Autumn Color Run

Our amateur radio club is asked each September to provide communication along the route of the Autumn Color Run--a footrace from Cottonwood Lake up in the mountains, down into Buena Vista.

The runners are bused up to Cottonwood Lake in time for a 9:00 start. Using ham radio, we're able to coordinate the start of the race so that people at both ends record the start simultaneously.

We take up positions along the way. These are places where the race committee establishes aid stations to serve the runners with snacks, drinks, and other services. Now and then, we'll take an injured or sick runner in from one of these stations. For example, in another race we've helped with, a runner collided with a deer one time! He collided with the deer--not the opposite.

When the runners come, we generally record the numbers of the first three males, and of the first three females. Then there's usually the matter of waiting for the very last runner, who is probably not running anymore.

These photos are all around the finish line, which is very near the (only) Buena Vista traffic light. Buena Vista is going to be in trouble if we ever get another one of these. Nobody will know which light is meant.

The top photo is the finish of the course, seen from inside Buena Vista's new library. This was my first time inside the recently-opened new building.

This is the scoring board, where results of the race are written.

A finisher crosses the line.