We need your help!
As everyone who attends our DVO events can easily see, there’s a lot of work involved in making the day run smoothly and well.
If you’ve recently joined the club, we’d love you to join one of our teams of helpers. Do you come and run at DVO events and don’t already volunteer? Can you do a bit to help too? If you occasionally volunteer, could you commit to turning out more regularly? We have jobs to suit age and ability, including family groups with children.
Coming to an event isn’t just about competing, there’s another side around working together, helping, socialising – and making friends. Volunteering in one of our teams is really rewarding and a way of making the day more fun for everyone.
Details of the teams are set out below. Please contact Amanda on to find out more or to lend a hand and volunteer.
DVO – Building a vibrant, sustainable club for everyone, and having some fun too!
Parking and Registration
The Parking team gets a quart into a pint pot. The team is required if parking is awkward or tight and precision positioning of vehicles is required. It may not be required at events where parking is on street (many urbans) or is obvious from a well placed Event Parking arrow at, say, a NT property. It is the first chance to say hello to competitors and show them the friendly face of DVO, and it is the first team to complete their task during the orienteering day. There is little equipment to carry around apart from the orange finger and this is provided by the Organiser.
Registration is the team which deals with competitors who wish to enter on the day. Role involves carefully checking competitor’s information provided on their registration form, taking cash or card payments and keeping track of map availability. Advice can be offered on which courses to run. This is mostly an indoor, seated role. All equipment (dibbers, float, Sum Up card box, maps, control descriptions for White and Yellow courses) are provided by the Organiser/Planner on the day.
Volunteers can express their preference for Registration or Parking
Enquiries
The Enquiries team are there for any questions competitors may have (where’s the start/toilet/registration etc) but mostly to get people started on their orienteering journey. For newcomers this means explaining a few golden rules (orientate the map, use your thumb to keep map contact, white is runnable woodland etc) and sometimes trying to ensure that adult newcomers don’t equate 5km on a park run with 5km orienteering and expect to get round in 22 minutes. It is a chance to enthuse newcomers with the delights of orienteering whilst managing the expectations of inexperienced adults. Any maps are provided by the Planner.
Start
The Start team’s role is to provide runners with their best chance of a good run, having cleared and checked their dibbers, picked up their control descriptions and maps and punched the start. These are all things most orienteers do in their sleep and often forget because they do them in their sleep. Start team can also play a role in getting newcomers started, reiterating the lessons from enquiries if required and pointing out obvious features including the start kite. There is quite a lot of equipment (start clock, maps, map boxes, tape for marking the route and start boxes, feather banner) to take to the Start, which can be next to the car park or quite remote, but the whole team for the day contributes to the set up. Equipment/maps are provided by the Organiser/Planner).
Finish
Finish team members greet people when they finish their runs, ensure they are okay, offer some congratulations, possibly have a brief chat about their run, and point them to a marked route to Download. Finish can be next to Download or remote, has minimal equipment provided by the Organiser/Planner and is a great opportunity to greet all runners.
Download
Download is set up at the start of the event with computers and power (battery and occasionally a generator as back up), ensure that all competitors, including entries on the day, are registered, that details are changed if they are incorrect, that all competitors download and that any technical issues are dealt with. Towards the end of the event, the Download team keeps an eye on numbers and people still out on the course and advises the Control Collectors and Organiser when all competitors have returned to Assembly and downloaded. It is the most technical of the teams and an interest in IT is useful. It is a seated indoor role and sometimes ‘indoors’ is a tent and sometimes a room.
Control Collection
Once all competitors are back or if someone needs searching for after Courses Close, control collectors are provided with a small number of controls (up to 10) to collect. Which controls each person collects is assessed by the team leader and depends on the team members available and their physical ability.
ALL volunteers are entitled to a half price run on the day. All teams except Control Collection work a split shift system to ensure that everyone who wants a run gets one. On the day there may be other roles that need filling, such as ensuring gates are closed after use to prevent livestock escaping and these are filled from teams who have a surplus of volunteers for the day. Training will be provided to all new team members and the most important attribute of any member is to be able to deal calmly with the most agitated or distressed competitor and ensure they have the best experience they can. A smile goes a long way.
