One of the two main responsibilities of this shift is to replace people's timing chips if athletes forgot to bring it on race morning and replace them if they lost them during the race. The highly comptent WTC staff person took care of the programming. We would hand out the new chip and write down the person's race number. The race was wetsuit optional so athletes wearing a wetsuit went under a different arch to register the timing chips so that it knows who wore one. So our other job was to ensure athletes went under the correct arch.
The shift didn't start until 6, but I got there at 5:15. It was still dark and the staff were still setting up. Due to an error in the system, I ended up having about 30 volunteers. So I spent the first half hour or more checking people in and handing out t shirts. The swim start area was big enough that I was getting "where are you?" phone calls from volunteers arriving. Due to a lot of people who volunteered the day before, I also didn't have enough t-shirts. The shift really only needs 6 people and then another 4 people are good for no shows (we had 4) and to help out with miscellaneous tasks (see the next paragraph). Luckily I had a few competent people and some useless teenagers volunteering for school credit. At the swim start, there was about 20 people who forgot their chip out of 2500 or so.
We also did potentially anything needed to help the athletes. Being a volunteer means you will get asked lots off questions about anything and everything. It also allows you to help in unexpected and rewarding ways. One guy forgot to put his bike computer on his bike. So I had a responsible volunteer take it over to transition. Another woman was looking for a specific table to drop off her asthma inhaler at. I helped her look and tried asking some of the WTC staff, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Then after talking with her a bit more, it finally dawned on her that the swim exit was not at the same spot. So she started crying, but I was able to assure her that we would get it to transition. Given the enorminity of the impeding race and criticality of the inhaler, I can't imagine how bad she felt in that instant. So I was really happy to be able to help out.
After the swim stated, we walked over to transition to replace people's chips if they lost it during the swim. We did about five. There was a lot of down time here, so I got to do a lot of watching. I ended up being near a rack so I also helped guide the athletes to their appropriate bike rack. It was amazing to watch the pros go in and out of transition, especially the flying dismounts they make look so easy. After my shift was over, I ate then watched the bikes come in.
The swim start:
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