Volunteering milestone for Mairéad

There were several milestones celebrated at Mountlucas parkrun at the weekend. Three participants, and friends, completed their milestone 25th parkrun; Ben Doherty, William Murphy and Aoife McElwee. The trio had travelled from Dublin and Wexford to complete their milestone parkrun at Mountlucas parkrun. They were joined by their friend Mary Greene who was overjoyed at the end of her parkrun when she realised she had taken almost 90 seconds off her previous fastest time.

Another milestone celebrated on the day was Mairéad Scally's 100th time volunteering.

Mairéad explained: "I love being able to volunteer at Mountlucas parkrun and to be able to give back to a community of people who bring me so much joy." She was joined on the day by her two young children Pearl and Bruce who had also volunteered at the event. She outlined "No parkrun can take place without volunteers. Each event is entirely organised by volunteers. I'm so proud of my children volunteering and learning about the importance of helping out in your community."

There are a variety of volunteer roles at every parkrun so there is something for everyone to enjoy. Mairéad said "There are so many different roles and some you can do while also taking part in the parkrun yourself. One of my favourite roles is the communications role where I post on social media about Mountlucas parkrun and link with the local newspapers to get information out to the general public about the parkrun. I can do this each week and still take part in the parkrun, or even be away somewhere else, like on holidays, and still do the communications role for Mountlucas parkrun!"

There are many volunteer roles like this where the person can walk or run the parkrun but also contribute to the event by volunteering.

First timers welcome is a great example of this where the person has responsibility for giving newcomers to Mountlucas parkrun all the relevant information before the event, and then they can take part in the parkrun as normal. The tailwalker is another volunteer role where the person can participate in the parkrun also. The tailwalker is tasked with being the last person to complete the parkrun, and linking with the Run Director if there are any issues on the course.

Volunteers receive training and guidance from the Run Director and each role is very straightforward. Children can volunteer as well as adults. Many of the roles require you to have a mobile phone with the parkrun volunteer app downloaded, but there are other roles such as Marshall, finish tokens, and token sorting which are great roles for children.

Mountlucas parkrun takes place at Bord na Móna Mountlucas windfarm every Saturday morning at 9.30am sharp. There's something for everyone at Mountlucas parkrun whether you want to walk, run, volunteer or just meet new people. For more information see http://parkrun.ie/mountlucas

If you are interested in volunteering at Mountlucas parkrun you can email parkrun@mountlucas.com or make your interest known to any of the volunteer team at the next event.