We had a very interesting statistic today in that none of the first three male or female finishers were in the so called “prime” age group of 20-34 years of age, with the third male and both the second and third female all being juniors, and the other three in the much admired masters group. There were eleven people in volunteer roles this weekend. That’s equivalent to ten percent of the total number of runners. Twenty-five percent of the runners this week achieved a new Personal Best, and another twenty percent were running the course for the first time. Those are statistics that impress! The volunteers were tight in their execution, almost zero queue time for scanning, synchronicity between the timers and the token-giver-outers, conscientious and courteous course marshals, tokens sorted and accounted for within minutes of the last runner crossing the line! I mentioned at the briefing that the real power of mentioning parkrun in your CV or on your social media sites is no longer that you attend or participate in parkrun, but the power referencing parkrun now rests with your ability to call yourself a bona fide volunteer. Think about that for a moment… this time last year there were three parkruns in Dublin and only two others in the country. You could mention parkrun in a business meeting, at a social gathering, over over lunch, and most likely one or two people would have heard of parkun, possibly one of them a regular runner at the events. Fast forward to this summer and we have fifteen events nationwide, a huge following with over 22,000 people registered, and a huge number of parkrun tourists from abroad growing consistently through the summer months as people look to incorporate a parkrun as part of the holidays. The real shift is in the social circles; mention parkrun now at the aforementioned meeting or lunch or whatever, and a whole new conversation starts about PBs, different events, the courses, the challenges, etc. It has become a part of our culture. You can see how it really has become mainstream in the UK, and a staple in the exercise diet of elite athletes as can be seen in Glasgow at the recent Commonwealth Games. That sea change is now happening in Ireland - just look at the list of the top finishers for this week here in Griffeen. The cultural change is also happening in participation. Week-on-week it is becoming easier to fill the volunteer roster. Trust me here, I am taking a risk in stating that fact, for fear that it backfires and everyone decides to leave it to someone else. There will always be those parkrunners, you can definitely trust me on that. The data is there on the website, the sad fact is some people are approaching the coveted 50th run milestone and they have never volunteered. Probably never will either. The fact remains though that people want to volunteer. They get something extra out of it. Either ask them or try for yourself. And its the great differentiator. At that social gathering or meeting you can be the one that can turn the heads in the conversation with “Oh, I regularly volunteer at parkrun, and I run too.” Imagine their reaction when you tell them youve clocked the times of 200 runners, ensured the safety of park users and runners alike, or written the Run Report. You may even be able to say that youve been a Run Director too. Make sure the boss is within earshot of that one. So when you’re including your interest as running on your CV or LinkedIn profile or whatever, makes sure youre qualified to say you’re a volunteer. Eddie Izzard will agree. https://youtube/watch?v=oHQNmdPspEk&feature=youtu.be Happy Running! Paul Richardson Run Director 23/08/14
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 08:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015