Bedford parkrun

1 lurker | 31 watchers

rosehip Dec 2012 5:01pm, 16 Dec 2012 1,090 posts	0 rosehip I've run 3 times at Bedford this year - twice taking my daughter with me to volunteer but she wasn't needed. I haven't had an email from Bedford re volunteers for ages either. It's easy to miss facebook comments, so I agree that a more pro-active shout for help would be good
The Teaboy Dec 2012 5:06pm, 16 Dec 2012 3,902 posts	0 The Teaboy Would be a good solution. After all, everybody wants the best outcome for the race.
PowerJen Dec 2012 7:43pm, 16 Dec 2012 938 posts	0 PowerJen How does it work at Bedford then? At Cambridge, you register as a volunteer (by sending an email) and then we send out a weekly email to all volunteers asking to respond if they can help. I see Bedford have the future roster thingy. We've not tried that at Cambridge yet.
early bird Dec 2012 7:59pm, 16 Dec 2012 10,516 posts	0 early bird I'm not sure tbh I emailed via the parkrun site. I haven't had any email requests about volunteering since. I did get a thank you email for volunteering and an email confirming I had volunteered tho Maybe they are relying on people visiting the site and looking at the roster ?
early bird Dec 2012 8:08pm, 16 Dec 2012 10,518 posts	0 early bird If they are does that highlight that it isn't really very effective? If they are struggling getting volunteers surely they need to re evaluate how they are appealing if it isn't working?
KatieB Dec 2012 11:49am, 17 Dec 2012 6,463 posts	0 KatieB We don't get emails requesting help as far as I know. I am registered as a vounteer and have never had one. I don't do facebook at all so I really would miss requests from there. I also don't check the bedford parkrun homepage for messages which isn't great really. I feel guilty that it was canclled tbh. I don't know what the answer is. I don't like that it was cancelled but I don't volunteer as much as the core team, and I do have weekend commitments that sometimes stop me getting there to run or to volunteer.
Silvershadow Dec 2012 12:48pm, 17 Dec 2012 717 posts	0 Silvershadow I have volunteered 13 official times at Bedford and also a handful of times where I've not been able to commit beforehand but have turned up in the morning and offered. I've run it 20 times. I don't have the answer either. I spoke to a mum who brings her son along to run. She said that she was happy to volunteer regularly but was under the impression (that may be true I don't know) she had to register with Parkrun first. She herself is not a runner and didn't want to. Three of the volunteers themselves had not seen the cancellation on social networks. I don't know if they had been sent an email that they just hadn't seen yet. I didn't see if it said on fb which volunteer roles still needed to be filled. A suggestion might be to give specifics, for example, a timer, a race director rather than just a generic 'we dont have enough volunteers'. I would always respond to a direct email even if I had to say 'can't this week'.
Fizz :-) Dec 2012 12:56pm, 17 Dec 2012 834 posts	0 Fizz :-) The announcement on their parkrun page said it was the run director which they were short of. I have volunteered a few times (not at Bedford though), but surely the run director is the one role that you can't just turn up on the day and muddle through? Doesn't each parkrun have a core of run directors that they know they can call on? I volunteer at Leamington and Northampton, and each week they send out a list of who is volunteering, and in which roles (same as PowerJen at Cambridge).
early bird Dec 2012 2:10pm, 17 Dec 2012 10,523 posts	0 early bird 15.12.12. sorry saturdays event is cancelled. weve had to make this decision. health and safety and enjoyment of the run is paramount to us. paul That was the announcement on FB I saw and I don't routinely visit the site so I wasn't aware of the reason. I do agree that run director is a hard position to fill and looking at the rota it seems as if one person is doing the lion share of the work. Have they appealed to recruit more people to train to this position? At Bedfont I think we had several people who could do it. I have been thinking about trying to set up a parkrun in Peterborough but tbh seeing how things are going with Bedford really puts me off even inquiring about it.
Frobester Dec 2012 11:45am, 18 Dec 2012 21,344 posts	0 Frobester Early Bird, my work is based in Peterborough and I know lots of runners round here, on a quick straw poll (totally unscientific) 100% of them would welcome a parkrun in Peterborough. Heck, I'd even volunteer if I was here at weekends!