Parkrun..

robinph

I don't even have all of the 4 closest to me yet, but one of them has steps so won't work with pushing the buggy and that town is a nightmare with traffic to get too and from so will have to wait until the whole family is self propelling.

Something useful if you are touristing around the world is this page:
https://touristtool.mybluemix.net

Select your current location on the map and it will give you the ten nearest parkruns. You can give it your runner ID and it will then just show you the ones that you've not done previously, it also has junior parkruns listed as well.

Murph_D

edisonolmy wrote: »

If all goes according to plan, someone will complete the full set (again) on Saturday, when they run Dungloe - that's 55 in Ireland and another 23 in NI. They had the full set years ago before loads of events started launching.
It's ongoing though, with Rostrevor and Gorey expected in the next six weeks or so.

Is that someone you? If so, congrats!

edisonolmy

Murph_D wrote: »

edisonolmy wrote: »

If all goes according to plan, someone will complete the full set (again) on Saturday, when they run Dungloe - that's 55 in Ireland and another 23 in NI. They had the full set years ago before loads of events started launching.
It's ongoing though, with Rostrevor and Gorey expected in the next six weeks or so.

Is that someone you? If so, congrats!

It is, but he says it's not an achievement like running 250 or 500. It's just about collecting. he had a good few years head start on most of us. There's another runner who has done 47 of the current 54 in Ireland.
My friend has done 53 of the current 54 - plus Tramore Valley, which is on hiatus.

Murph_D

edisonolmy wrote: »

It is, but he says it's not an achievement like running 250 or 500. It's just about collecting. he had a good few years head start on most of us. There's another runner who has done 47 of the current 54 in Ireland.
My friend has done 53 of the current 54 - plus Tramore Valley, which is on hiatus.

Enjoy Dungloe - it's small but very friendly! Watch out for the "wrong" turn into the river near the finish line (cost the missus a place a while back). :pac:

edisonolmy

I won;t be there. I did Dungloe in the summer, the day they made the course shorter -as it had been long for weeks. Nice run.

Amigaman

edisonolmy wrote: »

It is, but he says it's not an achievement like running 250 or 500. It's just about collecting. he had a good few years head start on most of us. There's another runner who has done 47 of the current 54 in Ireland.
My friend has done 53 of the current 54 - plus Tramore Valley, which is on hiatus.

am i right in saying it's Des H ?

edisonolmy

Indeed. Think you met at River Valley. He was at Kilkenny inaugural too - took a wrong turn on the 3rd lap - good times

corcaigh07

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Tried the Glengarriff one today, won, tough hilly course, scraped sub 20 by a second.

Think I'll retire now...

Finally got to do this one last Saturday, it's the nearest one to where I'm from.

So tough, that hill towards the end is hell! I'm not the fastest but the 2 ahead of me as well as me just had to walk up and even that is tough enough.

RentDayBlues

Did my first volunteering today, it's all so different from that side! Really enjoyed it and looking forward to getting back to the other side next week.

eimaj18

RentDayBlues wrote: »

Did my first volunteering today, it's all so different from that side! Really enjoyed it and looking forward to getting back to the other side next week.

Great! What did you do RentDayBlues? My favourite is barcode scanning. Spread the news to everyone - some people get a bit scared of volunteering!

RentDayBlues

eimaj77 wrote: »

Great! What did you do RentDayBlues? My favourite is barcode scanning. Spread the news to everyone - some people get a bit scared of volunteering!

Nothing that exciting, I took photos! But next time I'm aiming so something bigger and better

GalwayGrrrrrl

eimaj77 wrote: »

Great! What did you do RentDayBlues? My favourite is barcode scanning. Spread the news to everyone - some people get a bit scared of volunteering!

I love volunteering at Parkrun- it's a great way to
meet some of the regular runners and get to know the other volunteers. Timekeeper is my fav job as you have an instant "friend" in the other timekeeper. Barcode scanning is also good as you can have a quick chat with the runners as they come in for scanning. I think I nearly prefer helping out to actually running at this stage!

edisonolmy

Volunteering is great - and really straightforward. It is a shame that so few people actually do it though. Our RD on Saturday was on the verge of cancelling on Saturday, but then two gave up their run to help - but these two help loads. I reckon just pull the stopwatches next time - sorry, no times, off you go, enjoy.

edisonolmy

Not sure the message is sinking in though - the roster for the next few weeks has hardly anyone on it.
I see we had someone complete the set on Saturday then afterall, up in Dungloe - 55 Irish parkruns and 23 in NI. Gorey starting on Nov 26, so that'll be next - unless they decide to start Rostrevor on the same day, which they probably will.

Sunny Dayz

I agree that volunteering can be scary when you haven't done it before. What if I accidently send people the wrong way marshalling, if I mess up the timer, if I give out the tokens wrong, if I scan the tokens and barcodes in the wrong order and everyone's positions and times get mixed up etc etc. I know myself I didn't want to mess up the parkrun for everyone else! But I never have (so far, touch wood). Once you've done a volunteering role once, you realise there's nothing to be worried about. I think volunteering is pretty good, it's nice to be involved in helping to run an event, without the volunteers the run wouldn't take place. Also enjoy being at the finish line and getting to chat to the runners while they are cooling down.


But it does seem to be difficult to get volunteers. I get to parkrun when I can, sometimes I feel bad when they are stuck and I'm feeling selfish that I really want to run cos I've missed a few weeks attendance. Has anyone any tips and hints on how to get more people to volunteer - I've noticed at my local parkrun it's nearly the same few people the whole time who help out.

RayCun

Last time I was at Tymon I was given the job of walking around at the end and signing people up for volunteering. That got a few names, although I don't know how many of them showed up when they were supposed to...

edisonolmy

I tell volunteers, if something goes wrong so be it, there's always next week, and every Saturday after that. I've given up feeling bad if our event is low on volunteers and it's one of my running weeks. I've done more than my fair share. If we have to pull the stopwatches out, again, so be it.
At most events, I imagine it is the same people who volunteer all the time. We started with a core team of about 6/7, with 5 run directors among them, and we have since added another 2 regular run directors. We have our run director roster worked out typically 6 weeks in advance, and then we start to fill the other roles, but it is the same names by and large. You might get one new volunteer each week.

Skid X

I don't think anyone should get the 50 run t-shirt without having volunteered at least a few times.

I've no idea if anyone has ran that often without stepping up, but there's lots of people who are taking the piss by running most weeks and never offering to help out.

robinph

Skid X wrote: »

I don't think anyone should get the 50 run t-shirt without having volunteered at least a few times.

I've no idea if anyone has ran that often without stepping up, but there's lots of people who are taking the piss by running most weeks and never offering to help out.

But it isn't then volunteering as you'd then be pressuring people into standing around wearing a fluorescent bib.

There is no obligations on anyone to do anything they don't want to. Free to take part and free of any pressure.

This thinking also means that people are free to walk around in whatever speed they want, you'll never be last as parkrun provides a tail runner for that role, and there is no pressure to have to be able to complete the 5km at any pace. This is also why the line you'll hear every week in the run brief includes "under 11's within arms reach of their parent of guardian, and under 14's run for fun". The under 14's running for fun is to prevent any pushy parents that you may see on the side lines of certain team sports getting a bit too carried away with their "supporting", which is then unwanted pressure on kids that are just out being active and having fun.



Without volunteers then there wouldn't be a parkrun, but without parkrunners the volunteers would be stood in a field looking daft with a stopwatch.

Sunny Dayz

robinph wrote: »

This is also why the line you'll hear every week in the run brief includes "under 11's within arms reach of their parent of guardian, and under 14's run for fun".

First time we went to parkrun our youngster was 10 and when we heard this line we burst out laughing! No chance either of us would be able to keep himself in arms reach! Himself loves nothing more than leaving his auld pair for dust! We do try to keep an eye out for him as best we can just to make sure he's ok.

Sunny Dayz

robinph wrote: »

But it isn't then volunteering as you'd then be pressuring people into standing around wearing a fluorescent bib.

There is no obligations on anyone to do anything they don't want to. Free to take part and free of any pressure.

While I do agree, have people got any pointers as to how to encourage more people to volunteer and to encourage people to volunteer more often? What works for other parkruns?

edisonolmy

Nothing to gained from withholding milestone shirts from people who don't volunteer. Some people are selfish and always will be.
As for the under 11s thing - parents are liable if something happens the kid running alone. I think it is even covered at the registration stage. Events simply remind parents, guardians of the rule, but it's up to the adults to enforce it. If they choose to let the kid tear away in front, that's fine, but they are liable if something was to go wrong, not the event.

edisonolmy

We haven't found anything that works - some weeks we get loads, some weeks we get very few. A last minute cancellation might help, but that's only a last resort if you genuinely believe it is not safe to start

Shedite27

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

While I do agree, have people got any pointers as to how to encourage more people to volunteer and to encourage people to volunteer more often? What works for other parkruns?

Cake

clickerquicklic

I always thank the volunteers and feel bad not volunteering myself , with kids that have swimming and soccer at 10 on Saturday morning i literally finish running and continue to the car, going to mail them and see if they need a hand setting up park run, I may be able to help that way and still get to run and be finished by 10am.

clickerquicklic

Another thing I would like to see implented is with the barcode scanning , I think the first runner home should take the scanner and scan 10 or so people and then pass the scanner to another person and so on , gives everyone a chance to do a bit , I ran st Anne's before and someone handed me a scanner at end ( they may have been short volunteers , I don't know ) but I did 5 /10 mins then handed it to another finisher and this seemed to work fine. Maybe I should email my suggestion to park run.

edisonolmy

As a run director, I would rather have one person per scanner. No harm in letting the quicker runners do scanning when they finish - I've done this myself when we've been short of volunteers - but I'd rather they didn't pass the scanner to someone else once they start

Shedite27

I realise I've only ever done the bigger runs (Marley/St.Annes) but would one marshall on a bike to lead, and everyone else "just follow the lad in front" not save a lot of bodies? Every corner on these parkruns are marshaled, I'd have thought you could do it with 5 less bodies with a follow-the-leader approach

edisonolmy

Gaps can appear, as we have found out. the lead group fly off after the lead bike and then there can be a large gap to the next group who can;t see where the runners in front have turned - plus marshals are supposed to be the first thing you make sure you have. If you have low numbers, the advice is pull one of the timers, or a scanner. Better to have a safe run.

robinph

Shedite27 wrote: »

I realise I've only ever done the bigger runs (Marley/St.Annes) but would one marshall on a bike to lead, and everyone else "just follow the lad in front" not save a lot of bodies? Every corner on these parkruns are marshaled, I'd have thought you could do it with 5 less bodies with a follow-the-leader approach

It's useful to have a marshal still to cope with the gaps in the field, or 2nd and 3rd could end up leading everyone else the wrong way. Also having a marshal out at the far end of a course to deal with any emergency situation, which could be phoning the RD to fetch the defibrillator, or calling an ambulance, or escorting someone with a grazed knee back to base. You'll also get bigger gaps in the field towards the back of the pack where people could end up taking a wrong turn, an you then need someone to collect the direction arrows and tape on the walk back. Also someone to warn dog walkers that there is a pack of runners approaching round the bend in a few seconds could avert disaster.

There are several ways of doubling up on volunteer roles though, and it will vary between each course as to what things they can tweak.

edisonolmy

Doubling up helps. I have my scanners and tokens marshal the first couple of turns of each lap, they then come in to scan etc when they see leaders emerge at the top of the hill

edisonolmy

Permanent directional arrows helped us cut down on the number of marshals we need - although I still like to put at least 2 out on the course, at the problem junctions

positron

I have volunteered just once so far (and 11 parkruns) doing barcode scanning and I enjoyed it - It feels good to see folks coming in after a good effort and you can see some of them are absolutely shattered yet they are delighted that they just ran 5k at whatever time they were aiming for.

I think I will aim to volunteer once every six weeks (basically will aim to maintain a 5:1 ratio between running:volunteering).

PS: I think barcode scanning could be completely avoided by switching to RFID (very cheap these days) and changing basic RFID sensing yokes (timing guys could just stand there holding it).

BeenMadAgain

Encouraging people to volunteer when they're injured might be an idea. It might also help if volunteering stats were more high profile on the parkrun results pages. Could also try pestering people who have done 10 runs but haven't volunteered yet, or just get them to identify themselves at the pre-run announcements, e.g. by asking for a show of hands for who has done 10 or more runs, then for which of them haven't volunteered, then a big chorus of "tut tut tut tut..."! I think we'd want to keep it fairly light-hearted, because I expect most people just need to be reminded.

ger664

Recently I have started to contact the top 10 runners male and female from the points table who have not volunteered yet before sending out an appeal. Seems to be getting results.

robinph

Over marathon season, both spring and autumn, put out suggestions of volunteering during the taper weeks and post marathon weeks.

RentDayBlues

I'm going to volunteer after every 5, I think that's fair enough as it's great to get the timed race. And it's most definitely the volunteers who push me through that last hill in cabinteely each time, I want to do that for others too

kerry4sam

In relation to Volunteers...

Firstly only v-recently started into this sporting aspect and still shy of the 4km marker but set a date for my first-timed-5km-Parkrun and looking forward tbh

Anywhoo,

I saw the local one was looking for volunteers months ago so volunteered a few times.
Nothing to it really:
~ Directing all from one pivotal point on the 5km route
~ Remembering those partaking to know how many times each had passed to know when to direct to the finish-line, as opposed past me and around again (though the seasoned ones were well aware themselves)
~ Taking photos of participants.

As I said though just turned up to help out; never into running at that time and always left with a boost before I started my own exercise.

Did turn up though and found they were in-undated with volunteers after a while so would just leave and eventually stopped turning up as not needed.
A suggestion would be:
~ Definitely making contact with those previous volunteers in advance so as not to have people turn away like I did. People won't mind being asked if they are needed but not all were comfortable with all tasks involved as volunteers and therefore may not return of 'encouraged' into one of those tasks.

I am noticing now though some of the names of volunteers would have previously been participants so maybe giving back (which would not surprise me).

Anywhoo, looking forward to posting in here after my own first-timed-5km-Parkrun

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Murph_D

Fair play to you. In general if you contact the event via email or FB message early in the week to volunteer, you'll be put on the roster. You can check the list in advance on the website to see how full it is for the coming weeks. Turning up on spec to volunteer on the day is useful, but only if the roster isn't full. I imagine most parkruns try hard to fill the roles by the night before, so that's probably why you might sometimes be politely told you won't be needed if you just show up on the day (although a savvy run director might sign you up for a future spot rather than just turn you away).

Good luck with your first run. But don't quit on the volunteer side!

Amigaman

Murph_D wrote: »

Fair play to you. In general if you contact the event via email or FB message early in the week to volunteer, you'll be put on the roster. You can check the list in advance on the website to see how full it is for the coming weeks. Turning up on spec to volunteer on the day is useful, but only if the roster isn't full. I imagine most parkruns try hard to fill the roles by the night before, so that's probably why you might sometimes be politely told you won't be needed if you just show up on the day (although a savvy run director might sign you up for a future spot rather than just turn you away).

Good luck with your first run. But don't quit on the volunteer side!

Absolutely I'd second that I'm guessing that its Tralee you're talking about http://www.parkrun.ie/tralee/futureroster/ - this will give you an indication as to what roles are available - just mail the event or contact them on their FB page

Wubble Wubble

My local parkrun normally tries to get the roster for the following week full while we're waiting to go; so many times we've got people to volunteer this way, it's well worth it.

edisonolmy

We ask people to volunteer 3 times a year - as you get the full 300 points if you are bothered about the points table. Typically our points table leaders do volunteer at least 3 times out of 52/53 runs a year, so I tend not to nag people who have even done 20-30 runs without volunteering.
If we decided to ignore the points table, which many events do, people might not be so hung up on running every week.

edisonolmy

Our male points table for 16/17, after 8 weeks, shows that the top 3 have already volunteered 2, 3 and 4 times - although one is me, so that doesn't count. Over on the female table it is 0,0 and 2 for the top 3, with juts the girl at the top having run all 8 events so far.

opus

robinph wrote: »

Event number 7 for USA, and 3rd for Washington DC, now has their webpage gone live:

Got to head along to the older one in Washington last w/end, even though I met 100's of people out running on my jog to/from Roosevelt Island, there were only 27 people there. A Canadian I was chatting to said Americans were only interested if there was 'bling' at the finish

Pics are the start line & the statue of the man that gave the island its name.

edisonolmy

Bling at the finish is always an odd one. A cheap medal for taking part has never really appealed.

robinph

I noticed that the numbers for Fletchers Cove had dropped a bit since Roosevelt Island started up, they are both very close together and not a lot inbetween them population wise, other than a big river. There could have been some slight reduction last week due to the inaugural College Park event on the other side of DC which had 60+ turn up. Hopefully they all now level out a bit in numbers and can then start building their numbers a bit. With College Park being effectively on a University campus should hopefully help if the students can be persuaded out to run, and that could then help the parkrun concept spread around the country... maybe.

rainbow kirby

Sub 30 with the buggy at Highbury Fields this morning (29:47) - rather happy with that because there were a pair of total gimps that kept trying to cut across the front wheel of the buggy on the turns!

robinph

You do have to anticipate the antics of people in front a lot more with the buggy. They will gain on you on the up hills, but you then just have to hope you can pull away from them enough on the Downs.

Great running with the buggy.

annapr

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Sub 30 with the buggy at Highbury Fields this morning (29:47) - rather happy with that because there were a pair of total gimps that kept trying to cut across the front wheel of the buggy on the turns!

Well done on the buggy run, but not a very nice way to refer to your fellow parkrunners... as well as being derogatory to people who have physical impairments.

Pawwed Rig

I struggled this morning with the buggy. Haven't done it in a while so he is alot older than the last time we went. I didn't factor in that he now wants to have a conversation for the whole duration of the run which requires breath that I don't have for much of the time. His repeated queries about why I wasn't running faster didn't do the ego much good either.