Seven of us assembled at Clarence Park in Wakefield on Sunday 15th April, from 07:30 to support Wakefield Hospice with their 17th Annual City 10K Road Race. The Wakefield Hospice 10K is a big fixture in the running calendar, attracting seriously good runners, as well as being a major fund raiser for the Wakefield Hospice.
Steve Meerkat Jones & Chas Milner patrolled Lawefield Lane to stop any cars parking and hence blocking the start of the race from 07:30, whilst El Presidente Steve & Madam Treasurer Justine attended the pre-race briefing at 08:00. Our role, was as mobile race marshals ensuring the safety of the tail end competitors, once the road had been re-opened to traffic - the road is only closed for an hour maximum, and although the bulk of runners would be finished whilst the road was still closed, a good number of runners (walkers !!!) would still be on the course, hence the requirement for mobile marshals (that's us !!) to ensure their safety.
We left the start area at 08:50 to take up position on the course. The race started at 09:00, led by a police car and it wasn't long before the lead runners came storming past us.
The bulk of the runners then passed, followed by the tail police van, and then it was our cue to spring into action to marshal the tail-enders.
The winner of the race, Matthew Pearson (Holmfirth Harriers) finished after 31 minutes and 23 seconds, and the winning female, Helen Singleton (Wakefield Harriers) finished after 36 minutes & 25 seconds. After about 45 minutes traffic was being progressively allowed onto the road, so we took it in turns to ride the course, park up and observe and make sure the runners/walkers were safe. We were certainly needed as various competitors kept alternating between pavement and road, blissfully unaware of the re-opened road and traffic coming up behind them !!!!
After about an hour and a half, we had safely escorted the vast majority of the remaining competitors to the finish line and their own personal glories !!! Justine was back marker and escorted the tail end competitors, Jo Hill and Tracey Stakes, to their coveted last place of 1 hour & 53 minutes.
When we returned the fun run around Clarence Park was well underway, with numerous runners in fancy dress.
Following our obligatory team photo, we all headed our separate ways (some to home, or to Redbeck for a Fried Breakfast, or to Squires Cafe for the same). A huge thanks to Steve, Justine, Daz, Chaz, Meerkat, Cherry & Jagster for helping to marshal this years race, and for the very early Sunday morning start (ridiculously early for Steve, Justine and Jagster, who had also got up in the middle of the night (almost) to attend the previous days MAG AGC - not a lot of sleep that weekend).
It is great to be able to support our local charity in a non-monetary way, and in a way which is so very useful to them. We have helped the hospice marshal their prestigious 10K race for a good number of years now, and long may it continue. This year's race attracted 1,126 runners, so that should have swelled the charities coffers by a healthy amount.