Mahalo to our Volunteers!
Congratulations to all the 100M and 100K finishers at the HURT Trail 100 this past weekend. You were all fantastic out there!
For any successful race, there are many behind-the-scene individuals who put great time and effort into making everything come together.
I would like to extend a heartfelt “Mahalo” to the following individuals and their -Aid Station crews:
Vernon Char, Carolyn Hayashi, and crew did another outstanding job at Paradise Park in Manoa. Vernon has run this aid station for every HURT – his early morning pancakes are legendary!
John and PJ worked very, very hard at Nature Center to track runners and get them back out on the course, certainly no easy task. Their traditional Kalua Pig sandwiches made great fuel for many entrants.
Don Fallis and volunteers marked the course before race day, then returned Monday to take everything down. Don worked hard to keep the timing board updated.
Without Joel Jenkins and his Medical crew’s hard work, many runners would have called it a day and gone home to nurse their blisters and aches. Joel was literally everywhere! His professionalism and attention to detail is second to none.
As for Mudd Butt’s Café in Nuuanu, I owe a deep debt to Patricia Carroll, who was my right hand. Besides putting up with my planning for the entire year preceding HURT, Trish packed all runner bags, helped at the pre-race check-in, and assembled the post-race lucky draw gifts. She then worked the aid station for +36 hours from the initial set-up. Trish made sure runners got their drop bags and assisted with timing and tracking of runners. I believe her when she said running the race is easier!
Mae Martinez and Vanessa Huff also worked the entire 36 hours – their organization and constant attention to detail amazed me! Mae also helped purchase much of the necessary supplies for our aid station. At Mudd Butt’s Café, Mae kept the supplies organized and the food flowing in the food tent. If you have every wondered where those lovely Hawaiian Print bags come from, Mae sews each one!
Vanessa kept up our timing sheet, updated the runner board, and worked with the Ham Radio operators for the entire race. Her wonderful kids, Katie and Matthew, along with Bryson took injured runners back to NC and made our pizza run. Vanessa also took care of her hubby, the “Huffer”, when he pulled in… again, no easy task!
Neil and Marian Yasuda not only worked in the morning, but they also paced local runners on loop #3. The Yasudas then returned Sunday morning to help break everything down and transport gear back to the NC.
Fellow runner, Freddy Halmes was the maestro in our kitchen, keeping runners fed and hydrated. Freddy had so much fun he stayed through the evening until Sunday morning!
Good friend Christine Shiinoke flew in from San Francisco, just to work the aid station on Saturday. She then geared up to pace Steph on loop #3. What an animal!
My fellow worker Clinton Wong, dropped in early Saturday morning to help set up the lights and anything electrical – his expertise was most appreciated!
Toby Kravet, our esteemed bell ringer, did a wonderful job. We certainly knew when runners were approaching the aid station! Next time we will give him a kazoo to go along with the bell.
Peggy Regentine, Stote Farnham, Jane Sarven, Heather McCafferty, Johnny Landeza, Les Omura, Jim Carr, and Naomi Sakai did a fantastic job keeping the liquids flowing and the runners going! A very special thanks to Jane for filling up our water cans and returning later in the evening to work some more. Jonathan Miller came Sunday afternoon to help with breakdown and clean-up.
Almost all our workers are long-time road and or trail runners who graciously gave up their free time to help. Thank you all so much for your time and assistance!
Mike