Volunteers

Great Events don’t happen without great volunteers!

Prairie Gran Fondo is a great event where cyclists of all ability ride in support of KidSport and Horizon Youth Cycling (a safety and skills youth cycling program).

Please consider volunteering for one of the many positions available. You can sign up by clicking the button below. Brief descriptions of volunteer positions available follow. Times for each position are detailed on the sign up[ sheet.

 

Volunteer Sign Up Button 2019

 

 

SATURDAY JUNE 15TH – DAY PRIOR TO EVENT DAY

(R) Route Directional & Hazard Marking – Team A – Week of Jun 10-15 – 2 positions.

Drive and mark the Prairie Gran Fondo route with directional arrows and hazards with temporary spray paint.

(R) Route Directional & Hazard Marking – Team B – Week of Jun 10-15 – 2 positions.

Drive and mark the Prairie Gran Fondo route with directional arrows and hazards with temporary spray paint.

(V) Package Pick Up – Shift 1 – 4 positions 

(V) Package Pick Up – Shift 2 – 4 positions 

Assist Prairie Gran Fondo & Family Fun Fondo  participants when they show up to receive their rider package. Ensure all riders sign waiver, provide riders packages and jersey/ T-shirt (where applicable).

 

SUNDAY JUNE 16TH – EVENT DAY

POSITIONS AT FESTIVAL SITE:

(V+A) Festival Site Set Up (Signage, Start Corrals /Event Desk etc.)– 4 Positions

Assist setting up start corrals, event tent, event desk etc.

(V) Direct Parking– 4 positions

Direct participants to proper parking area as they arrive at festival site.

(A) Event Day Package Pick Up / Event Desk – Shift 1 – 3 positions

(A) Event Day Package Pick Up / Event Desk – Shift 2 –  2 positions

(A) Event Day Package Pick Up / Event Desk – Shift 3 – 2 positions

Assist any riders who were given special permission to pick up their rider package the morning of event day, ensure waiver is signed.  Answer participant questions.

(R) Timing Coordinator #1 – WDM- Shift 1 (LEG 1) – 1 position

With the assistance of helpers responsible for recording the LEG 1 times of the  Gran-Daddy participants who do the early morning Chief Whitecap leg of the Gran-Daddy Fondo.

(R) Timing Coordinator #2 – WDM- Shift 1 (LEG 2) – 1 position

With the assistance of helpers, responsible for record the times of all rides as they cross the finish line. This is critical role requiring a significant time commitment during the event day and therefore brings extra perquisites to the coordinator.

(R) Timing Helper – WDM – Shift 1 (early shift) – 2 positions

(R) Timing Helper – WDM – Shift 2 & 3 (later shifts) – 4 positions

Assist Timing Coordinator in calling out rider numbers as the cross the finish line. Shift 1 will assist and support the Timing Coordinator of the early morning Chief Whitecap Leg . Shifts 2 & 3 will assist the Timing Coordinator identify riders at the Festival Site finish line as the riders cross the finish line.

(F +V) Bike Rodeo Set up – 4 positions

This job will take a relatively a short amount of time. This entails the set up the bike rodeo at the festival site according to the plans provided. Anyone, especially youth who are participating  the the Family Fun Fondo, are encouraged to participate in the bike rodeo . Because the set up to of the Bike Rodeo coarse is a relatively quick duty, volunteers who sign up for this would be ideal volunteers to “pull double duty” and also sign up  as a “Bike Rodeo Attendant”  (see description below).

(F +V) Bike Rodeo Attendant – Shifts 1 & 2 – 6 positions

Bike Rodeo attendants probably have one of the most enjoyable jobs as they instruct, marshal and score the participants as they complete the bike rodeo skills tasks. If you like youth this would be an ideal job for you as many of the participants will be youth who have completed the Family Fun Fondo with their parent(s).

(A) Event Photographer 

This is an ideal position for the amateur photographer who is looking to hone their skills at taking action shots both at the festival site and on the route.

 

ON-ROUTE POSITIONS:

(On-route positions are critical the event success and participant saftey).

(F) FFF Route Marking / Reststop Set up – 4 positions

This position entails an early morning trip around the Family Fun Fondo course setting up the rest stops and placing route directional markers.

(F) FFF Reststop A, B, C & D Attendants – 8 positions

These positions require the attendants to be present at key points along the Family Fun Fondo route to dispense refreshments, engage participants and provide assistance as required to participants.

(R) Route Signage Deployment – 2 positions

This job entails an early morning drive route to deploy sandwich board “cycling event” and other signs according to route map provided. This is a relatively quick job and the volunteers of this job would be ideal candidatures to “pull double duty” and also sign up for “Route Signage Pick up” (see immediately below) to pick up the signage at the end of the event.

(R) Route Signage Recovery  – 2 positions

As the last riders have past a given section of the route pick up the sandwich board signage that had been deployed earlier in the day. This would be an ideal job for the volunteers who deploy the signage earlier in the day (see immediately above).

(R) ROUTE MARSHALS – 21 positions

Route marshals are CRITICAL to rider safety and the success of Prairie Gran Fondo. All PGF volunteers are heroes in our eyes but those who sign up to be a Route Marshal are SUPER HEROS! The job of Route Marshals includes:

  • Marshal the cyclists at critical spots along the route, ie. alerting riders of an important turn so they stay on course, directing riders when it is safe to cross a busy intersections etc. It is important to note that Route Marshals are to meant to marshal the cyclists and are NOT to marshal vehicular traffic.
  • Route Marshals are consider part of the event “officiating team” and should marshals become aware of participants transgressing the rules of the event they are to pass that information immediately to a SAG driver so the offending rider can be dealt with.
  • Route marshals are in contact with the SAG drivers and they relay immediately any situations they are made aware of where riders need assistance.
  • Route marshals are an important part of the communication chain should emergency protocols need to be enacted from event HQ.
  • Those who have partaken in mass participation events often remember that the best part of their day was the encouraging words, the helpful guidance or the “thumbs up” they received from On-route Marshals … by signing up to be a Route Marshal it  means you will impact someones day in a great way!

(R) SAG WAGONS (Support And Gear)  – 4 SAGs – 8 positions

PGF employs 4 SAG wagons, one wagon is assigned to each fondo distance. SAG wagons are CRITICAL to rider safety and the success of PGF.  Each wagon has a driver and a spotter. Each wagon is provided with food and water, first aid kits and basic tools. SAG volunteers should have some basic bike repair skills, tire changing etc.

SAG role is:

  • To assist riders should they require.
  • SAG wagons are in direct contact with event HQ should any on-route situation arise.
  • SAG wagon volunteers are considered part of the event “officiating team” and should marshals become aware of participants transgressing the rules of the event they have authority to revoke the participants bib and remove them from the route.
  • SAG wagons are a crucial part of the communication chain should emergency protocols need to be enacted from event HQ. Should a situation arise, the first call from HQ will go out to the SAG wagons who intern will inform the Route Marshals.
  • SAG wagons may be required to ferry a rider back to the festival site.
  • SAG drivers will also conduct a sweep of the route and pull any riders who do not reach the “cut off” location.
  • SAG  wagons will also work in conjunction with the Route Marker Recovery volunteers to recover the route signage.