As a few of you made kind noises when Dexy5 mentioned (on damienair 's parkrun thread) that I’d broken my Run Directing duck, I thought there might be some interest in how it went from my own viewpoint …..
Having done a lot of volunteering in a variety of roles, and a fair bit of whingeing about how I thought things could be done better, when I learned that two of our parkrun’s long term RDs were moving away from the area, I felt it was time to put up or shut up. And, my hand having been bitten off when I waved it about, I discovered that two more had stepped back during the pandemic pause, and another two would be off before Christmas, leaving potentially just two, including the Event Director. So they did seem pleased to hear from me …..
I knew what the RD’s did between the volunteers turning up around 0830 and disappearing around 1015, but had little idea of what was needed outside those times. So the first thing I had to do was get into the various communications loops and discover how, for instance, we dealt with people volunteering by e-mail and/or on Facebook, worked out who had custody of the various bits of kit, and, most mysterious of all, how to work the magic that delivers results and volunteer thank-yous within an hour of the tailwalkers finishing. This required endless patience from the ED as, although I am generally OK with computers, I hate social media (Health Unlocked excepted!) with a passion.
Apart from that, and a lot of chatting to the other RDs, I formally understudied the RD once and was shown the results processing procedure twice. And after the run the weekend before last, I found my car full of all the equipment needed for a parkrun, and my name at the top of the volunteer list for last Saturday. Cue a week of strong-arming people I know (thanks Dexy and Coddfish es) into volunteering for the funnel team, nervously watching the rest of the roster fill up (we are blessed with having a permanent volunteer co-ordinator who does the heavy lifting on that side of the house) and having my pre-sleep thoughts occupied by rehearsing and refining the pre-run brief I would have to deliver come the day. Which duly dawned …..
And it seemed to go pretty well. A pile of volunteers turned up early, which was great, the other RDs were all there, so I knew there was help if I needed it, the weather was kind, and the masses (350 odd) did seem prepared to listen to the briefing. I nearly forgot to do the shout-outs (one 100, one 250 and one 300) but someone reminded me in time, and although I did ask “timekeepers ready?” before hollering “1-2-3 go!”, it would have been a very good idea to wait until they had both said “yes”! The run itself seemed to go like clockwork, and the hand-picked funnel team stayed perfectly in step throughout. With no funnel-duckers!
The only bit I hated was telling someone who had done the run propelling his son on a pushbike that I didn’t consider it was safe, and please would he not do it again. He was disappointed as it was the only way he could take part, and didn’t feel the bike was any different to a buggy, but accepted the ruling very graciously. Which didn’t stop me feeling like a pile of asterisks, though I know I was right and in line with the parkrun rulebook.
So there goes one Saturday a month for the foreseeable ……. with (hopefully) fewer pre-match nerves from here on in! And to any regular parkrun volunteer who doesn’t mind occasionally making an exhibition of themselves, I’m sure your team would love to hear from you, if you felt you could lighten the load ………..
Hooked on parkrun (you did warn me!)
