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Dec 2012
5:56pm, 15 Dec 2012
3,173 posts
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runningmumof3boys
well im ok coz i rarely run and i rarely volunteer...in fact this year i have volunteered 3 times and ran once !
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Dec 2012
6:03pm, 15 Dec 2012
14,793 posts
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FenlandFunRunner
How about being barred from receiving the 50/100/x t-shirts UNLESS you have volunteered at least three times?
At virtually every race I thank the volunteers/marshalls as if it wasn't for them we wouldn't have a race!!!!!
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Dec 2012
8:18pm, 15 Dec 2012
934 posts
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PowerJen
FR, parkrun don't see it that way. They don't believe in pushing people to volunteer - they should 'want' to.
I'm a realist. You can fluffy it up as much as you like, but we can't run it (literally) properly and safely without a good, strong, team of volunteers.
We have that most of the time. Would just be easier if more would take a turn, or three!
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Dec 2012
8:35pm, 15 Dec 2012
10,929 posts
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Jason1969
Leamington has a bunch of likes on facebook, but a second email out to the volunteer list has always solved any problems.
Anyone who replies to those emails gets a reply. If it's full, then they are told they can run. If someone shows up on the day without answering the email then we can often find them something to do.
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Dec 2012
9:14pm, 15 Dec 2012
7,672 posts
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Rach E
Nightjar - it would be easy to take offence at the "parkrun directors appear to cry wolf" line in your last post. I would be utterly devastated if any volunteers thought this, as I'm sure a lot of other event directors would.
As others have said, a plea to volunteers on Wednesday or Thursday always gets enough helpers coming forward - and if we get too many offers of help, we will just tell people to run.
This is certainly not a generic parkrun event director problem. At least I am pretty confident in saying this.
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Dec 2012
9:22pm, 15 Dec 2012
14,798 posts
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FenlandFunRunner
I was thinking more carrot, get the t-shirt, than stick. But, yeah, it is a shame that some will take, take, take and not give anything back.
As Jen suggests. No volunteers, no parkrun.
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Dec 2012
10:16pm, 15 Dec 2012
935 posts
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PowerJen
Totally agree with the tshirt thing! I think 50 x runs and 5 x volunteers would be fair!
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Dec 2012
11:50am, 16 Dec 2012
21,335 posts
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Frobester
I think what's more important than taking offence at a parkrun getting cancelled and taking the whole Daily Mail "it's health and safety gone mad" line, perhaps we runners who've registered with Bedford should look at why we don't seem to be that motivated to volunteer, or are busy doing other things. It's always easy to criticise, but I wonder if any of us can be there week in, week out, and are really just happy to have it there with others providing it for us.
I was there at the start for a few parkruns, but life got in the way, plus if I'm honest the distance doesn't agree with me. It doesn't surprise me when it has to be cancelled for lack of volunteers, but what surprises me is the somewhat cheap shots some seem to be taking when it doesn't go how they want. I hope it keeps going, but am mindful that if you replicate my situation across all the registered Bedford parkrunners, you'd not have a parkrun in Bedford at all.
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Dec 2012
1:05pm, 16 Dec 2012
14,805 posts
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FenlandFunRunner
Over 670 men and 420 women have run Bedford parkrun, so that's close on 1,100 different individuals. If only 10% of those people volunteered three times a year, that's (with my feeble brain) approximately five-six volunteers per week to add to the core team.
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Dec 2012
4:58pm, 16 Dec 2012
10,513 posts
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early bird
I have just looked up my stats I have ran 14 times and volunteered 10 times  I have ran once at Bedford and volunteered once at Bedford(new to the area) however I have yet to receive any kind of email saying they are short of volunteers and not everyone has the time to go and check to see how things stand. Maybe if the run director/event manager was more pro active in this respect there maybe an improvement. I still get emails from my old parkrun requesting volunteers occasionally when they are short.
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