EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of weekly stories leading up to the May 25 Ski to Sea race that will give a behind-the scenes look into the largest annual community sporting event in Whatcom County. Each story will be written by a member of the Ski to Sea Race Committee. Dave Ringwald, the co-chairman for the kayak leg of the race and a senior environmental engineer at British Petrolium, wrote this week’s story. For previous stories, please visit TheBellinghamHerald. com/skitosea.

The Ski to Sea race would not exist or continue its success without the volunteers who help put on the event each year.

From the 45 members of the race committee that meet year round to plan the event to the volunteers who show up on race day to help at each exchange point or along the course, we could simply not continue without the volunteers.

Each year we have about 850 volunteers helping with the event on race day. The volunteer force includes four Boy Scout troops, nearly the entire congregation of church in Ferndale and hundreds of dedicated local citizens who volunteer every year.

While most of these are Whatcom County residents who love the Ski to Sea Race, we also have former residents who return just to volunteer for the race. We’ve even had volunteers from as far away as North Carolina who come to Bellingham each year to volunteer.

The Ski to Sea Race committee tries to say “thank you” to these volunteers by providing shirts and lunch on race day.

From the comments we read in the “Community Forum” section of our Web site ( www.SkitoSea.com), we know that the volunteers also love this event and look forward to their participation each year. For many it is a way to get involved in the local community. Some of the volunteer tasks include setting up the race course, crowd control, passing out water bottles, directing racers to the timing checkpoints and collecting the race equipment after the race.

While we have many volunteers return year after year we always seem to need new community members to help us with the Ski to Sea events.

It’s not just the individual volunteers that make the difference, many public agencies also help make Ski to Sea such a success.

Law enforcement agencies like Washington State Patrol, Whatcom County Sheriff Department and the Bellingham and Everson Police departments provide great assistance on race day.

Many city and county parks and recreation departments, the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Mount Baker Ski Area, the Port of Bellingham, KGMI Radio, Whatcom Search & Rescue, the Boy Scouts, the U.S. Coast Guard, Diehl Ford and The Bellingham Herald also help us put on this large community event.

To everyone who helps out, all we can say is thank you!

If you are interested in being a volunteer for the Ski to Sea Race or any of the other Ski to Sea events this May, please visit the volunteer section of the Ski to Sea Web site at www.skitosea.com or call the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry at 734- 1330. You can volunteer to help with the parade(s), the Junior Ski to Sea Race or the big race on May 25.