parkrun volunteering tips

I've taken on most of the volunteering roles at parkrun multiple times, so here are some tips based on what I've picked up over the years.

Please note, these are only my tips. There are official parkrun web pages that explain the exact roles in detail. Plus each event will have local variations that will need to be taken into account.

Run Director:

• Be prepared.
• Prepare some notes to refer to during the briefing.
• Delegate as much as possible to ensure you are free to deal with bits and pieces that pop up on the morning.
• If you have the electronic bits and pieces, make sure the data is cleared from the previous week and they have sufficient charge in the batteries.

Related blogs: Lesnes Abbey Juniors junior parkrun 15 / Dartford parkrun 48

Volunteer coordinator: 

• A core team member role which is likely to be ongoing or repeated due to the nature of the role.
• I've never been totally responsible for this role, but of course you'll need to be good at planning ahead and ensure the roles are sufficiently covered in time for the event.
• You may need to become a master of persuasion

Equipment storage and delivery:

• Don't be late with the kit on the morning of the event.
• If you have the electronic bits and pieces, make sure the data is cleared from the previous week and they have sufficient charge in the batteries.

Pre-event setup:

• This tends to be a role that specific people seem to repeat, so team up with someone that knows exactly where everything goes while you learn the ropes.
• There might be signs that go in places participants don't see, so don't just assume you know where they all go.
• This may involve a bit of litter picking or removing dog poo (only deal with anything you are comfortable with)

Pre-event course check:

• Simply checking the entire route is safe to use
• May involve litter picking or the removal of any trip hazards or debris (twigs, small branches, poo, stones, rocks, drinks cans, bottles, etc...)
• At some events it may be done as part of the pre-event set-up

First timer's briefing:

• Prepare beforehand
• Be familiar with the process at the finish funnel and explain it clearly
• Have a copy of a barcode, a directional arrow and a finish token to give visual representations of what you're explaining.
• Be prepared for questions after the briefing (some people may not want to speak out in front of a large group)

Warmup leader (junior events):

• Follow the pre-set formula, OR mix it up a little 
• Don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself (the kids will love it)
• Have fun and smile

Related blogs: Lesnes Abbey junior parkrun 14 / 

Lead bike:

• This volunteering role has been retired

Pacer:

• Pick a pacing time that is well within your abilities.
• Know the mile/kilometre markers of the course, and know when you are due to reach each one.
• Use your Garmin as a guide but also use the kilometre/mile markers to check your progress.
• Know the course - some courses could be slightly long or short, or be hilly, which could make a difference to the way you pace your pacees. Pacing can quite often be an art. 
• Stick to the plan even if it feels like nobody else is with you - somebody could be way behind, but keeping you in sight as an indicator of how their doing.

VI guide:

• I've never been a VI guide, but I expect if you are doing this you would have had some training beforehand and will know more than I do anyway.

Marshal:

• Remember you are there to perform a function, not to just look pretty and cheer.
• Direct all participants even if they appear to know the course.
• Look out for other park users and give them a heads up that a large number of people may be heading their way - be mindful of the wording used. 

Parkwalker:

• Launched in October 2022. The role comes with its own light blue volunteer bib.
• The role is essentially to walk parkrun.
• This may involve accompanying, supporting and/or chatting to other walkers.
• Even if there are no other walkers or if you find yourself not alongside any, the presence of parkwalkers on the course may still help to break down barriers to others that want to take part.

Tail Walker:

• Stay right at the back - so many times I have seen an event start and the tail walker isn't behind the last person. Keep an eye out for late starters during the first few minutes.
• Carry a mobile phone
• Don't feel obliged to stay right with the last person and make conversation - they may not want to.
• Remember that this role will take as long as required, so only take it on if you know you don't have to rush off at a certain time.
• Know the course well, and know the positions of the marshals in case of emergency.
• Be cautious of taking on the tail walker role at an unfamiliar venue just to get a volunteer credit.

Related blogs: Harrow Lodge junior parkrun / Dartford parkrun 47

Photographer:

• Find a good spot / wander around to get some variation - whatever works for you
• Don't upload unflattering photos
• Don't stress too much if most of your photos come out blurry (I've been there!)
• Bear in mind some people may request that photos of them not be published on social media - these will need to be carefully edited or removed. It is quite common for parents to request that their kids not be in photos on social media.

Related blogs: Riddlesdown parkrun 59 / Dartford parkrun 11 / Dartford parkrun 45 / 

Timers:

• Timing is now done through the parkrun volunteer app
• Having the phone's vibrate function on is helpful as it provides sensory feedback that the time has been recorded.
• Keep an eye on the incoming participants so you don't get caught out by a large pack all arriving together.
• Avoid being drawn into conversations which could distract you from the role
• Remember that the parkwalkers and tail walkers are also participants who are included in the results. You need to record their times too.

Related blogs: Riddlesdown parkrun 58 / Dartford parkrun 44 / Dartford parkrun 46

Funnel Manager:

• Stay on your toes during the peak finishing period.
• A lot of people are not thinking straight when they cross the line and may need some gentle coaxing to stay in order and take a finish token.
• Remind people to stay in order and to keep moving along the funnel
• Keep an eye out for people trying to talk to the timers

Finish tokens:

• Be prepared.
• Keep an eye on how many people are approaching the finish and ensure you have a good flow of tokens.
• Keep an eye out for tokens that have stuck together in the stack (usually with sweat from the previous week)
• Be familiar with the procedures should you drop tokens etc..
• Try to avoid being drawn into conversations

Finish tokens assistant:

• Be prepared.
• Keep the finish tokens flowing to the Finish Tokens volunteer
• Try to avoid being drawn into conversations

Token Sorter:

• A post-event role, which should be nice and relaxing. Simply sort the finish tokens back into the correct order ready for the next event.
• You will need to note any missing tokens. The exact process will vary at different events.

Number checker:

• Record discrepancies occurring between the timers and tokens.
• Some events take down random finisher's finish positions and times to assist with correcting discrepancies 

Barcode Scanner:

• The old barcode scanners are now a thing of the past and all scanning is done via the mobile app.
• Having the vibrate setting active can help with confirming a barcode has scanned
• The camera on the phone will pick up barcodes really easily - make sure only the barcode you are scanning is in the viewfinder
• If scanned tokens are being placed in a bucket/tub, make sure you don not point the phone's camera towards the tub as it may read one of those tokens by mistake

Related blogs: Riddlesdown parkrun 60 /

Post-event clear down:

• Make sure you only clear away signage, cones etc... once the tail walker has passed them for the last time.

Results processor:

• Liaise with timers, finish tokens and scanners and make sure any issues have been noted. This will make the job easier.
• Remember to add anybody that helped out on the day to the volunteer rota
• Results are now processed using EMS which is an improvement on the older system

Communications person:

• Post social media updates regularly and keep posts relevant
• Remember you are posting under the official event name, so keep it professional at all times
• If posting to inform that results or news articles are ready, make sure to add a link.
• When linking to the results, use the exact link to that week's results page (ie don't just link to the latest results page). Do the same for the news page. 

Event report writer:

• A bit of everything (stats/facts/stories) seems to work well.
• People love being mentioned, so name-drop as often as you can. 
• Cover significant stories throughout the field (first-timers, milestones, pbs, age category records, tourists, plus any unusual or interesting things that happened)
• Don't forget to mention the volunteers

Lesnes Abbey Abbey Abbey Woods junior parkrun 15 - V200

Event 15 at Lesnes Abbey Abbey Abbey junior parkrun saw me take on a few volunteering roles...

• Run director (inc. briefing)
• Warm-up leader
• Barcode Scanner

.. which all worked out fine.

run briefing (apparently me and matilda found something funny) [photo: dani]

A few weeks back, I said that if I ever did the run briefing at a junior parkrun that I would like to do it in the way I saw it being done over at Hilly Fields junior parkrun. However, I didn't quite plan things properly and I ended up just using the standard briefing format. Next time I definitely want to make it a bit snappier. I did have the pleasure of presenting one of the juniors with his half-marathon wrist band.

It was a bit of a special occasion for me as this event marked the 200th event I had been credited with volunteering at across seven different venues. For the record, my total number of credited tasks stands at 223. That's way off what it actually is, but let's not worry about that.

run briefing (again) [photo: dani]

Back to the business of the day, and right up until 5 minutes before the start of the run, Matilda was intent on helping me run direct. I told her that it would be boring and that she should just run, but still she insisted on helping me.

She had volunteered the day before at Dartford parkrun (where I ran) and I wanted to repay the favour. Somewhere between the run briefing and the warm-up she had changed her mind and decided to run.

warm-up [photo: dani]

I hung around the LAAAWjpHQ for the duration of the run and it wasn't long before we had a little stumble and one of the young runners had hurt his knee. Then the rain started and we all got wet.

The remainder of the run was incident-free and the runners soon started streaming through the finish funnel where I was waiting with my zapper, ready to scan all of their barcodes. And there were so many! In fact it was a new LAAAWjp attendance record! [event 15 results]

matilda brought hello kitty along for a run [photo: dani]

Matilda enjoyed her three solo laps and I let her scan her own barcode at the end. The other volunteers made my job look very easy and at the end they all brought back their respective signs and we left the Abbey to it's rainy self for another week. We jumped back in the car and headed home to dry off.

Lesnes Abbey Abbey Abbey junior parkrun 14 - not quite Mr Motivator

Over the last few months, Matilda has fallen at Gravesend (event 14), Hilly Fields (event 6) and Medway (event 1) junior parkruns (as well as once at Dartford parkrun).

Surprisingly, given the terrain, she has not yet fallen at Lesnes Abbey Abbey Abbey. Well technically she has, but because it's grass she hasn't actually hurt herself.

junior parkrun warm-up [copyright: parkrun]

So.... we're going to spend a bit more time at LAAAWjp and less time touring. In order to mark the decision, I decided to volunteer as barcode scanner and also offered to lead the warm-up.

The junior parkrun warm-up is largely the same at all venues and even has its own junior-parkrun-themed guidance sheet.

getting ready for the warm-up [photo: dani]

I have a copy of this at home, and me and Matilda spent a few evenings running through the routine in preparation for our debut.

On the day, Matilda stood next to me and we ran through the warm-up exercises together. It seemed to go ok. Lesnes is quite close knit and the sight of 19 junior faces expectantly looking up at me to provide them a tip-top session wasn't quite as scary as it could have been.

let's go [photo: brian]

Another first for the day was that we left Matilda to run the entire course on her own and she got on pretty well, putting in a 17.03 finish time which is a couple of minutes faster than she would have been if I had been running with her.

It was 23 seconds off of her course best and that included a brief stop to remove her top layer of clothing.

volunteery stuff [photo: dani]

When Matilda had finished running, I got to scan her barcode for the very first time at a junior parkrun. That was a great way to finish off the morning. LAAAWjp is a bit of a flash mob style parkrun and at present it doesn't have a post-run social venue so once the running had finished, that was it.

Before leaving we decided to head over to the playground where we had a lot of fun doing chin-ups and stuff on the new parkour apparatus.

scanning lime [photo: dani]

It was another great morning at Lesnes Abbey, but it could really do with a nice little post run coffee venue. I know there are plans for a visitor centre so hopefully that all gets sorted soon. It feels really weird just walking away and not having a good ol' chin-wag and a drink afterwards!

Dartford parkrun 49 - eggplant

Anyone involved in parkrun will be well aware that there is a new milestone club in town. However, this one is not for running - it is for volunteering. To reach this milestone, a person must be credited as a volunteer on 25 different occasions.

Like its running counterparts, this club has a reward in the shape of its own milestone t-shirt and along with the rest of the clubs, they are now supplied by Tribesports. During the design process, parkrunners were given the opportunity to vote on a preferred colour for this new shirt, and as you can see from the photo below, the purple (eggplant) t-shirt won!

v25 [photo: richey]

In July 2015, the first batch of shirts became available to order, and as I had reached my 25 volunteer status way back in 2012, I was included in the first batch of recipients. I placed my order and the t-shirt arrived well in time for me to debut it at Dartford parkrun 49, which incidentally was also the last event of our first year.

In an attempt to try to be helpful, I have provided some feedback on my shirt below. For reference I am about 168cm tall and about 56kg. I usually buy clothes with a 34 inch chest or a 28-29 inch waist. So basically I'm very similar in stature and build to your typical long-distance runner (Mo, Haile and Bekele etc..).

Good: The quality of the shirt is superb, I love the colour and I am very happy and proud to wear the shirt. The ordering process was straight forward and delivery was speedy - Considering the amount of shirts being distributed, I was expecting a longer wait, so I really must give Wiggle's distribution system a big thumbs up. The neck, arms, shoulders and chest are the best fitting areas of the shirt, but go any lower and it's not quite the same story....

Bad: The waist area is a little baggy on me, which I was expecting considering the 'regular fit' description. However, it is the length of the garment that really disappointed me -  it is almost 5 inches longer than what I would consider the 'correct' length for me. I have to tuck it into my shorts to avoid looking like I'm wearing a dress (the shirt is strategically tucked in in the photo above).

I have read some comments from Tribesports advising people to downsize if they want to have a closer fit and take full advantage of the technical features. However, this was never an option for me as the small mens shirt (36-37 inch chest) was the smallest option available. I will of course continue to wear the (tucked in) shirt with pride, but I would urge the powers that be to look again at the sizing options. Considering the 'regular fit' design and the advice to downsize, I definitely think there needs to be an extra small option (not just in chest size, but also reflected in the length of the shirt - remember, not all of us are over 6ft. tall) in the mens range.

Please do not take this post as me being ungrateful and complaining about a free gift. I am just trying to give some open and honest feedback. The fit of a t-shirt (or clothing in general) is a very personal thing, and I appreciate that you can't please everybody. The people at either end of the size scale are always more likely to encounter problems of this nature and it's not the first time I've had this problem. If this was an ordinary run-of-the-mill running shirt that I had ordered and paid for, I would be returning it for a refund as I simply wouldn't wear an item of clothing with the aforementioned length issue. But of course, this is much more than an ordinary t-shirt.

Anyway, the subject of the post was Dartford parkrun event 49.

The day started with a playground workout which consisted of an circuit training style session. I used an app on my phone to set 30 second intervals with 30 seconds of rest between each period of work. I used the following system - 'upper / core / lower' with the upper alternating between pulling (biceps and back) and pushing (chest, shoulders and triceps) movements. There's a lot more to it than that, and I'll write about my playground workouts in more detail in a later post.

After setting up the course with Richey (ED), I took on the role of timekeeper again and it really was an exercise in finish funnel perfection. Both timekeepers and the tokens stayed in synch for the entire run. There was no funny business in the finish funnel (unlike the previous week) and the results were expertly processed while I spent a good deal of time having a good ol' chin-wag with a fellow parkrun tourist.

Dartford parkrun 48 - runnin' the show (run director)

At 8.30pm on the Friday evening before Dartford parkrun forty-eight, I didn't have a volunteer role to keep me occupied the following morning. The scheduled run director was Richey, but as I'm injured and can't run, I thought I should offer to take the slot off of him and give him the opportunity to run.

This was to be my first ever time in the role of run director and I wasn't particularly nervous or apprehensive. I think this is because I was surrounded by an amazingly supportive team of friends and volunteers. I met Adam at 7am in the playground for our weekly bodyweight workout before getting the course set up.

briefing notes, take two [photo:7t]

If anything had me feeling a little nervous it was the thought of giving a pre-run briefing to almost 200 people, so the night before I had made a few notes. By the time I had looked at the notes on Saturday morning I discovered that Matilda had made a few notes of her own over the top and it was unreadable.

So I sat down for five minutes and made some more notes that I could refer to during the speech. Once I was satisfied that I had covered all of the relevant areas, I joined the rest of the volunteers at the registration desk where I was prompted by Tessa to give the volunteers a little briefing.

volunteers preparing for action [photo: dani]

She then reminded me that I should do a 'first timers' briefing. So I headed off into the crowd calling for all first timers to gather around. However, I had completely forgotten about this briefing and hadn't made any notes. I did my best to relay the few bits of information a first timer might need and gave the assembled crowd some opportunities to ask questions if I hadn't covered anything they needed an answer to. It seemed to go pretty well.

Then came the moment that I imagine puts most people off of being a run director - the briefing. I decided that I could do with a bit of vertical assistance so I grabbed the teenie tiny step ladder from our storage box and placed it on the start line. A few minutes earlier, Tessa, had handed me a whistle - so I blew it a few times and called for the runners to gather around. I started talking and amazingly, after a few shhh's from within the crowd, the runners fell silent for the entire duration of the briefing.

me and the parkrunners [photo: becca durey]

I despatched the runners a minute or so later and I felt some relief that my public speaking duties for the day were over. Now... from this point most events run pretty smoothly and the run director is essentially an extra body. But with this being my debut, there had to be some interesting things to deal with...

To cut two quite long stories short, there was a family that wanted to walk the course (which is fine), but they started six minutes after everyone else and were still in view of the start-finish area about fifteen minutes after the start. I managed to advise the tail runner that the runner he was tailing was no longer the last person out there. In the end they made the decision to pull out and I got a message to the tail runner via one of the marshals. Sorted.

briefing [photo: dani]

Then we had a couple of runners cross the finish line near the front of the pack that had in no way, shape or form completed anywhere near the full course (in fact, they had probably cut it about 2 kilometres short). They hadn't registered beforehand and were in the process of walking away with our finish tokens, but some quick thinking volunteers managed to retrieve them just in time.

It then became apparent that the stopwatches were out of sync with the finish tokens. Nothing we could do about it at that stage other than to make a note of it, so the timers and finishing tokens continued their jobs as usual. Then a member of the public decided to run into the finish funnel with his daughter for fun, which the timers and tokens spotted just in time and fortunately did not register them.

post-run volunteer notes [photo: dani]

Things started to calm down a little after these moments of excitement. Once all of the runners were in, I stayed outside to ensure all of the kit had been retrieved while Tessa and the finish funnel crew headed inside to get started on the results and sort the tokens (we lost token 117). By the time I made it inside, the results were pretty much sorted. All that was left to do was finalise the volunteer roster and upload the whole lot to parkrun HQ.

So my first experience of being a run director was quite exciting and presented a couple of issues to deal with, which I think as a team we did really well. The only way I could possibly finish this post is by thanking all of the volunteers - after all, it was them that made the event possible. An extra special thanks to the finish funnel team for staying calm under pressure and of course to the amazing Tessa whose presence and guidance were invaluable.

Dartford parkrun 47 - one hundred and eighty two

Up until 8.45am, I didn't actually have a role at this event. I was of course in Central Park at 7am to set the course up with Adam and Richey, but after that things were a little sketchy. It was at the moment that two of our volunteers turned up that I found my calling for the day.

The day's tail-runner came to the registration desk and notified us that she wasn't able to run, so I stepped in to take over. This worked out perfectly as it gave us an extra marshal.

bringing up the rear [photo: dani]

The extra marshal came in very useful on the bridge, as one of the wooden planks on the bridge has somehow bowed and is causing a little trip hazard. The council have been informed and are looking into it, but in the meantime we were able to place some warning cones over the affected area and give our extra marshal the sole role of warning runners about the hazard.

So once Adam had finished his run briefing, I got to experience life at the other end of the field. It's sometimes easy to forget that for some people, 5k is a bloody long way to run and takes a huge effort to complete the course.

multi-tasking [photo: dani]

It wasn't my first time as a tail-runner. I have done this many times before as a run leader at So Let's Go Running and I also took on the role over at Harrow Lodge junior parkrun [blog here]. It was, however, my first time as an official tail runner at a 5k parkrun event.

For any budding tail-runners, it is important to note that you may not actually be running the whole time. With parkrun being an inclusive event, we welcome all abilities. I found that there were a few occasions where I was stood completely still while the last runner took a breather, which I was of course more than happy to do - our little incline must feel like a mountain to someone that has never run before.

runner one hundred and eighty two [photo: dani]

Being tail-runner meant that I was in a good position to make the signage retrieval process a little easier, so I dropped back off of the last runner and grabbed all of the signs and cones as I passed them around the course before dropping them at the last corner with another of our core volunteers, Harley.

I saw the last runner safely over the finish line and in the process became the first person at Dartford parkrun to finish in both first and last positions (I think - correct me if I'm wrong). I was handed finishing token number 182, which was our second highest number of finishers with only the inaugural event attracting more participants to date [results page].

Dartford parkrun 46 - no pressure

I was back on the stopwatch for Dartford parkrun 46. A role I've now done twice and I must say that I really love it. All it takes is the ability to press two buttons - one to start the timer and one to register a time for each runner as they cross the finish line at the end of their run. However, it does require the ability to stay focussed on the incoming runners and also to not get too caught up in any of the post-run conversations.

that must be my concentrating face [photo: ann langdon]

It is described as one of the high pressure roles and this became apparent when my co-timer's stopwatch didn't properly register one of the runners. That meant that I had the solitary 100% stopwatch record in my hands and couldn't afford any slip-ups! In the end it worked out absolutely fine and everyone was accounted for.

timekeeping, balancing and listening [photo: ann langdon]

One of the most memorable moments was when eight runners all hurtled into the finish funnel within the space of four seconds - I managed to click fast enough to register three of them with exactly the same time. I imagine that this kind of situation lasts for minutes over at some of the busier venues (maybe I'll step up my game and volunteer as timekeeper at one of them one day).

You may notice the lack of a hi-vis vest in the photo. There's a simple explanation - We had so many volunteers that we ran out (and I'm not sure where my personalised one is at the moment). Which I guess is quite a nice position to be in and I'm certainly not complaining.

Dartford parkrun 45 - chalking, photographing (badly) and scanning

Event 45 marked another volunteering-only parkrunday for me and after the previous week's session on the timer, this week I returned to something a bit more familar - barcode scanning. Half-way through scanning, my daughter decided that she would like to scan a few barcodes so I handed the opticon barcode scanner over to her for the rest of the stint.

photograph the photographer [photo: gary bignell]

Before that, I had a frustrating session as photographer. I positioned myself over in the formal garden section of the park and tried to capture a few shots from an elevated position next to the library. I hadn't been using the DSLR camera enough in recent times and the lack of familiarity with the settings meant that I produced some pretty poor results. I'm just glad that there were also some decent photographers out there.

chalking [photos: 7t]

I continued the theme of writing motivational messages in chalk around the course and they seem to have been well received by the runners. I've been trying to avoid repeating the same ones week in, week out so for this event I went with 'Good Morning', 'Looking as fresh as a daisy' and 'give it some welly', as well as the standard 'Welcome to Dartford parkrun' message near the start-finish area.

it must run in the family [photo: 7t]

That was all after arriving at 7.10am and doing a half-decent circuit training session with Adam (Richey was also there and filmed us doing some walking lunges which wasn't embarrassing at all). The workout consisted of focussing on three broad areas - upper body, core, and lower body.

We worked our way through the sets and varied the exact exercise each time around. For example, with the upper body, we alternated between pushing and pulling movements each time a new set came around. It was great fun, although the following morning my glutes were strongly disagreeing with that description!

Dartford parkrun 44 - tick tock

I think it's important for members of any core parkrun team to have an intimate knowledge of how to perform all of the volunteering roles required to stage a parkrun event, and as I had decided to give my knee some proper recover time I wanted to use the break as an opportunity to plug my volunteering knowledge gaps.

The first of these gaps was timekeeping. Now you'd think I would have done this plenty of times before and be quite fluent in it. While I had been the half-way timer at Riddlesdown parkrun in the past, I had never actually performed the role at the finish line [blog7t: Riddlesdown parkrun 58 - my first halfway timer experience]. The honest truth is that out of all of the volunteering roles, this one scared me the most and as a result I had always avoided it.

the gardener's have been getting their creative streak on again [photo: 7t]

Here is the official description of the role from the parkrun website;

The timekeeper is responsible for recording the times of all finishers. This can be a high pressure role, particularly at our busier events. For every runner that crosses the finish line on their own two feet, the timer will record that time using a timing device. This data is then combined with the data from the Barcode Scanners. Our events are provided with multiple timers, so there will normally be someone operating a backup timer.

So with it being time to banish those fears, I put name on the roster as timekeeper and I was happy to see that one of our seasoned regular timekeepers, Harley, was down for his fifth occasion in this role. As it says in the description above, timing duties are normally performed by two people. Ultimately, only one set of timing data is used for compiling the results and which one is used depends on how things go for each of the timers on the day.

i'm getting better at the tree, but worse at writing the letter 'u' [photo: ann langdon]

After setting up the course (and chalking some motivational messages onto the route) with Richey and Adam, I got myself suitably refreshed on how to operate our stopwatches. We have the Junsd Professional Stopwatch and it is very simple to operate - you just click the start/stop button when the run director starts the run, then as the runners reach the finish line you simply click the lap button to store each individual's finishing time. You can see the total number of 'lap times' (aka finishers) at the stop of the screen - it can store 500 lap times.

During the process I was aware that I could hear Harley's stopwatch beeping every time a runner crossed the line and it was difficult to distinguish his from my own. So I decided to use a stopwatch-at-the-ear-like-a-phone method which overcame the issue of not being sure which beep I could hear each time a runner crossed the line. Once all of the runners had had their times recorded I simply stopped the timer and stored the results ready for the results processor (Tessa) to do their magic!

the finish funnel crew [photo: dani]

I can't put into words how much I enjoyed being part of the finish funnel volunteer crew. It is certainly one of those areas where I felt very much part of a team, unlike a role like marshalling where I sometimes feel a little isolated at times. The timers communicate very closely with the volunteer handing out tokens (Angela) to make sure that both areas are in sync throughout the event. And the whole thing is overseen by the funnel manager (Adam). All of which I was aware of but it wasn't until I actually did it that I understood everything properly.

I'm taking off my core volunteer hat here and speaking just as a normal everyday parkrunner. I imagine you've heard it all before, but swapping your run for a bit of volunteering is great and none of the roles are actually that difficult. I'm guilty of always wanting to run and mostly leave these non-running volunteering roles to others while I help out with some of the 'can-also-run' roles. It really is a fantastic experience and I bet if you do it, you'll leave feeling just as satisfied as you do when you run at the event.

the finish funnel crew - with me displaying my phone-esque-style-timing-method [photo:dani]

So, to summarise my first experience of being a timekeeper - As long as you can stay focussed on the incoming runners and are able to press a button it's actually really easy and I feel a little embarrassed at having avoided it for so long.

Dartford parkrun 11 - photographer, scanner and the end of my current parkrun(ning) streak

I may or may not have mentioned that I might possibly have an injury in my foot. Because I'm trying to be sensible, I decided not to run at today's Dartford parkrun. In order to ensure I didn't change my mind on the start line I did two things. Firstly I didn't wear my running gear. And secondly I left my barcode at home. If I hadn't done those two things I definitely would have (perhaps stupidly) lined up on the start line.

bokeh [photo:7t]

So instead of running, I brought my camera along and acted as one of the official photographers. My camera skills are usually just about ok but I am really out of practice when it comes to DLSR photography so I had a few lighting and so shutter speed issues. Anyhow snapping away came a (close?) second to running at the event. My photos can be found on flickr (here).

richey briefing the volunteers [photo:7t]

Because my official role was barcode scanner (Richey asked if I wanted to be RD but nerves got the better of me and I declined) I had to get back over to the start area after about 16 minutes, so I headed over where I had a barcode scanning debutant as my scanning partner. Judging by the results, I think we did a pretty good job and there were no obvious mistakes.

dartford parkrun eleven [photo:7t]

Part way through the scanning I went off to check on a runner that had not been feeling well post run. So I handed over my scanner to my wife, who in turn ended up handing it over to my daughter. So the whole Stockwell clan had turns at scanning today.

volunteer roster [photo:7t]

Once I returned to the scanning area there was no way that my daughter was going to give the barcode scanner back to me so I continued to take some more photos while the remaining runners came through the finish line - these were mostly of the volunteers who sometimes don't make it into the photo albums.

it's not the first time she's done some barcode scanning [photo:7t]

So overall it was a fantastic day because it included parkrun. It was also international parkrun day 2014 and also parkrun's 10th birthday where Bushy parkrun got a turnout of 1705. However for me it meant the end of my latest parkrun(ning) streak which stands at 76 consecutive events. I love streaks and I hate it when they end, especially when it's not my choice to end them! However it's just a run and I'm sure there are much more important things to spend time fretting over.

one of the central park flags [photo:7t]

To end on a positive - during the last week one of our runners/ volunteers managed to sort out the locks on our storage box so from now on I will no longer have to run through the streets of Dartford carrying or wheeling the stanchions along with me. I can simply jog over to the park, open the box and then set up the course. I gather Richey is pretty chuffed too - who knows, we may even start having pre-parkrun jogs over to the park together in future!

Dartford parkrun 4 - introducing parkrun to a friend, the future parkrunner, and her proud dad (me)

Regular readers of the blog might be disappointed not to be reading about the inaugural Folkestone or Woking parkruns. I too am slightly disappointed at not being able to run at one of these venues this weekend. However, I have found a new love in my parkrun world and that is Dartford parkrun. I can't bear to leave at the moment, so the touring side of parkrun, and the venue blogs, are on hold indefinitely.

stanchions

So with that off my chest, let me tell you about Dartford parkrun 4. It started in the usual way - I arrived at just after 7am to begin setting the course up with Richey. The signage modifications have settled down and I think we're pretty much there with what works. The one remaining issue for me is the transporting of the stanchions (which currently live in my garage) to and from the venue.

I refuse to drive 1.5km to the venue so end up run-walking with them. It's not ideal, so we are currently looking into the option of using a storage container in the park. It has been offered to us but needs a little work before it can be used. Hopefully we'll get this sorted soon and I can be stanchion-free for my warm up jog and journey home in future!

the reverse view of the medieval bridge [photo:7t]

Something that was a little different this week (and will hopefully be a regular thing) was that my friend (who is the wife of one of my best school friends), Marie, was kind enough to come down to the park with her children, Jack and Caitlyn, to help as volunteers. The plan was for her to be a marshal, but due to the overwhelming response to a last minute volunteer appeal, we had enough people to fill those roles and Marie unexpectedly became the funnel manager. I'm extremely grateful for her help and I hope she comes back to volunteer some more in the future.

I ran the 5k (which featured a hi-five from Jack as I finished my first lap) and then took up my volunteering role as a barcode scanner again. It really seems to work well and barcode scanning has been my favourite volunteering role for a long time now. Once everyone had been scanned, the wonderful Tessa took the scanner and processed the results - which would have been done in lightening time if it wasn't for the computer deciding to update itself after being switched on!

mick (aka matt jagger), matilda, and me in a 'may' sandwich [photo: richey]

Something else that I have been unable to shut up about is what my daughter did post-run. We were in the Dartford Harriers clubhouse and she went out onto the track ans started running laps. Bear in mind that she is still 3 years old (but only just). She seems to have an incredible natural ability to pace herself and slowly worked her way around the 400 metre loop.

When she had finished one of her laps, I asked if she was feeling ok. Her response was to get down into the 'starting position' and shout 'AGAIN' - which was my cue to say 'ready, set, GO!'. And off she went at an amazingly steady pace once again (I think she did about 7 laps in total). She is four years old this week and will be able to finally register as a parkunner. I was worried that she might find her first junior parkrun (planned for next weekend) a little on the long side. However after watching her display on the track, it looks like she will be ok with the 2k distance -  although I expect she'll take the odd walking break.

at the dartford harriers athletics track

It had been another successful event. As a bonus, I ran another Dartford parkrun personal best, which means I have run faster every single time I have run at the event. It's nice having the streak of personal bests but this must surely be the last one of this streak. I can't imagine how I could lower it any further in such a short timeframe.

And just to finish off the post, here is a photo of me with some of my SLGR team mates who were at Dartford parkrun event 4.

#teamslgr

Once everything had been sorted, we headed over to the playground with Marie, Jack and Caitlyn to let them enjoy the rest of the sunny morning in Dartford Central Park.

Dartford parkrun 3 - puddles, stanchions and snails

The week leading up to Dartford parkrun event 3 was dominated by signage. I had ordered some additional arrows which couldn't be delivered as a signature was required. So I had a frantic dash down to the post office just before closing time on Friday to sign for and collect said package.

the snails were out in force after the previous night's rain

I had been thinking of different ways to make the best use of these new arrows and in the end decided to run over to Halfords to pick up some industrial strength velcro, which I spent Friday evening attaching to the stanchions and to the backs of the new arrows.

Saturday morning came around and I had to carry 13 stanchions and a bag of the new arrows over to the park - I really need to find a better way to transport these. I refuse to drive the 1 mile to the park so I plan to pick up some kind of bag designed for skis/snowboards in order to make the Saturday morning walk (or jog) over to the park a little more pleasant.

runners preparing to start

I met Richey (ED) at the park and we got to work setting out the course, using the extra arrows where necessary. It all went to plan and before we knew it we were over at Dartford parkrun HQ. 9am rolled around and the run got under way. I was doing my usual task of running and then barcode scanning, so I headed off fairly near to the front of the pack.

We had had very heavy rain the night beforehand and I wasn't sure what to expect on our grass and trail section. It turns out that it held up really well and the trail shoes I had opted for were not actually required. There was one huge puddle to filter around towards the end of Jagger's Leg, but there was just about enough space for the runners to squeeze around without soaking their feet. We also made an attempt to play some music at stones corner, but the speaker we used was very small and unfortunately didn't project the sound very well.

jagger's leg complete with plenty of water features

At the end of the run I grabbed my volunteering vest and barcode scanner, and got to work on scanning runners as they finished. Despite the rain of the previous night, the morning was actually really bright and sunny, which meant the barcode scanner had a little trouble, but nothing a nice bit of shade didn't sort out.

After this, I ran off to collect some of the signage and cones before heading back into the Dartford Harriers clubhouse. When I arrived there was a lovely cup of tea awaiting me and the results had already been processed and uploaded. Everything had gone absolutely according to plan.

marshals (lime, mick and dani) on stones corner

My result came through a little while later and I was pleased to see that I had just about managed to squeeze under the 19 minute mark for the first time on this course, which was nice. Another parkrun done and dusted and time to get on with the rest of the day, which was mostly spent in the Dartford Central Park playground.

Dartford parkrun 2 - Signs, Tarzan and an Interview

The second Dartford parkrun gave us a chance to implement some changes following the lessons we had learned at last week's inaugural event. As far as the course signage was concerned, the only thing we needed to work on was;

The turning point at the last corner, which is where the runners leave the path and cross the grass towards the finish line, wasn't defined very well at the inaugural event and left the exact turning point somewhat open to each runner's interpretation. This week, we placed the cones in a much better configuration which took away any doubt as to when to turn. By the looks of it, this worked well so am very happy with that.

the improved cone layout at the final corner

In addition to that, we also had to get the finish funnel working better. At the inaugural event the timers and finish token volunteers were not in the correct positions, so the funnel system wasn't properly implemented. This week we got it a bit better but the timers and tokens were still too close together, so again the finish funnel was not used to its full effect.

I met Richey (event director) at the library at just after 7am to begin setting up the course. As we went around, we found some interesting things - A penis drawn in chalk was one of them. Of more concern and not quite as funny was a tree branch which had been broken and was hanging right in the middle of the path. Richey managed to sort it out with a tarzan-esque technique.

richey and mick

A late addition to the marshaling team was Sir Mick Jagger, who was draped in a volunteering vest ready for his duties. Although, I do think he might need some further training on pointing runners in the correct direction. We'll have a word.

Just before the start of the run, it became apparent that some of the volunteers had not turned up, so Richey spent some time recruiting. After taking the amazing, late volunteer additions to their posts, he returned to give the pre-run briefing and start the run. If you'd like to read the full course description take a look here.

7t [photo: brian page]

I paced myself around the course, I thought, a bit better than I did at event 1. But looking at my splits, they were almost identical to last week's. The good news is that I ran a 4 second course best. It was still a very warm morning which made running tough. So hopefully that means faster times are to come once the air becomes cooler at the end of the summer.

Straight after the run, I picked up the purple bumbag, put on my volunteers vest and got to work on scanning the other runners' barcodes after they had finished their runs. It went pretty well. There were a couple of finish token issues to deal with, but nothing major.

7t [photo: brian page]

After this event, I think there are a few more lessons to learn from. The main thing is that we should include some extra signage out on the course in order to reduce the number of essential marshals. I've been thinking a lot about this and we'll need a few extra arrows before it can be implemented. The current marshaling systems requires 6 marshals out on the course, but with a reviewed placement of the signage, we can easily take this figure down to 3, with the possibility of it being 2.

We were also visited by one of the main presenters of the parkrun show who interviewed me and Richey after the event and has profiled our venue in episode 152: 'You Shall Not Pass!' of the parkrun show. Click the link to have a listen - in fact, just start at the beginning and listen to the whole lot - the entire back catalogue is available on the Marathon talk website. It's a brilliant podcast and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in parkrun.

my current obsession - signage

Anyway, after all of that, I had a vO2 max test which was fun, and the results were really interesting.

Remember we are always looking for volunteers to help us to put these events on, so please have a look at our volunteer page and/or future roster page, and follow the instructions for signing up to our volunteer appeal emails -  we can't do it without you! Remember to also keep an eye on our news page, facebook and twitter feeds for all the latest news from Dartford parkrun.

See you all next week!

Dartford parkrun training and trial run

Thursday 24 July 2014 - our afternoon of training followed by our test run.

Related: my 'Dartford parkrun course description' blog.

The training took place in the afternoon and was attended by myself, Richey, Tessa, Jonathan (Shorne Woods parkrun), and Jacky (Whitstable parkrun). Jacky lead the training session and really was amazing - everything was explained in detail and we left feeling in much better shape for the test run, which was scheduled for 7pm that evening.

When we arrived in the park to start getting ready, there was already a small gathering of parkrunners waiting at the start area. Good news - we definitely had some runners. And. They had found the start area! I also spotted a really good contingent of runners from our running club, So Let's Go Running. It was great to see them here supporting us.

me and richey pre-run (looking a little stressed?) [photo: brian page]

The President of Dartford Harriers, Tony Durey, had also got a few his runners to run. To complete the Dartford running club set, I also spotted a few Dartford Road Runners out to test the course. There were also some parkrun club shirts on show and a good turnout of Shorne Woods and Bexley parkrun. Thank you to all of you for your support.

At the test run, we were all going to take on the roles that we would at our inaugural event. For me, that involves helping to get the course set up - running the 5k - then quickly slipping into my volunteering vest to scan runners' barcodes after their runs.

So I got to work putting out the course signage. It was the first time doing this so it took longer than it will once we fine tune things. I had to spend a little time making holes in the signs so they could by attached to benches and flag poles, and hung from trees and bushes. I also put out a few cones where they are required. Once I was happy with the positioning of them I headed back to towards the start.

By now we were running late and I could see the runners gathered at the start area. But then the air horn went off and they all started running. It had started without me!! I continued my jog back to the start area, slipped out of my volunteering jacket, searched for some satellites, then got a move on to catch up with the rest of the runners. You see, in order for me to run and barcode scan, I have to finish fairly close to the front of the pack.

during the fast downhill [photo: brian page]

I caught up with the tail runner, Ben, about a minute or so later then proceeded to filter through the rest of the field. Once we had completed the off-road section I had settled into a fairly decent place within the field - there were plenty of runners behind me that I could scan at the end.

I followed the course around - looking out for things that could be improved. I was glad to see the runners ahead of me easily following my signs and not getting lost. At the start of lap two we have an additional section 'Mick Jagger's Leg' which gives us the extra few hundred of metres we need to make up the full 5k. The end of the section involves a loop around the monument of Mick Jagger. However, a couple of runners missed the looping point and I had to chase after them as they disappeared into the tunnel that goes under Princes Road into the Brooklands Lake area.

This was a useful lesson to learn and we were lucky that I had been exactly where I was. I now know that an additional sign plus the marshal is needed here - so that'll be in place for event 1. I continued around the rest of the course - The marshals all seemed to be positioned perfectly and I didn't spot anyone else losing their way.

Once I had finished, I quickly pulled on my volunteering vest and got into position to scan runners. I wasn't the only barcode scanner on duty, so the first few runners had been able to have their barcodes scanned. There were now two of us in position to scan the rest of the field.

The feedback from the test event was very positive. There were a few points about some overgrown parts of the trail section, so we'll have a look into that. No doubt we will learn more over the next few weeks and months, but all the runners made it around and everyone I spoke to said they enjoyed the course.

post-run [photo: jonathan crowle]

Thank you to all of the volunteers and runners that came along to help us practice. We couldn't have done it without you all!

The unofficial results are on the Dartford parkrun news page.