District 14 ARES/RACES volunteers from Smyth and Washington Counties got quite a workout themselves when they provided much-needed support for the Iron Mountain 100K Bike Race on June 12, 2009. Over 40 top cyclists braved the hills and the heat along the course, which commenced and concluded at Damascus Town Park in Damascus, VA and wound through some 60+ miles of U.S. Forest Service trails spanning both Washington and Smyth Counties.

Despite the challenging terrain, District Emergency Coordinator for District 14 (DEC-14) Howard Roland, KI4LWA, reported that there were no injuries and only a few minor mechanical issues throughout the event. District 14’s involvement in this event began after Howard discussed the role of ham radio in public service events – especially in those lacking cell phone coverage – with U.S. Forest Service Officer Mike Evans. Officer Evans shared Howard’s contact information with event coordinator Chris Scott of Shenandoah Mountain Touring and things were set in motion for the upcoming bike race. The two groups worked together to plan an event that was fun, safe, and well connected.

“Our participation in these events provides so many good things to everyone involved. Obviously, they give the people putting on the event an experienced, reliable, and mobile communications network wherever they need it and often in areas where there is no cell service or access to land line phones in case of emergency,” observed Howard. “They give us as ARES/RACES members and groups a great training platform in terms of deployment, organization, and “real world” operational experience.  Though our general setup and structure may be similar in many cases, no two events are ever the same......and that is a good thing.  Even the fact that the event coordinators did not get some of the key details to us until the last 24 hours tasked us with being able to be flexible and think on our feet.”

Thanks to the hard work of the Smyth and Washington County ARES/RACES volunteers, the event was a huge success. According to Howard, “Chris Scott very pleased with our participation in the race.  He commented that we were in place with communications up and running at every course location he visited.” Those participating included recruiting coordinator Sam Stephenson, WA4EHV; off-site net control Jim McKinnon, WK4W;  also on scene were aid station operators Dallas Cassell, KD4CCO; Wayne Lane, KR4NW; Jeff Davidson, KI4SSH; and Jamie Tolliver, KG4UBP. “Each and every station was on site from start to finish, interacting and passing information with race coordinators while keeping accurate counts and timing information on the participants.  Every station handled the net protocol and inter-station communications in a very orderly, consistent, and professional manner,” said Howard.

Together, these District 14 ARES/RACES volunteers provided a much-needed service to their community while at the same time educating that community on the role of amateur radio in emergency situations and public service events. They also successfully demonstrated the mutual aid concept between county groups and that the net control station need not be physically located at the event site, thus potentially expanding the pool of participants to those who would like to help but are better able to do so from an off-site location.  Many thanks to all involved on a job well done!