Today, I acted as a volunteer at my local Parkrun, as I'm doing a 10K race tomorrow. I thought it only fair to put something back into a thing that I enjoy taking advantage of so much. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I was handing out the finish tokens.
It's a completely different perspective. You still get the social feeling of it, perhaps even more, as there's more time to talk to people. The most interesting thing, though, is you get to see all of the run - from those buggers that swoop round the course in 16 minutes to the courageous souls who walk the course in 50 minutes or more. You're usually only aware of those running around your own pace, and the fast finishers are gone by the time you get in.
Parkrun is a fantastic institution, but it can only work through the time given by volunteers. I'd like to encourage other people to do it. If you're on the C25K path and don't think you're ready to run the 5k yet, why not volunteer a few times first? If, like me, you're going to skip running one Saturday because of another run/race coming up, why not give back and volunteer for that hour on a Saturday morning?
Written by
Steve_L
Graduate
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Hear hear! Totally agree Steve, I'm a plodder at the back, and have volunteered a few times, love it, time out from the stresses of the week, folks who are always pleasant and encouraging, fresh air ,a great start to the day, I'm definitely in!
Well done. I have volunteer park run on my to do list. Just waiting for the busy time that is the summer weekend work to die down a bit and then I will. It sounds like a great experience,
I volunteer at the Junior Parkrun that my kids run. Many of the other volunteers run the 5k on the Saturday so volunteer on the Sunday to "give back". It is just awesome to see the 11 year old that runs 2k in just over 7 minutes to the 4 year old high five'ing through a walk / run approach that takes 20 minutes. I enjoy it even more than running Parkrun on the Saturday
I am doing a spot of marshaling next week. The first email asked me if I wanted to be the tail runner (what are they trying to say?) but we have a family day out afterwards and I don't want to be all sticky 'n stuff.
I have only done Parkrun twice but both times, the volunteers have been fantastic.
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First time volunteering at Abingdon Parkrun
Parkrun - the back of the pack is where it's at :-)
Parkrun
First parkrun on International parkrun day!
