Reported on the public FRA Facebook forum 25th October by Mike Bate.

Please find attached incident report into the grievance.

Post-Race Grievance 25-10-16

Personal Message

It helps the Race Organiser out tremendously by reporting issues such as these either on the day or as soon thereafter and much preferable if any grievance is directed firstly to myself rather than posted on a public forum where any learning points are likely to be quickly lost in the noise.

As it is, the method chosen for delivery of this grievance has delayed the official results, race report and added an extra 2 days work into a week I didn’t have. It has caused stress to my wife, disrupted the half term break for my children (you know the ones I didn’t see last weekend).

I sometimes wonder if the term volunteer means much to the some people these days. My brilliant team of marshals & helpers are some of finest volunteers you could ever wish to meet. They come from all walks and stages of life. You pass them on the street without realising. Yet a simple text message is all that is needed to get these folks out of bed in the middle of the night to go look for someones mum or dad, husband, wife, partner or child.  They don’t get paid. They don’t get rewarded. They just do.

Some of my marshals & helpers are runners, most are not. They are all volunteers. They are all willing to donate time to your sport. So the question is… are you?

I would like to know if any of you runners out there are willing to take up my 10% Challenge? The challenge is simple. Say you run 10 races a year. Next year run 9. The 10th…. well you simply volunteer to help don’t you.

Choose your most local race as that’s likely where you can contribute the most. Parkruns are great as they always need help throughout the year. Fellruns are better because your pain and suffering in freezing your bits off stood by a cairn for a few hours envigorates your life (if not your toes). Commercial events are best avoided like the plague. Ask the RO if you can put markers out, marshal, record finish times, make the tea, bake a cake. Pop your coat on for a change.  Or maybe help out with your own Club’s admin, maybe volunteer to be on your club committee, even the national committee….. Give 10% of your time as a volunteer so you can fully enjoy and appreciate the other 90%.

Don’t plan your year around running. Plan it from volunteering and work backwards. As soon as that calendar hits your doorstep/inbox get your pen out and circle the race or races you will volunteer for – email the RO straightaway. Don’t miss the moment. You can then begin to bask in some of that 10% feeling. Feels good yes? Flick through the rest of calendar. Are there are any races left you haven’t circled?…..Why yes! There are plenty left to occupy your remaining 90%.

Wonderfully simple isn’t it.

John Heppenstall 28th October 2016

Parking: Where possible please car share as we are expecting a good turnout this year and parking around the village is not great. Please see the below map for parking areas:

The main area to avoid is around the registration (Village Hall) and areas around both the Chapel & Churches as both have services that morning. Please park respectful of the residents – don’t block gates, driveways, junctions, etc. There is good parking down the main road (Ffordd-Y-Llan) beyond the school, down past Pentre on the road into the village and up Lon Cilan in the village. There is some room on the verges down towards the fishery but be mindful to not block the road (large tractors use this road frequently!)