Ultra Race Romania 2023 - volunteers rock!

It has been an eventful 2 weeks and on Sunday I returned from Romania where I was a volunteer in the Ultra Race Romania (URR).  Originally I was going to be running but a health issue ruled that out and my partner ran the race in my place - she smashed it.  I have so much to share with you about this unbelievable adventure that I am going to write 3 blogs this week covering different aspects.  This is the first one about being a volunteer which was a real "eye opener".  
URR had 15 runners and 40 volunteers.  No race can operate without volunteers and I have always thanked them when I was racing but never appreciate the amount that takes place behind the scenes.  This is multiplied considerably when the event is spread over 250km in mountains that have bears, wolves and wild dogs present. There are many aspects of the organisation that I didn't see, such as shopping for food for the volunteers, marking the track and checking it the day before the race passes through, setting up the technology at the new camp every day, handling the press / website / social media /  videos / photographs / allocating roles to everyone / medical support.  It was done with military precision and I have to thank the hard working team of Andrei, Daniel, Eddie & Roxana. I shared a tent with Andrei but he was rarely in bed before 12pm and up at 4.30am the next day, so effectively I never saw him.
Sadly I can't mention all the volunteers by name but a few will get a mention.  But you are all my friends on FB and know how much you mean to me.  Thank you for looking after me.
I was part of a team of volunteers that; set up the campsite for the runners and the volunteers every day, then dismantled it the next morning and repeating the exercise before the runners got to the next camp.  Setting up the portable toilets and dismantling them and getting rid of the waste (Mainly done by Ionel Andone who deserves a medal, or at least an air freshener as he wouldn't let me do it!).  I did end up with the specific role of "water bitch" which I created myself as I could see this was a concern of the runners. When they woke up in the morning they needed hot and cold water for their food and bottles and they needed toilets that worked i.e. not blocked.  After those requirements were taken care of they could have their breakfast, relax and prepare their rucksack for the day ahead.  Unfortunately the hot water required a kettle to be boiled, maximum 2 at a time and that doesn't satisfy 15 runners so there was a lot of running back an forth between the "kitchen" and the runners eating area.  Sometime instructions/requests from the runners could be a bit blunt, but this was usually down to their use of the English language and no offence was meant although there were a few times I had to bite my tongue as tired runners can be demanding and selfish - human nature.
I had to be careful not to spend too much time in their "space" as they were beginning to gel as a group and I was an outsider. But at the same time I wanted to hear how Beth was getting on so I helped with shoulder massages so I could hear their stories.  I had to remember I was a volunteer and not a runner.
Language was a problem with the volunteers but those that did speak some English, wanted to have conversations so they could practice and they were very good - puts us Brits to shame. 
After the runners had received a noisy welcome home from the volunteers who formed a "guard of honour" when the runners were approaching the camp, they headed to the "kitchen" where the chefs had been working hard to provide a hearty meal - one for veggies and the other for the meat eaters.  I'd sit and try and work out from the body language and facial expressions what they were talking about and sometimes someone would interpret.  On day 1 of arriving at the camp Laurentiu Fratila took me under his wing and helped show me what to do and find food for me when I needed it.  He also introduced me to "Palinca", a home made plum brandy or "moonshine" would be a more accurate description in my opinion.  A number of the volunteers had made their own and it was like a competition to whose was the best.  It certainly created a party atmosphere in the evening and why not.  They'd worked bloody hard all day.
This group of people could not have been kinder.  One of the volunteers who had not been well was facetimed and they all sang happy birthday to her.  She been ill and they all supported her through her illness.  Very special people.
This amazing group all loved running with some accomplished runners.  I found out that some had run 24 hours on sand before, they did a lot of mountain runners and half marathon runners.  They had taken more than a weeks holiday in order to be a volunteers which is a hard, physical 8-12 hour day.  Not being used to manual work I was in pain the first three days and would estimate all the bending down and standing up when assembling and dissembling the tents was the equivalent of 180 squats a day.  My lower back and knees suffered but I got through it.
After day 3 I was allocated to check points but that still meant disassembling tents before leaving for the CP.  It usually involved waiting around for a few hours and the difference between the first runner and the last could be 4-6 hours.  After the last runner went through we then became sweepers.  We walked to the next checkpoint and collected all the blue ribbons hanging from the trees guiding the runners - 25,000 over the 250km.  Once we go to the next checkpoint we got in a car and onto the next camp.  There was usually 4 of us and always a local who tested the "bear poo" to see if it was recent and also explain the various paw marks.
Part of the security was 3 scrambler riders and a quadbike rider who drove up and down the course to create noise to keep the bears away.  One rider did see a bear but other than getting a fright, he was fine.
There are other aspects of the race that I will write about this week but I wanted to start with the volunteers who I regard as my friends.  No race can be run without them and we should remember they took holidays and left families behind to work 8-12 hours a day to ensure the runners had a wonderful experience.  My eyes were opened to how much is required to run such an event smoothly and safely and I have nothing but respect for every one of them.  They also slept under canvas for 9 days and had no showers, but they still chose to do it and always had a smile on their face.  It just leaves me to say volunteers, you rock. Thank you.