Wakefield Race for Life and Pretty Mudder need you - here's how to volunteer

Organisers are recruiting now for Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life’s volunteer army –a squad of dedicated supporters who help make the 3k, 5k, 10k and Pretty Muddy events a success.

The charity’s much-loved events are returning to Thornes Park with socially distanced measures to keep participants and volunteers safe. Money raised will help scientists find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, saving lives as the charity fights back from the impact of the pandemic.

As the countdown starts to this Saturday, September 25, at Thornes Park, organisers are calling on people from all walks of life to come down on the day from 08.30am to 3.30pm

There’s a variety of fun and inspiring roles on offer.

At the 3k, 5k and 10k events, volunteers are needed to cheer participants around the course and keep medals and water stocks replenished.

At the Race for Life Pretty Muddy events, volunteers will also play a crucial role encouraging and supporting participants of all ages as they tackle the inflatable hurdles, clamber over the climbing frame and hurtle themselves down the mud-splattered inflatable slide.

There’s also the opportunity to be a ‘Mud Mixer’ on the day, helping to get the consistency just right for participants to crawl, wade and splash about in.

Abi Malcolm, Cancer Research UK’s Wakefield event manager, said: “This year more than ever we need people to support the Race for Life.

“Volunteering at the Race for Life is fun, challenging and rewarding. No experience is needed. It’s a great way to connect with the community as people come together to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

“By volunteering, people in Wakefield will be helping to support a hugely successful fundraising event, enabling participants and their supporters to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work. We couldn’t do it without them and we’ve no doubt that they’re up to the challenge.

“Whatever time and skills people have to share, we’ve got the perfect role and there is training available on the day. We’re calling on people to get stuck in, cheer as loud as they can and help motivate our inspirational participants all the way to the finish line.”

Events staff will brief, guide and support volunteers in the lead up to and on the day of the event. Everyone who signs up to help will receive a special t-shirt to wear.

This year, participants will set off on the Race for Life course either alone or in small, socially distanced groups. Hand sanitiser will also be provided with participants encouraged to use it before and after the event.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, which has been in partnership with Tesco for 20 years, is an inspiring series of 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids events which raise millions of pounds every year to help beat cancer by funding crucial research.

One in two people in the UK born after 1960 will get cancer in their lifetime*, but the good news is more people are surviving the disease now than ever before. Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress.