- When
- While the races run, both days
- Experience
- None needed for most spots
- Physical
- Light, on your feet outdoors
- Racing too?
- Marshal the day you're not racing, or around your criterium start
What you'd do
- Go to your assigned spot: a junction, a driveway, a park entrance or a pedestrian crossing.
- Watch for the race and let drivers, people walking and spectators nearby know it's coming.
- Keep spectators off the road at the road race and behind the barriers at the criterium.
- At the criterium, help people cross the course only at the marked crossings, when it's clear.
- Report anything that could put riders at risk, like a crash, debris or a car on course, the way your instructions tell you to.
Marshaling the road race
The Berkeley Hills Road Race runs on a 18.76-mile loop near Orinda, on roads that stay open to traffic. Marshal spots are where that loop meets everything else. The 2024 set-up plan put marshals at the start, at park entrances along San Pablo Dam Road, at the Castro Ranch Road junctions, where Alhambra Valley Road meets Bear Creek Road, and at the finish near the top of Papa Bear, with California Highway Patrol officers at the main junctions.
Spectators at the road race have to stay completely off the roadway, and part of a marshal's job is reminding them. You might be the only person at a quiet junction in the hills when the race comes through.
Marshaling the criterium
The Berkeley Streets Criterium is a four-corner course beside Ohlone Park, closed for racing and lined with barriers. Spectators watch from the sidewalks, and people cross the course only at marked crossings when a marshal says it's clear. With neighbors, park visitors, families heading to the kids race and fans all around the course, crossings are a big part of marshaling here.
A lap is 0.61 miles, so the field comes past every couple of minutes. Standing at a corner, you watch the braking, the lines and the fight for position lap after lap from about as close as anyone gets.
Who's in charge of what
Marshals aren't police. Where traffic needs controlling, that's set out in the race's plan, and at the road race the 2024 plan put California Highway Patrol officers at the main junctions. Race officials run the race itself. If something comes up that your instructions don't cover, report it the way you've been told.
Do you need to understand bike racing?
Not for most spots. You need to stay alert, follow the instructions for your spot and be friendly but firm with people who want to wander into the road. Knowing racing helps you read what's coming at the road race: a breakaway, then the main field, then riders who've been dropped, with gaps between them.
Racing only Sunday? Marshal Saturday's road race. At the criterium, ask for a marshal spot during the races before or after yours. Other ways to help around your race are in the Volunteer Role Finder.