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February 4, 2022 at 1:55 pm
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Volunteer stories: Dawn Paul

Dawn Paul has volunteered at the Brighton Half for a number of years. Here she tells us about her experience helping out at the race and her volunteering role with a local junior parkrun.

How did you get involved with volunteering at the Brighton Half Marathon, and what area were you involved in?

After taking part in 2011 as part of my full marathon training plan, I joined RISE’s volunteering team with the lovely Naomi and Julie (who I’d volunteered with before) at the drinks station at mile 3 near the Marina. This area is full of action, hard work but so, so much fun. To know you’re playing a huge part in making wonderful memories for the participants makes all the hard work so worthwhile, and we always gave the last runners just as much attention as we had the first runners.

 

What are your highlights of volunteering?

A definite highlight was seeing and cheering on all the runners coming back the other way and once you’ve finished pack down to quickly head down to the finish and help out there. I spent several years helping out on drinks stations, but then from 2016 I joined Holly (Brighton Half Marathon’s Event Manager) as part of the junior parkrun core team (in Preston Park). As a junior parkrun team member I absolutely loved welcoming all our juniors onto site and caring for them through to their finish – happy memories indeed.

Do you have any tips or advice for people interested in volunteering at the race?

Be prepared for whatever the weather throws at you, wear comfortable clothes and footwear, and… smile …a lot! Bring a small bag with a few snacks, notepad, pen, scissors – and throat sweets 😆

If you’re looking out for someone special, wear something bright and colourful and let them know where you are stationed so you can give that special high-five or shout out as they come past. Lastly, just enjoy yourself – it’s such a wonderful atmosphere and you are doing something absolutely amazing.

A big thank you to Dawn for volunteering with us and contributing to our blog. If you’d like to volunteer at the race on Sunday 27th February, you can register your interest on our volunteering form and we’ll be in touch.