What Working An Aid Station Taught Me About Saving Time

This weekend, I worked an aid station at the Superior 100. The 23-mile aid station.

Superior is a super technical course. It’s not easy to make up time on a course like this so runners have run those 23 miles as smart and fast as they can - or dare.

So this is a point in the race where runners are feeling the miles and want to do more than just breeze through.

I was doing crowd control of the chute the runners pass through so I got to watch all the crews. Crews from the fast to the last runners.

And here’s one of the things I noticed - crews and their runners fell into two camps.

Crews saw their purpose as either getting their runner out on the next section as fast as possible, or taking care of their runner.

It seems like that might be the same, but the result was completely different.

Fast camp

Crews that wanted to get their runner out as fast as possible, did that. They didn't have a ton of gear - very mobile. They filled up bottles unasked, gave them food - whatever the runner needed. And the runner had an idea coming in of exactly what they needed.

They verbally checked to make sure the runner had everything before leaving, and the runner took off. This was true for the first runner through, the last one through, and many in between.

And the runner got out on the next section.

Lounging camp

Crews that wanted to take care of their runner had a lot of gear - not just chairs, but carts, and tables and a million different foods. More like they were there to camp.

They sat their runner down and took care of them - whatever the runner needed. These runners tended to be less likely to know exactly what they needed - they had more choices to make from the supplies available to them.

These runners tended to lounge more - things like swapping stories with crew from the past section. They knew the clock was running and they were going to leave, but they were in no rush to do it. Enjoying the company and being cared for.

And no surprise, these runners tended to stay longer.

The lesson

The lesson here for crewed and un-crewed, solo runners alike is to be aware of your intent at the aid station.

Both sets of runners likely thought they were getting their runners in and out as quickly as possible, but results showed one group wasn’t.

If you're thinking this isn't you, it's worth checking to see how you might unintentionally be doing this.

Do you want to do what you need to get on to the next section, or do you want to be taken care of to get on to the next section?

If you're crewed, make sure they know this is the goal and how to do it.

If you're solo, this still applies to you - you can lounge in an aid station and have volunteers care for you like crew, just as easily as you can get what you need and go.

Crewed or solo, if you want to save time in aid stations, make “get in and out as fast as possible" your true focus in aid stations.