I'm somewhat ashamed to say that today was the first time I volunteered at a race - my running club's Marlborough Downs Challenge. I loved it! My aid station came at M2 so everyone was in good spirits and it was lovely to finally give back to the running community in a tiny way. I definitely won't leave it thing long again. Does anyone else have experience of volunteering/marshalling?
I marshalled the carpark entrance at our clubs Tri last year, I was there from 6am until about 3pm. Our club also did a parkrun takeover (not sure if this is a common thing but every now and then a local running/tri club will volunteer for all the marshalling duties for a local parkrun. I was in charge of a stop watch at the finish line clocking each finisher, I was so nervous I didn’t want to mess up anyone’s time or worse press the wrong button and deleted the whole thing! But so rewarding watching everyone of all abilities (and disabilities) crossing the line and being the first to congratulate them. Unfortunately now any spare time I have I would rather race the event than marshalling which is a bit selfish but then again I only get to a parkrun 2 or 3 times a year. There are some local Tri’s that offer free entry to the following year in exchange for marshalling duties but again that would be 2 weekends used up.
I had an email from a local company asking for help marshalling a midweek tri and I'm free that day...I've signed up.
I’ve marshalled at various events over the years from motorsport to being an accredited British Cycling marshal and the odd Parkrun or three. At the end of the day marshals perform a vital roll that allows an event to go ahead so I give my bit back to help those who often help me in return.
