Volunteering at a race.

Since I haven’t been racing, but races are back locally to me, I have made it a point to volunteer.

Why?

Well, when you volunteer you get some of the same goodness of going to a race just in a slightly different form.  You get to talk to runners.  You get to see hem running.  You get to give advice and cheer and maybe even help someone.

What are some of the opportunities when you volunteer?  That somewhat depends on the type of event.  You’re volunteer experience at the local 5K with 200 runners is going to be different than if you volunteer for the NYC marathon.

Bigger races tend to be organized into departments.  Each department will have a director.  That director then tells the volunteer coordinator how many and what kind of volunteer they want.  The volunteer director then matches people to needs and schedules.

In some of the premier events you will need to announce your intentions to volunteer months ahead of time in order to get a role.  And the prime volunteer spots are grandfathered in to people who have been doing it for years.

Whereas in your local 5K, you can probably just show up day-of-race and they’ll hadn you a safety vest and a name tag and give you something to do.

The other thing that may surprise those unfamiliar with race organization is that the majority of the volunteers you see standing around at a race are just that, volunteers.  No one is getting paid in most races.  Especially if they are events organized for charity.  They may get a shirt and a sandwich but they’re not getting a salary.

Unless of course it is a for-profit race like Spartan, or Ragnar or Rock and Roll.  Even then most of the low level volunteers are unpaid, but the race directors are professionals.  Same is true for thos races that engage an event management company.  The event management company charges a fee for the management duties even if the majority of the volunteers are working for fun.

For a decent sized local race you may have 100-150 total volunteers.  For a bis event you may get 1,000 or more.

These are going to be spread around various areas.

At the top you have the race director.  You may think that the race director is in charge of everything that happens in the race, and in a sense they are, but if they are smart they delegate to a team of directors.

The main race director then becomes more of a leader and a project manager.  They are also the public face of the event.  They organize and delegate and problem solve. Because there are always problems.  But, it is essentially a project management role.  They put capable people in charge.  Organize the meetings and interactions.  Follow up to make sure stuff is getting executed and mitigate risk.

A regional event might have a race committee led by the race director of 6 – 12 leaders.  This is super important because these roles require functional adults who are passionate about the event and are willing to work for free to pull it off.

The race director has to make sure these roles are filled and there is a pipeline of new blood being trained.  This is what kills most races.  The directors start to naturally leave or move away and the race director, for whatever reason tries to take on those roles herself.  At some point it becomes impossible to manage and crashes.

My life-saving advice for anyone looking to be race director is twofold, first, find a team of capable leaders, put them in charge and empower them, second always have 30-40% extra resources apprenticing at any point in time to be able to step in when you need them.

Back to volunteering.  You can easily join a race committee for a local event.  They would love to have you.  But, if you go that route, as fulfilling as it is, you’re signing up for some meetings and work and day of race commitments.

What are some examples of areas in a race that need direction, other than the main race director?

There is always a marketing and sales role on a race committee.  Even if you’re doing for a charity you have to have someone to find sponsors and work with them.  Without sponsors you can’t pull off an event.  Most people don’t want to sell, or aren’t good at it, so if you can, there is a race committee that needs you.

And of course, as meta as it sounds in this piece, you need a volunteer director to beat the bushes and find this army of volunteers among the local boy scouts and high school track teams.  Then put them where they are needed and make sure they have a great experience.

Registration is typically a director level position.  For the director this means choosing how the registration is going to work and setting up any services.  This typically bleeds over into the packet pickup process and day of race timing and tracking.

This is an area where you can show up on race weekend and volunteer.  They may sit you down at a table with a pencil to check people in and hand out their race packet and shirts. Or you can help people do day of race registration.  And there are a bunch of greeter and information type roles tohelp people get in and out and get what they need.

Course support is another director level position.  This means directing all the volunteers out on the course, including water tables, porta johns and all that course stuff.  This role also means liaising with the local police on road closures and cones and traffic control.

The course director works with the registration director to set up the start and finish lines and get the on-course timing right.  That the inners are tracked and

The course director works with the food service director to make sure there is water and food where it is needed and the flow of finishers get out of the chute into the food tents.

Day of race there is a great volunteer opportunity in course support.  That’s where I usually like to go.  Stick me out on a corner with a sign and I get to watch the runners go by.  It’s important but easy duty! Because without you someone could turn the wrong way and get lost.  Or someone may need help and you can call the EMTs or give some coaching.

If you need a workout there is typically a lot of setup and tear down work at a race that requires lifting, carrying and pounding.  It takes an army to get it all done.

Next there is typically a Food service director where you get to hand out bagels and help runners get fed after the event.  It’s very important to the runner experience and requires a lot of hands.

Another good day of race activity is parking.  You can be one of those people with a vest and a flag in the big field making sure nervous runners get their vehicles parked or find the porta johns or the shuttle buses.

It really depends on the time you have, what you know, and what you like to do.  You can engage as a volunteer at any level.  Whatever you decide it a great way to meet folks and get involved.  You might help someone.  You might learn something.

At the end of the day it’s volunteers like you who make these events possible, and without these events our world, our lives,  would be a much poorer place.

So go volunteer for something and help keep the fire burning.

Somewhere in your area there’s a race director working long hours and not getting paid and trying to pull off a miracle.

I can guarantee they need your help!