Sunday, June 15th local amateur radio operators provided communications support for the third annual Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley. Over 1,000 athletes participated in the triathlon with an early morning 1.5 mile swim in Sayers lake, a 55 mile bicycle race, and a foot race through the Penn State University campus. The race takes place in Clinton and Centre Counties Pennsylvania. Nine amateur radio operators were placed at locations along the bicycle route as well as Net Control embedded in the Penn State University emergency communications center.
Participating amateur radio operators were:
- W3SWL, Brett Saylor
- K3OOL, Craig Miller
- KC0QJX, Gordon Vanauken
- K9SDW, Dan Muthler
- KB1BH, Ken Johnson
- W3TRN, Tom Neff
- KB3VDG, Ryan Vanauken
- KC3AF, Ruth Tillman
- K3CWP, Carmine Prestia
They provided over 33 hours of service to the Ironman.
The amateur radio positions were placed in areas between police and fire police positions to provide the maximum coverage of the bicycle course. All communications were conducted on the W3YA repeater. Fortunately there were no serious incidents for amateur radio operators to report. The entire race went smoothly. This is the final year of a three year contract between the Ironman and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. The event is very popular and will likely return in the future.
This year Dan, K9SDW, brought a trailer provided by the Centre LifeLink EMS Special Operations Unit. The unit plans and trains for search and rescue operations. Their trailer provides a number of resources to enhance the operation and could become a Net Control Station if needed.
Centre County ARES thanks the above operators for their time, the Ironman for including us, Centre LifeLink, and Penn State University Emergency Operations for allowing us to work directly out of their communications center.
Carmine Prestia, K3CWP