Ore to Shore needs more volunteers

An Upper Peninsula outdoor sports fixture is looking for volunteers to make its 15th year go smoothly.

The Marquette General Health System Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic is taking place on Saturday, August 9th. Organizers have secured the assistance of 200 volunteers. However, they still need about 200 more to help out because there are still quite a few tasks to do from “Friday night, our bike expo where the racers come in and pick up their bike packets, to Saturday, race day,” Noquemanon Trail Network executive director Nikki DeWald said. “We need people at the starts of the race. We need some people at some road crossing areas and at the finish line.”

The Noquemanon Trail Network also needs a few volunteers to help staff the awards ceremony the night of the race, but they need more assistance with the road crossings than with anything else.

“You’re there for about a half an hour, tops, and you don’t need to come into town, necessarily,” DeWald said. “We need people that are living in the outskirts areas, so if you’re living in an area where you see the race go by, please volunteer because we definitely need people.”

The Ore to Shore is Michigan’s largest point–to–point bike event to feature a mass start. The longest race, the 48–mile Hard Rock, kicks off at 9:45 a.m. a week from Saturday in Negaunee.