanover County. More good news: I’ve asked the B2B organizers to order only XL and XXL shirts for the Hams this year.
The projected number of athlete participants this year will increase by 50% this time from just shy of 1,000 to close to 1,500. With each athlete having a average size support network of 3-4, that means about 7,000 athletes and supporters, and over 1,000 volunteers. By the time you add in paid public safety, hospital and EMT personnel, observers, etc., you will have close to 10,000 people associated with this event. You can see the need for coordinated, reliable communications.
