Volunteers needed for Junior Olympic event

15 years ago

    PRESQUE ISLE— The 2010 USSA Cross Country Junior Olympic Championships is only a few weeks away, and volunteers are still needed to help the nine-day event to be successful. The competition will bring about 400 athletes, along with their families and coaches to Aroostook County for the competition, held at the Nordic Heritage Center.
    According to Tim Doak, event director, the Junior Olympic Championship will have the greatest number of participants coming to the area of any Nordic event yet to take place in Aroostook County.
    The 2010 JO Organizing Committee, led by Doak and Tim Vernon, event manager, has been actively planning this event for some time. But the event cannot happen without the major support of many volunteers.
    “There is no paid staff at the Nordic Heritage Center that manages these races,” explained Doak. “It is a strictly volunteer organization. For this upcoming race, we need 150 people just to run the venue alone.”
    Michael Gudreau of Presque Isle has volunteered numerous times at the Nordic Heritage Sports Club.
    “Volunteering with the Maine Winter Sports Center has given me a chance to rub elbows with an international group of people I would otherwise never have had the chance to meet,” he said. “For example, during the Junior World Cup in 2006, I helped with a very well travelled scoring device that came with two German guys who set it up on site and then packed it up to go on to the next venue. The place was a beehive of activity. I look forward to doing it again.”
    As of Monday, Doak said the group was about 70 volunteers short of the necessary staffing to pull off a world-class event. They are looking to members of the community to step up and help during the March 6-14 race. There are opportunities to work both inside and out. Not every volunteer is required to be there every day. Doak said businesses could support the event by allowing employees to volunteer on company time.
    “We have set a high standard on the world stage because, in part, we have had the local support of hundreds of volunteers,” explained Doak. “We need people to step up once again and help us put Presque Isle on the map in the eyes of what we anticipate could be 700 visitors between athletes, team staff and parents.
    Those wishing to volunteer should register through the 2010 USSA Cross Country Junior Olympic Championships website, http://www.juniorolympics2010.org/. For more information, contact Mary Lawrence, volunteer coordinator, at 768-9502 or mary.l.lawrence@umpi.edu.