Volunteer before you think you understand the day.

A race is a crew of people who are not running

The start list is the visible part. Someone has put the marks out, someone is writing numbers down in a tent, and someone is walking in behind the last runner to take the marks away. If you have never seen that work, the sport looks like a long run with snacks. It is a long run that depends on other people’s day.

Volunteering is also a practical way to learn a race before you enter a longer one. You see the cutoff anxiety, the kit check, and how long a “quick stop” actually takes. You do not need to have finished an ultra to be useful.

The job is the one on the form, not the one you invent

Centurion’s volunteer page, headed for 2026 when we read it, says their marked and fully supported races need a typical crew of 70 to 140 people. Aid-station crews work under a captain, with a minimum of four people at a station. The duties they list include putting up the shelter or organising a hall, refilling bottles, laying food out, recording numbers, and encouraging people who are tired. Course sweepers follow the last runners and clear markings and rubbish. The start and finish team handles parking, trackers, bibs and the finish area.

Maverick’s volunteer page splits the outdoor jobs more tightly. A route marshal points people onto the right path or warns them of a hazard. That page says marshals at a road crossing are not to stop traffic or stand in the road, and that you make your own way to the point. Course layers put signs out the day before. They prefer people who can read an Ordnance Survey map and stay on their feet for four hours or more.

Use the form for the race you want to help. A role on one organiser’s page is not a promise that another race uses the same name, the same hours, or any free entry in return.

• Centurion Running: volunteer duties
• Maverick Race: marshal and course-laying roles

A marshal is not a personal crew

If you are there for the organiser, you do the organiser’s job. You do not become a moving aid station for one friend, and you do not park in a checkpoint because you know someone in the race.

Centurion’s Autumn 100 supporters’ page is blunt about spectators. They are not allowed at the checkpoints, on foot, by bike or by car. A runner can be disqualified if their supporter turns up. “Not at the checkpoint” does not mean ten metres down the track. Read the equivalent page for the race you are visiting. The volunteer briefing and the spectator briefing are different documents.

• Autumn 100 supporters’ page: stay out of the checkpoints
• Crew and drop bags, when the rules allow them

Helping and fundraising are both useful, and they are not the same shift

A charity place asks you to raise money. A volunteer shift asks you to do a job on the day. You can care about a cause and still marshal a race that is not a fundraiser. If you do both, keep the donation link and the volunteer briefing separate, so donors can see where the money goes and the captain can see that you will turn up for the shift.

• Questions to ask before you promise a fundraising total
• How charity places differ from ordinary entry

Before you say you can do the shift

Tick this against the briefing for that edition. A tick does not make you part of the medical team, and it does not give you authority to direct traffic.