Darrell Havener

Enjoyed being a greeter as runners arrived at aid station.
One comment praising an example of excellence from our team: Our crew leaders did a great job in handling the difficult situation of comforting the runners who missed the time cutoff at 10:15 PM. The conversation was very skillful and empathetic, yet it exhibited a necessary, tough-love firmness that has safety basis. Our leader of the "greeters" offered tough communication that was handled in a highly professional and impressive way; he is a great man who obviously cared about the runners. He offered the encouraging statement, "Congratulations, you ran 100k" (Twin Lakes). It was a silver lining for a disappointing and soul-crushing ending. He showed outstanding leadership in a crummy situation.
Many runners inbound proceed past the Fire Station aid station, bypass the official medical and drop bag support, having already received personal support from friends/crews/support lining the streets between highway 82 crossing and the Fire Station/Aid Station location. It would not be feasible to know which incoming runners had drop bags, without input from the runner or pacer. Also, once headlights are on, coming towards the aid station, we cannot see the number till the runner is right on top of us. In fact, you often can't tell runner from pacer or family/friends tagging along. Perhaps consider adding an aid station "greeter" who would be positioned before the crossing of 82, or, better yet, in the parking lot across the highway from town, the closed off south side of the highway, before the chaos and noise one encounters after crossing Hwy 82.. There, the greeter could get the attention of the runner/pacer, inquire if a drop bag is expected, and inform the runner where it will be picked up. Lifetime gravel races feature an individual calling out numbers of arriving racers who enter the aid station section dedicated to "crew for hire", where the drop bag should then be fetched and ready for the racer. Given the slower pace of run vs. cycling, a calling ahead of the number, with pre-fetching of the drop bag, probably is overkill. However, there were runners arriving at the Fire Station location unaware that their drop bags were there.
One enhancement to consider: announce the names and hometowns of runners, via PA, as they arrive at the highway crossing and run up the street into Twin Lakes. Hearing their names could be an emotional boost. Names are announced at finish lines. It might be a nice touch to add PA at inbound Twin Lakes.
A few runners arrived at our aid station well after the cutoff, believing they still could proceed. A few might have pushed hard for the 1/4 mile from Highway 82 to the aid station, after someone had told them they still had a chance. Granted, they needed to give their race chips to our leaders at the aid station. This might be a stupid idea but it might be more compassionate to have someone there , after time cutoff, at the highway crossing, offering support and collecting the number chip. I get it that there would not be hydration, nutrition, etc there. But walkie-talkie or phone call could facilitate teamwork between highway 82 crossing and our aid station. We had a pacer or crew member run up to us at the aid station to announce the abandonment by her friend. She ran back to the highway to get the race number, then returned several minutes later, with the number. Since the aid station is a ways further along the course than the highway crossing, maybe somebody with authority to collect race number chips ought to be positioned at the crossing once the cutoff has been passed. Just a thought.
An issue to consider for improvement: strategy for timing of, and staging of tearing down and scaling back the aid station after 10:45pm, 30 minutes after last runner was allowed to proceed past the checkpoint. There was confusion about when we could disassemble and pack up. Our leader was great; apparently the instructions from above suggested deferral of our tear down in its entirety. Obviously we did not want to leave the late runners unsupported (food, hydration, nutrition, medical). However, we could have been more efficient for the team if we had been able to break some things down, pack a majority of things up and load things into vehicles as we waited for late arrivals. As it turned out, we could have begun packing up 90% of the Skratch, NeverSecond, food and drinks sooner, folding tables and easing the burdens on the Sunday morning crew.
Thanks

Very well organized

Fun time. Fantastic that there was big screen with live broadcast and audio. We could follow the entire race , even though we were only at one part of the course (outbound and inbound).