The World Athletics Championships in London were a unique opportunity
to take on a volunteering role with a difference. I was part of Track Team 500, a group of
volunteers who complete the roles that stadium staff would normally fill. This includes all the heavy lifting stuff of
moving pole vault beds and uprights, building throws cages, moving steeplechase
barriers as well as the more visible roles of blocks and hurdles teams.
I was in the hurdles team and I worked throughout the Championships
with the exception of the first two sessions which we enjoyed from the stands.
With the hurdles team, we had 400m and 100/110m events to sort out
with the team carrying out different roles for each of the events. For the 400m events, I had the fun job of
driving the buggy that carried two trailers of hurdles, with us looking after
putting the hurdles out for rows 3 to 8.
For the 100/110m events, I had a range of jobs from dumping (getting the
hurdles off & on the trailers), setting (moving the hurdles into position
on the track), plus clerk of course roles for rows 1 & 2 for run overs
before each race and also the clerk of course role for rows 4 to 6 during the
races which is basically checking them after each race and resetting where
needed.
It was a truly fantastic experience as we got so close to the action,
especially during the clerk of course roles as I was stood at the side of the
track at rows 1 or 2 as the athletes did their run overs before each race, so
you see them up close, especially those in lanes 2 & 3 ! The best experience though was in the Women’s
100mH semi-finals where two of us completed the clerk of course role in looking
after rows 4 to 6. After checking each
row before the first race, we then sat on a bench just past the finish line and
in front of the mixed zone – giving a unique view down the straight for each of
the three semi-finals, it was truly fantastic to see the best hurdlers in the
world from such an angle where you appreciate just how close to the top of the
hurdle they are.
The 400m events were a little different, with the buggy and two
trailers along with the pressure of having to stop in set places as well as
driving over wire clusters, through gates with the digital boards and then
finishing off with getting through the £1m TV screens at the 100m tunnel, which
then got firework boxes in front of it once the finals started ! Now driving isn’t a problem for me as I’ve
driven buses and coaches for years and had lots of famous people on too, but
this was very much a different driving experience which was great fun.
The hurdles team had plenty of praise over the week for the way the
hurdles were set out and taken away, with lot of videos of us appearing on
social media, as well as photos of me from the North East folk who attended the
Championships. We had done lots of
practice, either in the first few days of the Championships or at the
Anniversary Games back in July and we had great team leaders who led the teams
through their roles. So, we had the
flexibility to change roles through the team and the set up and take down still
looked as smooth to the public.
But it didn’t go to plan all the time as I did have a little incident
of hitting the legs of the dumpers in the 400m, but it did sharpen us all up
and it didn’t happen again. We also had a certain hedgehog shaped mascot doing
stunts on the back of the trolley one night, but luckily it wasn’t one of the
ones that I was driving !
We also got some random tasks during the Championships, which for me
included wandering around pushing a water blotter around the outside of the
cage during the Men’s hammer competition when it was raining. We had to develop an understanding with the
officials, athletes, host broadcaster cameraman as well as being watched by a
packed house and being on TV a lot as Mo’s 5k semi final was one of the track
races on that night.
Being behind the scenes was also a fantastic experience as we had
access to the track and also to the warm up area, so in between events we could
watch the world’s best athletes going through their pre-race drills and
workouts. It was great to watch and
learn from – something that every coach would love to have enjoyed and I did
make plenty of notes, especially for the hurdlers and it does show how much
flexibility is the key for the top performers.
The highlights on the warm up track were Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Laura
Muir, Mutaz Barshim, Christina Manning & Kendra Harrison with the best experience
being Sally Pearson burping in front of me during her warm up, and she did
apologise, a lot, and I did suggest it was better out than in. It can’t have done her any harm as she went
on to become the world champion.
I wasn’t the only one from the North East either as we had James
Colling and Andrea Fyall as part of Track Team 500 plus we also had a host of
Track & Field Officials from the region too.
I kept people entertained during the champs with a daily Facebook Live
on what was on the agenda for that day and what we’d done since the previous
day’s edition, plus I also bumped into lots of people from the North East who
came to enjoy the athletics.
The organisation behind the scenes was great too. We had a little space in our store room for a
seating area, plus there was a huge rest area with refreshments available
throughout the day. An army marches on
its stomach and the volunteers were well looked after throughout the
competition with lots of food, either hot or cold and it was all healthy and filling
stuff too.
We worked some long days and it was tiring, but it was also a once in
a lifetime experience that I’ll never forget.
I met and worked with some fantastic people and learnt a lot more on the
sport that I’ve got a huge passion for, with a lot of that learning being used
for the field official role as well as in coaching too.
Special thanks go to James Colling for getting me into the team and to
Dave Hewer for having the confidence in me to do these random tasks plus also
to Alison for letting me disappear for a week to do it all.
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