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TCS London Marathon 2024

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larkim Feb 2024 3:05pm, 16 Feb 2024 23,273 posts	0 larkim Out of interest, AndyS, do you (or an organisation you're linked with) get anything in return for the volunteering? I know that's sort of the point of volunteering, that you do it because you enjoy it and want to support the overall "thing", but I've recently seen a lot of local races offering free places in subsequent events if people volunteer to help out. London is a massive operation, and runners would face a massive bill if all of the labour that makes the day happen was paid for, but part of me wonders how it feels to be alongside a paid security member of staff or truck driver when you're frantically packing bags, or dishing out drinks etc.
auburnette Feb 2024 3:11pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,238 posts	0 auburnette Our club gets an extra club ballot spot in exchange for providing manpower for baggage lorries.
Ally-C Feb 2024 3:18pm, 16 Feb 2024 5,051 posts	0 Ally-C Our club gets an extra club ballot spot in exchange for providing manpower for baggage lorries. How many baggage folk for the one spot?
auburnette Feb 2024 3:29pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,239 posts	0 auburnette About 40 volunteers for 1 extra ballot place, it doesn't improve your ballot odds massively! I think we get 2 from the number of registered runners and then 1 extra from the baggage. You do get a shiny jacket and new balance hat as well and i think they might provide lunch. Our club also requires that you have to have volunteered (eg as baggage) or otherwise supported the club (committee, run leading, supporting the race we host, racing in certain events on behalf of the club) in order to apply for any of the total 3 club ballot places.
AndyS Feb 2024 3:34pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,639 posts	0 AndyS Out of interest, AndyS, do you (or an organisation you're linked with)</p> In my case, the organisation is Mile End parkrun. <q>get anything in return for the volunteering? Our crew of around 50 volunteers is allocated a single place for next year's event, which we allocate by throwing the names into a (literal!) hat and pulling one out - that's how my wife got her place for 2018 (I ran on a charity place). part of me wonders how it feels to be alongside a paid security member of staff or truck driver when you're frantically packing bags, or dishing out drinks etc. TBH, I don't think I ever really thought about being alongside the paid staff. The day starts off with a bunch of friends wandering under the Greenwich foot tunnel and then trudging up that bldy hill through the park and along to Blackheath. Finding our lorries, and then waiting until the first runners turn up. Once they start arriving, it gets pretty full on for a few hours until they close down the lorries. Despite being quite hard work, it's a lot* of fun. With the exception of that one clueless H&S rep, who wandered around pontificating about not drinking alcohol while being harnessed to a truck at 7am on a Sunday morning - but then panicked and ran away when asked about an actual* safety concern.
AndyS Feb 2024 3:34pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,640 posts	0 AndyS (ooops! - not sure what happened there...!)
larkim Feb 2024 3:39pm, 16 Feb 2024 23,275 posts	0 larkim Thanks, interesting. I can fully understand the appeal of taking part like that, tbh, but good to see that they do at least make some effort to contribute via additional places.
auburnette Feb 2024 3:45pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,240 posts	0 auburnette I think it relies quite heavily on volunteers from local clubs/organisations like parkrun core teams - I know our neighbouring club staffs a water point, usually the same one each year. Probably helps LME to organise through clubs rather than trying to get disparate volunteers to work as a team- the continuity of what the 'ask' is helps too, our club has been doing baggage for a long time (over 20 years!). It's a pretty popular day out.
auburnette Feb 2024 3:46pm, 16 Feb 2024 2,241 posts	0 auburnette (btw they do also use individual volunteers but suspect mainly allocated to standalone tasks like marshalling!)
larkim Feb 2024 3:52pm, 16 Feb 2024 23,277 posts	0 larkim I suppose it's part of embedding the race in the London running club culture, and given that the charity itself aims to fund programmes in the locality it all hangs together pretty solidly. I don't know that the other commercial big city races in the UK work as effectively as that, thinking about it.