New 5k Torbay parkrun at Paignton Velopark at Clennon Valley is moving forward. I have spoken to John Wisely from parkrun who is going to contact Torbay Council. It may also be possible to have a 2k Junior parkrun. A Torbay parkrun doesn’t need to consist of only members from our club, Once council accept parkrun at Velopark and agree to pay £3000 I will approach other local running clubs. Their members can also be volunteers or a Run Director. Volunteers can advertise their club to parkrunners on the parkrun website. There is a lady (non club runner) contacting parkrun recently asking to be included in a new team for a Torbay parkrun if one gets started. Im sure some volunteers from Parke parkrun will help a new Torbay parkrun. The proposed 5k course would be one lap of Velopark, one lap of lake and field, followed by a final lap of Velopark. Course would be very flat, Velopark is 8 metres wide so ideal for large number of parkrunners. The field is normally very wet during winter months but sure that won’t put many people of. There plentry of parking, toilets, café, changing rooms. Totally traffic free. Velopark is available before 10:30am so 9am Saturday parkrun should be possible. The council could refuse permission. The council could be unwilling to pay £k towards equipment. Fingers cross. The junior 2k parkrun can be lap of the 1.5k Velopark followed by an extra 500 metres. The Velopark would be ideal because it has a fence all way round course. its ideal for 4 – 14 years old. The junior 2k parkrun could at start 10am after the 5k parkrun finishes or it can be a separate event, could be a Sunday organised by a different team. The Velopark opens to cyclist 10:30am. If the council cough up £3000 for a Torbay parkrun and give the go ahead then we need to get volunteers every Saturday. We will need an Events Director plus maybe three Run Directors. I will be happy to be the Events Director as I have been doing the job at Parke parkrun. I am also happy to be a Run Director. I should be able to make 1 in every 3 Torbay parkruns. This 5k parkrun could be organised by a very small team if we are short on volunteers. On the day we must have a Run director, a time keeper, a token issuer and a barcode scanner. If we only have 4 volunteers we could still run the event. Ideally it would be nice to have the above four volunteers plus a couple of marshals, a backup timekeeper, a 2nd barcode scanner and a tale end runner. At Parke parkrun I was expecting it to be a challenge getting enough volunteers but so far every week we have had about 13 volunteers wanting to help every week. There must be a team of 70+ volunteers at Parke. A Torbay Velopark 5k parkrun will be much easier course to organise and it could be organised by a very small team. Unlike Parke parkrun, Velopark and field is totally flat and would be idea for beginners. Finding a better 5k parkrun in Torbay which is 3.1 miles and flat and totally traffic free suitable to beginners is almost impossible. I believe the new Torbay parkrun could attract 300+ parkrunners every Saturday for first year and then reach 500+ after couple of years. Poole parkrun attract 500-650 runners every Saturday. Bushy Park over 1000 every Saturday. Parke parkrun started in May 2014 and since then there has been many new parkruns in Devon and Cornwall and very soon there will be a new one for west Cornwall. Torbay will be one of the last high populated area to have a parkrun in the Westcountry. VOLUNTEER JOBS The must not be any pressure put on Volunteers, as parkruns are totally free then a relax approach. No one should be afraid to make a mistake and if a mistake happens then we should not worry about it, there’s always another free parkrun next week. No one should feel they must volunteer every week. If you volunteer to help at a Torbay parkrun you will get 100 points. This is the same as finishing first. You can only gain the 100 points up to 3 times in a 12 month period. There is a points table for men and for ladies. Core Team is a number of Run Directors plus just one Events Director. Event Director doesn’t need to be at the parkrun. There must be one Run Director at every Torbay parkrun We can have many Run Director if we choose to. Six Run Director would be perfect as there would be less pressure then if we only had three. Run Director will have overall responsibility for event safety, will make Pre-run Announcements, will start the run, and oversee proceedings during the run and at the finish. Most importantly, the Run Director decides whether the event should be cancelled or postponed or that an adjustment to the course is needed (because of bad weather or other circumstance). Such decisions will be taken with guidance from the other event organisers, but the Run Director has the final say. The Run Director will often perform another role. (see below) Timer Keeper(s) probably the most important job, but with the equipment we will have, it will be pretty easy. Once setup you press the button o’A’ to start the race, then walk briskly to the finish area before the first runners are coming in. Then as every runner crosses the line press the button ‘B’ once for each runner. To end the race press and hold the button ‘A’. We will also have a backup Time Keeper in case of an error. Video Tutorial - youtube/watch?v=1zuUuMr6HGk Backup Timer Tutorial - youtu.be/XYkYYozUJw8 Finnish Token Issuer This person hands each runner crossing the finishing line a position numbered finishing token. Barcode Scanner(s) the second most important role. As the runners cross the line and receive their finishing position token, you take this token and their own personal barcode and scan them two together. You have to remember to scan the personal barcode first and give back to runner, then the finishing token and keep. If the runner doesn’t have a personal barcode you scan neither. If there’s a problem and the barcode won’t scan you write down their name and parkrun ID number. You may need to shield the scanner from direct sunlight – or wripe the barcode scanner glass if it get wet. Video Tutorial - youtube/watch?v=SaBIdkK17xM Marshals A very simple job sending runners in correct direction. Calling the Run Director or 999 or Ambulance if theres an accident. Tail End Runner Someone who follows the last runner and collect all signs on way Photographer most runners like to see photo’s afterwards. The photographer or photographers take these and upload them to Flickr account and then add them to the Torbay parkrun website. Its doesn’t matter if there not a photographer at a parkrun.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 17:22:08 +0000
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