CHAPTER XX

Someone to hold you… up

This chapter is for the runner’s support crew, those brave people who are there to help

the runner at the start of the race, give them what they need at checkpoints, then be

there at the end to piece them back together again. This can be a physically and

emotionally draining role that should really only be bestowed upon a blood relative or

someone who is sleeping with you. At worst, the role could go to someone who wants to

marry into your family, or someone who really need you as a referee for a job or to help

their immigration. But someone who you’re pretty sure wants to sleep with you might

work, too.

At its best, the support role makes for an adventurous weekend that will either get your

crew more excited about running or put them off it for life. Ideally, however, your support

crew should have the patience of a saint and still be willing to talk to you after the very

real prospect that you may attempt to bite their head off.

In a nutshell, the responsibilities of your support crew can be summed up in one

sentence:

Follow instructions and don’t let you do anything stupid.

Use this guide to help prepare your crew.

It’s all up to you, not them

Your support crew will only be as good as you’ve prepared them to be. Don’t expect

them to be mind-readers or experts in your sport. Provide them with instructions on how

to get to each place you want them to be (start line, checkpoints, finish) and give them

the earliest realistic projected times that you will be at each point. On race day, text your

support crew when you are 5km from each checkpoint. You can prepare these texts

ahead of time so that you can send them with a couple pushes of a button. Do this even

if the event has live tracking on the internet, as there may be a delay and this relies on

your support having internet access.

Provide a checklist of what you want your support crew to do and bring to you at every

stage of the race. Make it as easy as possible for them. For example, have a clearly

labelled bag for each checkpoint. In each bag, have the drinks, food, clothes, etc. that

you think you might need for that checkpoint. Also have a bag with provisions that you

might need at any or every checkpoint, such as blankets or ice, first aid kit, tape,

sunscreen, towel, power bank (to charge up a watch or phone), etc.

[BREAKOUT BOX]

What You’ve Heard:

“You shouldn’t need a support crew”

There are two aspects to the support crew. The first is that they help ensure your

safety (are you eating and drinking correctly, are you properly equipped, are you

injured, making safe decisions, etc.) and in any sport, it’s dumb to turn away

safety features unless you are very experienced. The second aspect is the moral

and emotional support that, for all your physical training, can make all the

difference between stopping a race and kicking on to the finish line. Still, some

people have reasons to go it alone, and most ultras will transport runners’ ‘drop

bags’ (pre-packed with food, drinks, equipment, clothes) to checkpoints for runners

who have no support crew:

“If my wife and family were at a race being my support crew, in the back of

my mind I’d probably be always thinking, ‘Are they having a good time? Are

they bored and cold? Is my wife getting tired and cranky because the kids are

acting out?”

– Jeff Duncan ultra-runner

“I’ll have everything I need in my bags, and I don’t expect to get anything

from anywhere else. If you can’t look after yourself, you can’t expect

someone else to do it for you.”

– Jane Trumper

For most people, a support crew can make all the difference:

“You actually can put someone back together. Having my wife as support

crew at my first TNF 100 was the only reason that I finished, because I would

have pulled out at checkpoint 4.”

– Adam Connor

[ENDS]

Be honest about your expectations

If the support doesn’t train with you, then they will need an honest assessment of your

expectations of the event. This means letting them know if you think you will struggle

with the distance or conditions, where you think you might slow down, how long you

expect to stay at checkpoints and what your odds are of finishing the event. On race

day, this will help them assess if you are having problems or if things are as good as

can be expected.

Don’t lie

Many kilometres into your ultra, you will already be possibly the most disgusting version

of yourself that your support crew has ever seen – smelly, filthy, dishevelled, tired,

crabby, and really not good at all at listening to them or appreciating their needs. Don’t

make it worse by lying to them. Answer all your support crew’s questions honestly and

offer up any information that might be important, no matter how bad, weak or dumb it

may make you look. Yes, you did throw up, no, you didn’t get lost, you just slowed to a

snail’s pace, yes, you did pee, but yes, it was an orange-like colour. These are all

factors your support crew needs to know to help them more accurately assess your

condition (for better or worse) and help you.

How to read a runner

Support crews can often get a shock how irritable, down or just plain awful-looking their

runner may become – and this very common. You cannot emphasise this enough to a

first-time ultra support crew. Assure them beforehand that they shouldn’t be overly

concerned by first impressions of a runner when he or she comes into the checkpoint.

They should let the runner eat, drink, get warm and fix any niggles before deciding

whether indeed the runner is still part of the human race. While this is going on, there

are also some steps the support crew can take to help them get a good read on their

runner:

1. Check how responsive the runner is by asking simple but important questions.

Are they injured? How much have they had to drink? Have they had a pee, vomit

or any other bodily excretion? (You know, just the usual first date questions) Did

they eat since last checkpoint?

2. If the athlete is not lucid (e.g. not responding to questions or talking but not

making sense), then he or she may have a real problem. Just being crabby isn’t

usually a problem.

3. How are they moving? It’s common for a runner to move more stiffly as the race

wears on, but a limp could be the start of something serious – or just a bad

blister. An inability to walk in a straight line might be funny, but it can really signal

danger.

4. How is their appetite and thirst? The range of foods an athlete can get down

might narrow down further into the race, but that’s OK as long as the runner can

still eat or take in drinks or gels rich in sugars.

5. How is their body temperature? Are they really hot or cold? Often a runner can

come into a checkpoint looking OK, but unless it is very warm, support should

always immediately make sure the runner stays warm and out of the elements as

much as possible. Check for sunburn in the heat and wet or inadequately warm

clothing in the cold and/or rain.

6. Check for signs of dehydration or hyponotremia – sunken eyes, bad headaches,

chills, swelling in the fingers, urine colour (you can just take the runner’s word for

it!) or lack of urination.

[BREAKOUT BOX]

Real runners say

“On the first day of my run across the Simpson Desert, the temperature hit 45

degrees. I had my support crew recording everything I drank, so I can tell you that

in 24 hours I drank 15 litres and I peed 200ml.”

– Jane Trumper, first woman to run across the Simpson Desert (1315 sand

dunes!)

[ENDS]

Be prepared for anything

The support crew should always be equipped with an over-supply of options for their

runner – food, drinks, clothes, lights, blankets, equipment, first aid material to patch up

the runner, several different types of tape that can be used for strapping, prevent

chafing, or patch up holes and leaks (in the runner and his or her pack and hydration

equipment). Food and drink options are especially important – in ultramarathons, the

body may inexplicably stop accepting one type of food or drink, but get cravings for

another (more on this in the nutrition chapter).

Encourage your support crew to stay ahead of the game by checking on weather

reports and listening to race officials and other runners to know how the course

conditions are.

Support crew should advise, not criticise

It’s important that the support crew understands in the heat of the race, the runner’s

morale can plummet and he or she can go to some dark places. They may even want to

quit. Pimp slapping such a runner is best avoided, although it wouldn’t be the first time a

runner wore some palm on their face at an ultra. At the same time, the support shouldn’t

just go along unquestioningly with the runner. Simply letting a runner quit can lead them

to a decision they will regret.

This is when it’s up to the support to offer positive suggestions and avoid criticism. If

support crew draw attention to how much their runner has slowed down or how far they

have fallen back in the field, then the runner might panic, rush, do something stupid – or

they might simply throw in the towel. There’s many a runner who has pulled out of a

race and regretted it later, after they realised that if they’d just got through the funk of

being down on themselves, they could have kicked on and finished.

Here’s how the support crew can help:

calm the runner down

help them make a rational assessment of their progress

reinforce the positives, and assure the runner how good he or she will feel about

finishing the race

assure the runner that it’s ok to slow down, rest and recover – then see if they

feel better for it

Someone has to be the brains

While it’s good for support crew to ask questions, it’s not a good idea for them to rely

completely on the runner to make self-assessments or decisions. There will come a

time when the runner is too exhausted for this, or they will have their mind on other

things, like hot chips and beer, why they are doing this stupid race, or how to keep

putting one foot in front of the other.

Checklists will help the support crew do all they can for their runner. Sometimes the

support crew might have to get proactive, too, especially when the runner gets so

focussed on finishing, yet everything else seems too much effort – eating, taking

medication, changing into warmer clothes, etc. This will help speed up the checkpoint

stops and cuts down reliance on coherent answers from a running zombie who probably

has his or her face full of food and drink. The support crew can do this by:

checking their backpacks to see how much the runner has eaten and drunk since

the last checkpoint

fill up drink bottles and hydration bladders

check blisters – lance any that look like they will cause trouble

check for wet clothes

assess if runner needs any patching up, medications or caffeine

check if they have appropriate clothing and equipment (trekking pole, sunscreen,

wet or cold weather gear) for the next leg, and pack it/ put it on for the runner

without them having to ask.

Pulling the plug

Ultra running can take a runner to some dark places, especially as evening sets in.

Sometimes support crew can pick an athlete up with positive talk. A runner’s whole

attitude can change if they simply slow down, eat, hydrate, and look after their body

properly. In the end, however, it’s just a sport, not a death march. The support crew may

be reluctant to force their runner to quit or talk them out of quitting just because they’re

a bit glum and tired. The solution: get a professional opinion. Each time the support

crew sets up at a checkpoint, they should locate the medical staff (or the most

experienced ultra runners marshalling the checkpoint).

[BREAKOUT BOX]

Real runners say

“You’ll wake up the Monday morning after the race and ask, ‘Could I have pushed

myself a bit more?’ And it will eat at you for the rest of the year! It’s so much easier

just to finish. Even if it takes you a couple extra hours, it doesn’t matter. You just

want to get to that finish line and have that sense of achievement.”

– Jane Trumper, first woman to run across the Simpson Desert

[ENDS]

SUMMARY

organise your support crew early and make sure they are people who know you

well

provide checklists of your requirements at every checkpoint

support should set up at checkpoints in a location where they can see runners

entering the checkpoint

runners need to be honest with their support crew about their expectations and

how they’re going in the race

better for the support crew to have more supplies and options than the runner

needs than not enough

encourage the crew to be proactive since you might not be in the best frame of

mind to make decisions or do whatever is necessary

the support crew can be in a better decision than the runner to decide when it’s

time to quit – but a second opinion will help you both!