Here are some vol­un­teer crew shirts from past years. How many do you have?

I’m really pleased to announce we have two new Knee Knacker Com­mit­tee mem­bers this year — Wendy Mont­gomery and Mark Grist. Many of you will already know Wendy and Mark from their involve­ment over the years with a number of local races and we are thrilled to have their knowl­edge and exper­tise. Wendy is the cur­rent Race Direc­tor for Diez Vista, and Mark holds the dis­tinc­tion of not only com­plet­ing the Knee Knacker 16 times, but being the youngest ever to get to that number!

I look for­ward to another excit­ing year. As always, please be in touch.

As we head full swing into 2013, I want to take a few min­utes to sin­cerely thank Rod Hat­full for his count­less vol­un­teer hours and 13 years on the Knee Knacker com­mit­tee. Rod’s decided to step down from the com­mit­tee this year, but he’ll con­tinue to be around and involved lead­ing up to race day. I am already going through with­drawal, but Rod assures me we’ll all be fine

Rod’s first Knee Knacker was in 1995 (he’s done 9), and he got involved in the train­ing runs in 1998. Rod’s first offi­cial year on the com­mit­tee was in 1999, so he’s second only to Enzo as longest serv­ing com­mit­tee member. With Enzo, Ken, Paul, Mike & me as RDs during this time, Rod has been a big part of the con­ti­nu­ity and his­tory of our race.

I will miss Rod’s awe­some sense of humour, care, deep knowl­edge and will­ing­ness to jump in how­ever needed.

Dear Knee Knacker Volunteers,

THANK YOU so much for all of your work, pas­sion, ded­i­ca­tion, humour and care that went in to making this year’s Knee Knacker another incred­i­ble day! I am so appre­cia­tive of all of the big and little things each of you do to con­tribute to this ‘crazy little run’. This year, the Knee Knacker com­mu­nity raised over $19,000 for North Shore Rescue (and the tally is still grow­ing — we may hit $20,000!) and my inbox exploded with thanks to all of YOU who make the day so spe­cial for so many people. Thank you. I hope to see you again next year.

My sin­cere thanks,

Kelsy Trigg,
Knee Knacker Race Director

As the logis­tics plan­ning lead­ing up to Knee Knacker 2012 is in full swing, I wanted to thank all of our amaz­ing volunteers. I say this every year, and I mean it most sincerely. Without our 250+ vol­un­teers, we would not have this run, this much fun, be able to sup­port North Shore Rescue, or con­tribute to our com­mu­nity like we all do. Each year, I am over­whelmed by the gen­eros­ity of all of you. THANK YOU!

Many vol­un­teers come back year after year, and we have exam­ples of people who have been VOLUNTEERING for two decades. One of the topics that came up at our Knee Knacker com­mit­tee meet­ing last night was how hard it is to prop­erly thank and acknowl­edge everyone’s contributions. If you are a runner and have a story to share about a vol­un­teer who helped you in a spe­cial way, please let us know. If you are a vol­un­teer, please let us know what we can do to keep you coming back each year. I look for­ward to seeing all of you in the next 10 days.

Taper well, rest well, eat well and enjoy the anticipation!

Kelsy Trigg,
Knee Knacker Race Director

With less than one month to go before the race is under­way, we’re busy fill­ing the last of the vol­un­teer spots for the course. All of the aid sta­tion crew and timer posi­tions are full, but there are still a few mar­shall posi­tions that are open. If you can assist with one or more of these posi­tions, please fill out the online request form. This is a great way for friends and family of the run­ners to expe­ri­ence the course first-hand and to help make our event a success!

• Holly­burn Moun­tain Ranger Sta­tion (7:30am to 10:00am), one person
• British Properties/Craigmohr (8:00am to 11:00am), one person
• Sky­line Short­cut (8:30am to 12:00pm), one person
• LSCR Varley Trail (11:00am to 1:30pm), two people
• Lynn Canyon Sus­pen­sion Bridge (9:30am to 2:00pm), one person
• Indian River Road (1:00pm to 4:30pm), one person
• Pho­to­graph and cer­tifi­cate sorter (at ban­quet, start­ing at 4:00pm), 2–3 people
• Trans­port crew with pick-up truck or SUV (var­i­ous times during day), one person
• Trans­port crew assis­tant — no vehi­cle needed (var­i­ous times during day), one person

And don’t forget, our post-race ban­quet needs more vol­un­teers for the set-up and for during the banquet!

Don’t worry, you’re not expected to cook for 350 guests and Gordon Ramsay won’t be patrolling the aisles cri­tiquing you! The Knee Knacker ban­quet fin­ishes our race for the year, and we need a few more vol­un­teers to help make it an amaz­ing  event for all our guests. There are two ban­quet shifts: 11 a.m. — 3 p.m. for Set-up and 5 — 10 p.m. for Ban­quet serv­ing and clean-up. We need 5–6 people for Set-up and 6–8 people for the Ban­quet shift. You can sign up using the vol­un­teer form. On the form, indi­cate which shift you’d like to work (maybe both!).

All 2011 vol­un­teer posi­tions have been filled. Many thanks to all our vol­un­teers! Mean­while, the count­down to Sat­ur­day clicks on relent­lessly, and your com­mit­tee is work­ing furi­ously on last minute preparations.