What's cooler than being cool? Ice Cold (Volunteering )

On this cold and frosty 1 degree Saturday morning at 8:30am Rebecca and I met with the other parkrun volunteers at Eaton Park bandstand.

We all wear high visual jackets and lanyards which contain the key details for a smooth running morning. Rebecca was given the role of keeping runners in line at the finishing funnel ensuring it ran smoothly and I was at the end of the funnel ready to hand out tokens to the parkrunners. We had a briefing about how to support parkrunners from the run director. As the time nears to 9am first timers to Eaton parkrun or even first timers to parkrun itself gather in the Grade II listed bandstand for a run down of how it all works and the infamous line 'run 4x over the bridge'. I am always surprised and heartened by the amount of newcomers.

The run director delivers a brief announcement to all then the runners take the short walk across the field towards to the start line by the skatepark. Most of the volunteers wait by the bridge and stay to clap and encourage the hundreds that pass us before going off to our separate tasks. Always a stampede of neon we looked out for the Goodgym shirts but to be fair it was very cold so most people were layered up! However, we spotted and cheered fellow Goodgymmers Liz & Jennifer. We also spotted a stoic chap actually wading around the boating lake to break the ice ready for a day of sailing their model boats! Off to the task in hand which was tricky this morning as my hands were frozen! The runners as they collected a token each were all really thankful to the marshalls for their time - what a lovely bunch :)

As the last runners and walkers come in we sort tokens. Rebecca headed off like an absolute hero to the second Goodgym Deed of the morning litter picking by the river! When the final token was handed out we pack up, thanked everyone for their time and head home. 2 hours well spent.

All volunteers should email the run director (see below) to offer which parkrun date(s) they can help at. I love to run parkrun myself but I know it can only take place each Saturday because of the volunteers.

If you would like to help at Norwich parkrun then e-mail: norwichhelpers@parkrun.com