As the sun was rising over West London, four bandits made their way to Ealing Half Marathon last Sunday, but not to run. With the incentive of a place in the race next year, Emma, Emilyn, Louise and I donned high vis and established ourselves on tables 1-500 and 501-1000 in the Baggage Tent in Walpole Park to await eager/nervous/reluctant runners, and of course on the lookout for some stripes.
A Day of High Visibility and Helping Hands
On arrival, we were briefed by our team leader Andy. Key points to note included: be friendly and reassuring, don’t accept a bag from anyone but the runner, don’t give a bag to anyone but the runner, and make full use of the fact runners have their names on their bibs. The last point was quite fun with some runners wondering how we knew their name!
Once we had been briefed, there was time to get a coffee and grab our free sandwich before the runners started to arrive. With a race starting at 9:10am, there were a few early birds at about 8am but the rush kicked in from 8:40am and while I gave up trying to put incoming bags in any order, Louise persevered in her organising.
With the last few runners who had been delayed by train issues reassured that they weren't too late, the next job was to put all the bags in order. A satisfying but surprisingly trickier task when you have been up since 5:30am.
Mission Accomplished: Time for Rewards
With order restored, it was back to the coffee van while we waited for the runners to return. We didn’t have to wait long with the first runner over the line in just under 68 minutes. Another important briefing note from Andy was to try spot the bib number and have their bag ready when they approached us. Despite Emilyn not wearing her glasses, we managed this pretty well and it really is a nice touch, especially when all you want to do is get warm and get to the pub once you’ve finished a race.
Almost all the bags were collected by 12, so after we helped tidy away the chairs and tables, it was off to the pub to meet some fellow bandits for a well-earned drink (them and us).
The Power of Volunteering: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes
So, as well as the free race place for next year’s Ealing Half Marathon, we got to experience a fantastic event and get a glimpse behind the curtain. None of the races we all run would happen without volunteers, from parkrun to the London Marathon, and I cannot recommend contributing to the running community with your time enough.
Ways to volunteer
Get your parkrun volunteer milestones – includes roles where you can also run.
You can earn race credit and free places at Ealing, RunThrough and RunFest, and probably many more.
And don't forget: there are plenty of FRC volunteer opportunities starting with the weekly club runs – find out more here and sign up!
Written by Lauren Feltham - FRC Treasurer
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