THE MARINE CORPS MARATHON OFFICE APPEARS TO HAVE FIXED THE SEMPER 5K SIGN-UP WEBSITE. THE DIRECT LINK IS BELOW. YOU MUST SIGN-UP WITH THEM, BUT YOU MAY STILL EMAIL ME TO CONFIRM THAT I HAVE RECEIVED YOUR INFORMATION. I ONLY GET AN UPDATED SPREADSHEET FROM THE MCMO EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS. SO IT MAY TAKE ME A LITTLE BIT TO CONFIRM YOU REGISTRATION. LOOK FOR AN EMAIL FROM THE MCMO CONFIRMING YOUR VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION.
To volunteer as an Amateur Radio Operator for the Marine Corp Marathon Semper Fred 5K the process is handled through the Marine Corps Marathon Office's Volunteer Portal. The link to that portal for the Semper Fred 5K is https://haku.ly/7f4189a9e3. look for Saturday, May 16th and then "Amateur Radio Operator (Licensed Operators Only) - Semper Fred 5K". All information that I need to complete your assignment will be harvested from their database. If you have a preference for location put it in the "Additional Comments for Volunteer Coordinator or Component Lead i.e., Medical Lead" field.
CHANGE: Please email me at rvarcevents@gmail.com the standard information: call sign, cell phone number, t-shirt size, and preferred location if you have already signed up with the MCMO or after you have signed up with the MCMO. I'm having a difficult time getting a complete roster from them.
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Access to the Race Course will be restricted. You will need a wrist band, parking pass (see parking later), and safety vests. Last I was told the MCMO ARO vest have all molded and are no longer available. I have some ARO vest from my club. If you have a ANSI Class 2 predominantly yellow safety vest that is acceptable. No vest with corporate or business logos or names will be allowed. A vest with a ARO related logo (i.e. club, ARES, RACES, EMCOMM, etc.) or name is acceptable I will be picking up the wristbands from the MCM in early May. You will need your parking pass, wristband, and vest the day of the event. All runners and volunteers have been told to look for our vests if there are issues that need to be communicated. If you are not wearing the wristband, you will not be allowed on the course. Below are the CURRENT pick-up dates & time, locations, and talk-in repeater. If none of these work for you please contact me immediately so we can try to work something out. IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE VEST AND WRISTBANDS ON RACE DAY AS A NORMAL OCCURANCE! For those coming from out of state or a significant distance in state, contact me I will make arrangements. King George folks, please let me know if you plan on picking up during the time I have scheduled in KG. I have retired and joined the contractor ranks. I no longer commute to Dahlgren every day. If I haven't heard from you I may not stay the entire hour. For those picking up in Prince William County prior to their ARES Training, please let me know in advance if that is where you intend to pick up your wristbands and if you need a vest.
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Some roads start to close at 0530. All course roads will be closed by 0600. Please see the linked Semper_Fred_5K_Road_Closures.pdf. Your parking pass, wristband, and vest should get you through. We expect all operators to be on station and setup at least 15 minutes prior to net check-in. Net check in is at 0600. Please leave yourself plenty of time to get on station.
Due to road closures starting at 0530 there will be no central rally and briefing in person. The briefing will take place on the air at check-in.
The race starts at 0700
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Our primary mission is eyes on the course to provide safety and back up the Marine Corps Marathon personnel. In the event of a downed runner, contact Net Control immediately. There will be an ambulance and medical personnel on site for the duration of the event under the command of Top Doc. When calling for medical assistance please use the RVARC Medical Dispatch (right click "Save As") form for the initial information to provide.
If you are at an Aid Station or Water Point please relay any information requested through Net Control. Net Control may have information from the MCM Staff for you to relay to the staff at you location.
Aid Stations will provide voice communication from the Aid Station. If this event is like most of our 5K events , there should hopefully be few to no encounters.
If you are at a Mile Marker, please relay the bib number of the first male and first female runner past your location.
Shadows**: I will contact you directly to provide you Division Commander's name, email, and phone number. Please contact them prior to race day to arrange a meeting location and time race morning. Your job will be to relay information from you Division Commander to net control and from other operators on the course in their area of operation to them. If they have information they want relayed to someone in their area of operation, you must go through net control to establish the direct communication.
All stations please report when the last runner and Tail End Charlie passes your location. Please asked to be relieved and receive confirmation from Net Control before leaving your station. Division Shadows, you can turn in your vest to Tail End Charlie and get your shirt, but please stay with your Division Commander until the race completes in their area of responsibility. Once they give you permission to be relieved, contact net control.
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All ARO volunteers will receive a personalized parking pass via email from the Marine Corps Marathon Program Office most likely the week of the race. You must display this on your dash. THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO PARK ON THE COURSE. This will help you get past MOST street closures to get to your location.
We have permission to access the course. You will need your parking pass, wrist band, and vest to be distributed later. DO NOT argue with police or MCM staff if they will not let you through. Radio Net Control. We are co-located with law enforcement and MCM staff. It is much more difficult to help you if you are in handcuff or the officer has already started to put pen to paper for a ticket. When parking do no park on the actual road the runners will be running on (ie. the race course). Please park on a near by street or lot.
There is a local towing company that will begin towing vehicles off the course around prior to the street closures. Please make sure you have your parking pass visibly displayed. Any issues with the towing company please radio net control. DO NOT ARGUE WITH THE TOW TRUCK OPERATORS. THEY ARE UNDER DIRECTION OF THE POLICE TO CLEAR ALL VEHICLES FROM THE COURSE - NO EXCEPTIONS. YOU WILL BE TOWED.
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This course can easily be worked with an HT on 5 watts with a reasonably good antenna (no rubber ducks).
Set the timeout timer on you radio to no more than 2 minutes. 1 minute is preferred and will work for most stations.
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Our primary frequency will be the WX4EMC UHF repeater 442.850(+) PL79.7. It has good coverage over the entire race course. Our backup alternate repeater is the K4TS VHF repeater 147.015(+) PL79.7. Please have both programmed into your radio in advance. If your radio allows you to monitor both frequencies at the same time, please do that. We had a situation where our primary comms failed and it took longer than we liked for everyone to switch over.
If all else fails I have everyone's cell phone number. Please have the cell phone number for the ECIC (Scott Larimer, KN4RPA ECIC (540--604--3196)) with your in in your phone on race day
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Any questions asked by the public or the media, are to be directed to the Race Officials. If people ask you about amateur radio, do what we all do best and share our love and knowledge of our hobby. As long as it doesn't interfere with you primary duty of supporting the race.
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