I have now taken part in just shy of 30 running events ranging from 10k's to marathons and I probably haven't really considered what is involved in staging an event. This weekend, my running club (Petts Wood Runners) hosted their 6th annual Petts Wood 10k. If I say so myself, it was a huge success. If you don't believe me take a look at the feedback on the Runner's World website.
So I just wanted to give a small insight into what is involved. I would just like to add, this is purely from my point of view and I probably don't do justice to what some of the others do.
As I said this is the 6th year that PWR have hosted this event, having only joined the club in August last year, this was the first time I have been involved. The race has already received accolades on Runner's World for being a well organised race. This in turn I would say brings it own pressures as everybody wants to ensure that the high standards are maintained.
There is a core race committee that starts the prep pretty much as soon as the previous year's race has finished and there are literally 100's of e-mails and phone calls made securing suppliers, sponsors and a million and one other things to do.
Two Weeks Ago:
A group of about 10 of us went round to the club secretaries house to sort out all of the kit for the event. The list is endless, but everything was checked and double checked to ensure that each 'Marshall group' had the relevant signs/markers, Marshall bibs, first aid kit, tool kit, red & white diagonal striped tape (not sure what to call it) rubbish bags etc etc. We then sat down to check that all relevant people, suppliers, residents had all been contacted and so on.
Last Week:
Another group of about 10 again (some same faces, some other volunteers) congregated at our Membership Secretaries house and stuffed 750 goody bags, we had a great production line going making sure every bag was complete. I was on leaflet numbers 3 & 4 :-) It reminded me of the mice factory in Bagpuss (showing my age now)
Saturday Morning:
I ran Parkrun as usual (I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate my wife on getting a new PB and knocking almost 1:30 off her previous time)
I then went to Willet Rec, where the race starts and finishes to help start unloading a lot of the equipment for the Sunday. This again is where you realise how people help by either donating equipment or utilising their own company vans to help transport the equipment. Incidentally these are people that have their own companies, so they are entitled to do what they want with their vans. I don't want people to think that they were using their work vans without permission for non work-related things!
Also a group had just got back from running the route to give it a final check and make sure that a meteorite had not landed of something maybe not quite as dramatic had occurred. But this reconnaissance mission meant that the Marshall team leaders could be notified of any potential hazards.
Sunday Morning:
Rendezvous time for the 'Rec team' was 7am. Going out for beers and curry on the Saturday night and not getting to bed until 1am was probably not the best of ideas. But, I had my alarm set for 06:10. At 06:17 I awoke (luckily) and then realised I had set the alarm on my iPhone for weekdays only! So minor disaster avoided. A quick glance out of the window presented with me with a starlit dawn morning and a thin layer of frost on my car windscreen.
I arrived just before 7am and within 10 minutes there was already half a dozen of us there , swelling to 20+ by 07:30am. I particularly like this photo which catches the atmosphere of the glorious morning conditions.
Once again the list of tasks to do was endless and it was all hands to the deck erecting gazebos and marquees, marking out the course, erecting the start gantry setting up tables, chairs and so on. I can vouch that a 25 litre water container is bloody heavy! But as well as the big tasks there are also lots of other tasks which people happily offered to do, despite them being far from glamorous but equally important to ensure a smooth running event. Two of these that spring to mind were taking all of the medals out of their individual wrappers and separating the bunches of bananas. A camp kitchen was created to ensure that the troops were kept going with bacon rolls and tea!
By 9am all 100+ Marshalls had arrived and were getting their final briefing before donning luminous yellow and making their way to their allocated spots.
It was good to catch up with Danny Coyle (editor of Men's Running magazine) who had tweeted earlier in the week of feeling under pressure as he had been issued #1 (nothing to do with me) and I managed to get a couple of photos of him later on that are potentially worthy of a caption competition :-) Something for a Christmas blog maybe?
As the start time approached, I had to now down tools and take up my main role of the day as unofficial-official photographer. I had been snapping away during the morning anyway. I can tell you that during the course of the morning I took nearly 1200 photos and any photographer's amongst you will know that bright winter sunshine might be great for running in but it is a bit of a nightmare for taking photographs. Once the main race was underway, I then had to photograph the kiddies race. This was great fun. With all the kids having seen the adults storm off, they had Olympic time dreams of their own. The 2nd age group (6-7 I think) were particularly eager and I was almost caught in a stampede. See exhibit A below.
Once that was all over, I had to make my way back to the finish pretty quickly as the lead runner was expected back within 3 to 4 minutes. I then stood at the finish for over an hour trying to take photos of everybody as they approached the finish line. I apologise now, if anybody looking for their picture has not been captured! I also think I now have RSI in my right index finger.
Once everybody had finished, there was the presentations to all the various winners and as the Rec emptied the clean up operation began. My wife had arrived during the morning so my boy Max could run in the kiddies race. So this meant that they were having to wait around for me as I helped clear up. However, Max was more than happy with this as he now had sole use of the bouncy castle which fortunately had not been taken down. I think I left about 1pm, but there were still people there loading stuff back into vans I felt more knackered than if I had run the 10k course twice.
I purposely have not named any of the PWR's involved. It would not be fair to name or single out any individual and it would be impossible to list all the names. Everybody who helped no matter how big or small (I am talking about their contribution, not their height) is an integral part of this successful event.
So what is the point of this blog? Well it is just me jotting down my thoughts of how I saw the day. It also puts into perspective the organisation required for marathons that have thousands of runners but these will inevitably have professional companies to help host them.
More importantly I think it shows how a lot of the smaller events (hosted by local running clubs) that I and many others compete in can be taken for granted. PWR is a small friendly club with about 200 members and I would estimate that 90% have been involved in some way in helping stage this event, if not this year, then in year's gone past. It is through everybody's good will, good humour and graft that the PWR10k comes together.
So next time you are running an event and there is a person standing in yellow pointing the way or giving you a clap and a cheer, maybe give the odd one or two a little thank you in return (between your gasping breathes obviously)
I can honestly say I am proud to have been a part of this event and proud to be part of Petts Wood Runners. Right, I am off to go and do back slapping have a group hug and shout "right on" as I high-five people, such is my feel good factor. So if you see a news clip on London Tonight in the next couple of days, that a man was arrested on a train for trying to get a carriage involved in a group hug, that will be me :-)
If you want to see the reviews, click here
If you want to run in next year's PWR 10k, bookmark this link.
I am in the process of editing and uploading the photos, so will post a link once they are ready.
Cheers TJH
Great Blog! And it does make you feel good to be part of a great running club, I know I just loved giving just a little back to a club that gives and keeps giving me so much :-)
ReplyDelete