2007 Coeur d’ Alene Ironman Triathlon*  Re-visted:  Ham Radio’s Big Role

By Steve McQuiston (WO6LF), ARRL Idaho Section, District 1 PIO.  13 July 2007

For the winning athlete, it was over in 8 hours, 33 minutes, and 32 seconds, but for the group of ham radio operators who provided radio communications for the event, it went on another eight-and-a-half hours—from the beginning of the race at seven in the morning until the end well after midnight.  The Ironman Triathlon is a race consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run.  All along the race course, ham radio operators provided radio communications to coordinate medical aid for the athletes; mechanical aid (those pesky bicycles); supplies of ice, hydration, nutrition; recovery and rescue for exhausted athletes; as well as traffic and crowd control for the thousands of spectators who watched and enjoyed the event.

Not only are the volunteer hams giving a boost to the community with their services, communications exercises such as Ironman give volunteer ham radio operators opportunities to practice and perfect emergency communications procedures which are so important to the security and safety of area residents. 

Working in well-coordinated shifts, 52 North Idaho and Eastern Washington hams served as radio operators providing net control, traffic logging, and remote communications from eleven remote stations over the span of the course.  Net Control was located in the Kootenai County Mobile Command Center (MCC).  .The MCC is a state-of-the-art communications facility housed in a 35-foot mobile trailer.  Its purpose is to ensure command, control, and communications for Kootenai County emergencies services. 

The hams working in Net Control were right at home in the sense that the MCC was largely designed by, and is manned by local hams under the auspices of the Kootenai County Office of Emergency Management (KCOEM) and its ARES/RACES group.  Huge thanks are due to the KCOEM and County commissioners which authorized use of the MCC for the Ironman event.

The ham radio operators involved in this year’s Ironman included both men and women, old and young.  They all are to be thanked for their work on Ironman, and their dedication to public service.