For this weeks 5k parkrun in Tramore Valley Park in Cork City, I was helping out as a marshal out along the course. The task was fairly simple... act as a human bollard and stop people going down the wrong path, even I could do it! :o)
I think for a lot of people, there might be a fear of volunteering. The obvious thought is that you might be thrown in at the deep end, be asked to do something with the results, make a mistake and the whole thing ends in a disaster.
The reality is that you can volunteer for whatever role you are comfortable doing. I decided to fill the role of a marshal which while required, also meant that someone didn't have to do it.
Even doing an easy role can mean what another person gets freed up. It might allow someone else to get trained up at the finish area where there is more pressure, help out somewhere else or it might just mean that someone gets a break from volunteering week after week.
The key thing is that parkruns are completely dependent on volunteers and every person counts.
A list of roles can be seen below...
You can find more information about each of the volunteer roles HERE
If you want to volunteer then help out at your local 5k parkrun. You'll be put on a email list which usually means you get no more than two emails a week. In the email, you'll get a link to a page where you'll see which volunteer roles need to be filled next Saturday and for the following few weeks.
As people go on holidays during the Summer months, this would be a good time to help out.
Thanks John. This is very timely as many regular volunteers will take holidays over the next few months and as you said parkrun doesn’t happen unless there are sufficient volunteers. By the way, results processing is now one of the easier tasks!
ReplyDeletealso you can run or walk and still volunteer for about half of the volunteer roles on the list.
ReplyDeleteGreat article. Not to forget the junior park runs also on a Sunday morning
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