Dead Dog Classic Looking for Volunteers

Mike Harokopis knows Laramie is fortunate to be able to host a premier stage race and he knows it's possible because of the volunteers that contribute each year. Just this past weekend the Hugo Road Race was cancelled because the organizers were looking at a $3,000 loss.

"They just don't have the volunteer support we have here in Laramie," said Harokopis, one of the promoters of the Dead Dog Classic Stage Race, which will take place on June 23-24 with the help of roughly 125 volunteers.

Volunteer coordinator Lindsay Sweley says they need volunteers throughout the entire weekend to make the event run smoothly.

We need volunteers starting Friday, the 22nd, to help with registration at the Depot in Laramie. Then we need volunteers on Saturday, starting with some parking control in Albany, some volunteers to help distribute registration packets to racers who come late, volunteers to distribute water to racers at points called Feed Zones along the highway in the Snowies up to Ryan Park. On Sunday, we need volunteers to direct traffic in downtown Laramie during the Criterium race, and later Sunday morning we will need volunteers to distribute water or monitor turn around areas during the Time Trial race on the frontage road next to I-80 from Blair-Wallis to near Vedauwoo Road.
-Lindsay Sweley

Sweley says that volunteering at the Dead Dog is not difficult and no previous experience is necessary. It you are interested in helping out, send a message to deaddoglindsay@hotmail.com. There will be two training sessions for volunteers, on June 19 and 20 at the TriHydro office at 6 p.m. both nights with dinner provided. Volunteers need to attend just on of the sessions.

Also, volunteers will each get a free commemorative Dead Dog t-shirt, which is zombie themed this year, a meal while they volunteer, a raffle ticket for a New Belgium cruiser bike, a gift certificate for businesses that are part of the Downtown Laramie Business Association and a ticket to the post race BBQ on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, June 23 the first group of racers in the Pepsi Snowy Range Road Race will start at 10 a.m. from Albany. Then on Sunday the Laramie GM Auto Center Downtown Criterium will get going at 7 a.m. in Laramie. The final stage, the TriHydro High Altitude Time Trial, will start with the first group of riders at 11 a.m.

For more on the Dead Dog Classic, listen to the interview of Lindsay Sweley and Mike Harokopis on Laramie Live from Monday, June 11.