Volunteer Report: David Simpson’s take on the Hackney Half
Gavin LauOn the 21st May, I volunteered as a water Marshall at Hackney Half with the running club. It was great to see a race from ‘the other side’. I have always been on the receiving end of volunteers at half marathons so handing out countless cups of water was a fun and rewarding experience.
The experience was what I expected in terms of tasks. Setting up cups of water in high stacks to be ready to hand out to the thousands of runners and hanging out with friends from the club as we did so. There was a little downtime between completing setup and the runners reaching our station.
Volunteering was a lot more rewarding than I expected. It was enjoyable watching the elite runners at the front of the pack and the time passed really quickly when it was at its busiest. What was most rewarding were cheering on some of the slower runners, passing them water and giving them the encouragement to continue.
I will definitely volunteer again in the future if I don’t plan to run.
