If you're riding a TT, what do you expect of the marshals?
My understanding was that the rider's safety was entirely their own responsibility, and according to the CTT Guidance Notes, "A marshal’s sole duty is to indicate clearly the route the rider is to follow."
I was marshalling a 100 today and had been positioned at a T-junction (more of a Y-junction in shape) where the riders were turning right. I was deeply concerned at the recklessness of some of the riders as they approached the junction, seemingly with no intention of slowing down and checking for traffic even though visibility to the left is very poor until you're actually at the junction, and there were a few near misses. Some riders were directly asking me "Clear?", which I don't mind except that on one occasion, I hesitated to respond because I wasn't able to check in both directions quickly enough, and the rider just continued across the junction anyway, straight across the path of an oncoming car.
I tried to do my bit by waving my arm in the "slowing down" signal if I could see cars approaching, and for some riders I did shout "Clear" if I was absolutely sure that the way was clear, but I only have eyes on one side of my head. It's hard to monitor a three-way junction safely on your own. The layout of the junction also meant it was impossible to see approaching riders until they were within 30m (generous guess) of the turn, which is a problem given the speed some of them were travelling at.
I also noted that some riders ignored me and checked for themselves even when I did shout "Clear", which I believe is exactly what they should be doing. I'm also concerned that my attempts to prevent accidents were only confusing matters rather than being helpful and I might have been better off refusing to do anything other than indicate the direction as laid out in the CTT Guidance Notes.
I found the whole business rather stressful and I shall be bringing it up with the event organiser - asking him to remind riders that they are responsible for their own safety and that the Highway Code applies to them even if they are on a PB.
On top of the stress, it was a beautiful sunny day today and I forgot to bring suncream with me, which would have been fine for a 10, but I was out there for six hours...