Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie appears destined to sell-out in coming weeks with an additional 1200 athletes also set to tackle the new-look full-distance course on May 7.
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Race director Kieran Burgess, however, admitted volunteers are still required.
"We're tapping into a whole new group of volunteers we've never had before," Burgess said.
"A lot of our long-standing groups down at Laurieton and in the Camden Haven aren't all necessarily returning because of that travel that they'd have to do to (to go to the new western part of the course).
"We are definitely still heavily recruiting bike aid stations and bike course marshals for that new western section. They (volunteers) are always welcome, but especially out in that western section."
Local Organising Committee run course director Clifford Hoeft admitted there was "significantly less" involvement from some of the bigger volunteer groups from previous years.
"We're really scrounging to try and find two and three people here and there to fill the gaps, but we've come up very short," he said.
"Our most critical area are run course marshalling which is where people control traffic flow and stop pedestrians going onto the course where the athletes are competing."
Hoeft said the lack of numbers could be attributed to a variety of factors.
"I don't know if it's event fatigue or people just have other commitments and these things do come in waves of enthusiasm, but it's really hard to pinpoint on exactly why this year," he said.
He did, however, feel the change of course away from areas such as Dunbogan and Laurieton could have contributed.
"The change in course would definitely impact those who feel they're involved with it (the event) and going into a new area means we've got locations that previously weren't in people's scope and it seems further out for them," he said.
"Coming out of COVID we're finding some people are putting their energies elsewhere."
Hoeft said the Local Organising Committee were approaching businesses around town to generate additional numbers.
"We're trying to make it as easy as we can to get people to supply their details directly to us as coordinators."
Hoeft said there are three shifts which are in need of volunteers at the event including from 8am to 2pm, 1.45pm to 8pm and 7.45pm to 12.45am.
"If potential volunteers would like to share or split a shift that is okay too if they have someone to do the other part of the shift."
Volunteers can register directly with Ironman and once registered they can select a shift that suits them or email cliffordhoeft@gmail.com.
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