First volunteer parkrun
Dec. 10th, 2016 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylAfter forty-something runs at Exeter Riverside and after weeks of dodging eye contact at the point in the briefing when the Run Director asks for volunteers, I finally stepped up and offered to marshall at this week's event. And rather to my surprise, I had an absolutely great time. I really enjoyed cheering everyone one and I finally felt like I was repaying the parkrun community and all the people who volunteer week-in and week-out to make it all happen.
Not wanting to be late on my first day, I arrived at the Quay Climbing Centre at 08:10 to find a couple of people already there. One of the regulars went off in search of the key to the cupboard, only to discover that it wasn't there. The theory that today's Run Director had already picked up the key was dashed when they turned up empty-handed. A few frantic phone calls quickly established that the other key holders were away, leading to a tense 10 minutes until Ben, they Quay's man on point this morning, showed up to save the day. Showing a very pratical frame of mind, Ben tried the all the unlabelled keys from behind the desk until he hit the key to the parkrun cupboard, at which point everyone realised that all that had happened was the identifying tag had fallen off!
We went through the briefing quite quickly and I initially offered to take the easy 4th position point at Salmonpool Lane but switched to the 5th position by the edge of the playing field when one of the other volunteers mentioned they hadn't run the new course and weren't confident about the alterations. Slightly later than usual and burdened with a set of signs, I set out with the 4th marshal — the writer Ian Mortimer — and got my signs set up. I had a nervous moment when I discovered the gate into Duckes Meadow was padlocked and an even more nervous one when the key didn't work, until I spotted a second key attached to my instructions and discovered that this did indeed unlock the gate.
Five or so minutes later, the first of the fast set came powering past, soon followed by the majority of the runners. All I had to do was wave people in the direction of the river path and tell them to keep left. I'm pretty sure I was successful: I didn't lose anyone; confirmed with a couple of other runners who came in from the wrong direction and asked about parkrun that they weren't mine and I hadn't lost them; and one of the parkrunners even complimented me on the placement of my signage!
Just as D was coming through as tail-runner, the leader finished his look of Duckes Meadow and I switched to directing people to go straight ahead, ensuring that no-one tried to turn left and follow the old, pre-flood defence scheme, route. I kept cheering people on — I don't know how many times I said "Well done!" and "Not far now!" — and telling them the route, so the time flashed by and before I knew it, the tail-runner was there and it was time to pack up.
All in all, the process took less than two hours from start to finish — I think we were back at the Quay by 10am — and then it was time for a quick tea break, some quality fun with a very excited and very cute springer pup, and then home, glowing with a feeling of achievement.
Not wanting to be late on my first day, I arrived at the Quay Climbing Centre at 08:10 to find a couple of people already there. One of the regulars went off in search of the key to the cupboard, only to discover that it wasn't there. The theory that today's Run Director had already picked up the key was dashed when they turned up empty-handed. A few frantic phone calls quickly established that the other key holders were away, leading to a tense 10 minutes until Ben, they Quay's man on point this morning, showed up to save the day. Showing a very pratical frame of mind, Ben tried the all the unlabelled keys from behind the desk until he hit the key to the parkrun cupboard, at which point everyone realised that all that had happened was the identifying tag had fallen off!
We went through the briefing quite quickly and I initially offered to take the easy 4th position point at Salmonpool Lane but switched to the 5th position by the edge of the playing field when one of the other volunteers mentioned they hadn't run the new course and weren't confident about the alterations. Slightly later than usual and burdened with a set of signs, I set out with the 4th marshal — the writer Ian Mortimer — and got my signs set up. I had a nervous moment when I discovered the gate into Duckes Meadow was padlocked and an even more nervous one when the key didn't work, until I spotted a second key attached to my instructions and discovered that this did indeed unlock the gate.
Five or so minutes later, the first of the fast set came powering past, soon followed by the majority of the runners. All I had to do was wave people in the direction of the river path and tell them to keep left. I'm pretty sure I was successful: I didn't lose anyone; confirmed with a couple of other runners who came in from the wrong direction and asked about parkrun that they weren't mine and I hadn't lost them; and one of the parkrunners even complimented me on the placement of my signage!
Just as D was coming through as tail-runner, the leader finished his look of Duckes Meadow and I switched to directing people to go straight ahead, ensuring that no-one tried to turn left and follow the old, pre-flood defence scheme, route. I kept cheering people on — I don't know how many times I said "Well done!" and "Not far now!" — and telling them the route, so the time flashed by and before I knew it, the tail-runner was there and it was time to pack up.
All in all, the process took less than two hours from start to finish — I think we were back at the Quay by 10am — and then it was time for a quick tea break, some quality fun with a very excited and very cute springer pup, and then home, glowing with a feeling of achievement.
