Volunteer
IMRA relies on volunteers to organise races and if you are a regular runner then you should also regularly volunteer to help out at races. Our Charter of Excellence sets a standard of race organisation that we want to achieve and to do this we need lots of volunteers.
Initially, you should volunteer to be a Helper and once you gain an understanding of how races are organised, you should volunteer for one of the more responsible roles such as Laptop Operator, Race Marker, First Aid Officer and eventually Race Director.
We operate Volunteer Panels for the Race Director. First Aid Officer and Laptop Operator roles. To see how to join a Volunteer Panel, click on the "Volunteer Panels" tab above. You need no prior experience as you will get all the training you need before you volunteer for a specific event.
A small race, with up to 30 runners can easily be organised by one person with very little equipment. However larger races of circa 250 runners will require an organised team, with each person knowing exactly what their responsibilities are. For instance, to register 250 runners in 30 minutes will require registration of one person every 7 seconds and anything slower than 7 seconds will result in a long queue forming rapidly.
To check which races need more volunteers, see the Volunteering Chart.
The individual Volunteer Roles for which you may volunteer are:
The roles and responsibilities described above cater for the most complex scenarios in the largest races. For small races, the same roles still exist, but one person may take on two, or even all roles.
Finally, no dicussion of responsibilities would be complete without mentioning Runners' Responsibilities as most of you volunteers also participate as runners.
Initially, you should volunteer to be a Helper and once you gain an understanding of how races are organised, you should volunteer for one of the more responsible roles such as Laptop Operator, Race Marker, First Aid Officer and eventually Race Director.
We operate Volunteer Panels for the Race Director. First Aid Officer and Laptop Operator roles. To see how to join a Volunteer Panel, click on the "Volunteer Panels" tab above. You need no prior experience as you will get all the training you need before you volunteer for a specific event.
A small race, with up to 30 runners can easily be organised by one person with very little equipment. However larger races of circa 250 runners will require an organised team, with each person knowing exactly what their responsibilities are. For instance, to register 250 runners in 30 minutes will require registration of one person every 7 seconds and anything slower than 7 seconds will result in a long queue forming rapidly.
How to volunteer
To volunteer, you should either contact either the Race Director or log in to myIMRA and volunteer online. To volunteer online, go to the event details and follow the instructions in the Volunteer section there. The Race Director's name and contact details are listed in the event description for each event.To check which races need more volunteers, see the Volunteering Chart.
Roles
To organise an entire year's racing schedule requires close co-operation between the IMRA Committee and Volunteers. There are 6 Committee Roles which have some responsibility towards organising races and an additional 7 Volunteer Roles.The individual Volunteer Roles for which you may volunteer are:
- League Director
- Race Director
- Deputy Race Director
- Laptop Operator
- Race Marker
- First Aid Officer and
- Helper
The roles and responsibilities described above cater for the most complex scenarios in the largest races. For small races, the same roles still exist, but one person may take on two, or even all roles.
Finally, no dicussion of responsibilities would be complete without mentioning Runners' Responsibilities as most of you volunteers also participate as runners.
