Improving the volunteer experience

I’m pretty excited to be invited by Athletics Canada to speak about volunteers at Canada’s Race Director Summit in Calgary. When I found out I was on a panel with Mary Wittenberg (race director extraordinaire and president of the New York Road Runners), I was flabbergasted. My immediate reaction was “I am not worthy.” However, improving the volunteer experience is a passion of mine and I’m really looking forward to sharing my ideas with fellow race directors.

Awhile back, I received an email from a volunteer that was a real eye-opener. From her account, it was very clear that she had a horrible experience volunteering at my race and vowed to never return. I will admit, she brought up things that I had not considered and overlooked. I wrote her back to acknowledge that she had made valid points, explained I felt horrible about her experience and vowed that I’d try to not make the same mistakes in the future. She didn’t reply and I haven’t seen her since.

But from that point, I have tried to improve in the area of volunteer appreciation. I never want a volunteer feeling as though their skills and time weren’t needed or appreciated. Volunteers aren’t paid for their time but Maritime Race Weekend budgets $7,500 to give our 300 volunteers perks like limited-edition volunteer swag, fresh sandwiches during their shift, prizes and parties.

I believe it’s important to spend a portion of the race registration fees on volunteers because without them races wouldn’t be possible. Heart and Sole Running Club, Truro Run Tribe and Halifax Running Club members make up 75 per cent of the volunteers at Maritime Race Weekend. Last year, as a thank-you for being such a big help, our not-for-profit association gave $10,000 to these three run clubs. But it’s not enough to just spend money on volunteers; it’s also important to ensure they have fun and show them respect.

My mom says, “the worst ingratitude, is gratitude unspoken.” Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to thank every volunteer in person on race day. So last year I hand wrote over 500 thank-you cards and hosted two volunteer appreciation events (ice-cream social and movie night) to thank volunteers. I believe it’s a step in the right direction but my goal is to keep improving in this area every year. This year we hope to properly train volunteers before race-day and we have some fun and creative ideas planned.

In a popular race, it can be a challenge to recruit runners to volunteer instead of participate. I’m lucky to have dedicated volunteers who return every year. Experienced volunteers help the event run smoothly, especially when they provide feedback and take ownership of their role. Listening and implementing the changes volunteers suggest is invaluable.

If you’ve never volunteered at an event before, try it! Being up before sunrise is a challenge but it’s really amazing to see a race from a volunteer’s perspective. I promise, you’ll be surprised at the behind the scenes view of a road race.