The Development & Recruitment Working Group (DARCOM) is led by Airedale Athletics and chaired by Dave Armstrong (St Bede’s AC). Its current activities are as follows:
Developing Volunteer Event Staff & Equipment by:
- Purchasing and sharing equipment for events (e.g. 24 high-vis marshals’ bibs – to make a full set of 48 for mass-participation races). It also involves creating an inventory from clubs to prioritise purchases, to enable clubs to participate fully in mass-participation races
- Training volunteers, marshals, first-aiders and race officials (e.g. training 10-12 first-aiders for races & training @ £110 per weekend course per person; purchasing sets of first-aid kits). These are aimed at a pool of over 40 marshals and volunteers, not only to upgrade skills on hand at races, but meet health-and-safety needs during club-night training sessions.
- Promoting training courses, other resources and development of the volunteer base. This involves creating a database of coaches, volunteers, friends and so on; and then identifying training needs.
Working with social runners and those not attached to clubs, and building a community alongside club athletes
- Building a team of Recruitment Officers to assist clubs make links with unattached runners and gain new members. This involves identifying reliable, sustainable club members, trained to make contact with unattached runners
- Induction procedures for contacting potential recruits. The group is identifying examples of good procedures, guidance and practice to share among the clubs.
- Access funds for students and the unwaged. Such bursaries will be directed first at Club 1625 participants.
- Targeted provision for women runners, developing successful initiatives at Skipton, Keighley or elsewhere, and working with Run in England to form new satellite groups.
Outreach work to special communities – these activities are scheduled to start in 2012 or later
- Clinics for wheelchair athletes – and here BAN will work closely with the Leeds network who has a regional specialism in this field.
- Clinics for athletes with a learning disability and links to Special Schools.
- Initiatives targeted at areas of multiple deprivation.
- Linking with NHS Primary Care Trusts and other public programmes targeted at specific groups (incl. referrals from doctors and specialists).
The expected numbers of beneficiaries during the current year are: 60 marshals and officials plus those unattached runners who benefit from the races put on for them.
The England Athletics subsidy this year for these activities is £6850. Additionally the group receives support worth £5160 from West Yorkshire Sport through the provision of trainees to assist BAN in this area. The group expects to commit 626 hours of volunteer time on these projects.