Saturday 12th October
Report written by Kieran
As in previous years, we were requested to help with Oxford's largest running event - Oxford Half. For some this meant forgoing the usual Saturday morning Parkrun (although Uni Parks ended up being unexpectedly cancelled anyway) to instead facilitate the running of thousands of entrants to the Oxford Half on Sunday. Equipped with hi-vis and caps (as Bethan says, "who doesn't love a freebie",) we were briefed on the process identical to yesteryear. 2 to a tablet, we made fast work of entrants scanning their QR codes, checking ID and delivering that fateful race number laden with the every important chip for their chip time - some of us appreciating the value of that chip from past events! With everyone buddied up, the process was slick and the queue never grew that large especially with Harvey from GoodGym Ealing directing and encouraging those in the queue to come on down as we were like cashiers in a Post Office. We were well-catered with snacks and lunch provided by the Motiv Sports Team to keep us fuelled for the 4 hour stint with some of us working so fast, our scanner ran out of battery - definitely not from practising Morse Code. The rain started to pour but under our tented shelter we persevered and before we knew it, 1pm struck and it was time to depart. Highlights included seeing friends we knew collect their numbers with glee and/or trepidation, numerous dogs (including one man carrying one in each hand), and chocolate/brioche/party rings for the sugar every GoodGymmer dreams to be surprised with on a Good Deed. A posthumous congratulations to everyone completing the Oxford Half and I imagine we'll be back next year for Oxford Half 2025!