PUBLISHED 06/04/2008
In order to put on an event, you'll need the help of as many willing bodies as possible. In order to make sure that you have enough at race date, it makes sense to recruit more than you actually think you'll need - a lot more, up to twice as many. If race day is cold and/or rainy, you'll be surprised how many people fail to make it out of bed. Because of this, it's important to impress upon your volunteers the importance of being there on time and ready to work their assigned role.
Put together a list of posts and duties ahead of time, and assign volunteers to them ahead of time to make sure that race day moves as swiftly as possible. Assign your most reliable people to the finish line and to posts that involve collecting and handling money. Inform them what time to arrive and whom to report to.
Don't go into race day without knowing you have an adequate supply of people to work your race. If it comes down to the last few weeks and you don't have enough volunteers, don't be surprised if you find you have to pay people to work your race. Contact local organizations and see if they will be willing to supply bodies for a small fee - it's a good way to raise funds for their club.
