Six GoodGym volunteers traded a Summer Bank Holiday Sunday lie-in for marshaling duties at the 2021 Butetown Mile.

Warm morning sunshine and a faint breeze greeted us at our meeting point, aptly the race start line, located at the north end of Bute Street opposite Ty Gobaith. Martin and Fiona were the first to arrive, both of whom were approaching mission milestones of their own (this being their 198th and 99th missions respectively).

Mission Brief

Race organiser Dr Sarah Fry briefed us on our duties for the day. We were needed to marshal three points along the course:

• One traffic marshal positioned at a small road junction with Bute Street (Meg)
• One 400m-to-go marker marshal (Mikey)
• Four end-point marshals (Martin, Fiona, Sean, Karolina)

Sarah also informed us that, owing to logistical complications, the medals had not been delivered. However, young runners would be awarded with a gold medal balloon after crossing at the finish.

We donned the standard hi-vis vests, then set off along the race route. We traced the length of Bute Street and talked about the history of Butetown aka The Docks along the way.

Title talk The film 8-Mile, starring Marshall Mathers aka Eminem, derived it's title from 8 Mile Road, a highway between two contrasting communities in Detroit, USA. A loose comparison can be made with Butetown: a wall that stretches much the length of Bute Street delimits the ungentrified and gentrified areas of Butetown ward. It also serves to highlight the ethos of the Butetown Mile: to encourage community engagement, connecting people with each other via a revived local event rich in provenance.

Pre-Race Prep

We searched for and eventually located the elusive 400m mark: an establishment called The Bay Lounge. From here, Mikey's sign would help inform those runners looking for a good time whether they were en course for a happy ending.

Once we'd secured some "Caution Runners" signage to railings by the pedestrian crossing on Bute Place, a quick pre-race coffee was in order to perk us up from the previous day's activities. Meg caught up with us for an all too brief time before we all set off to take up our race positions.

The end-point crew arrived to find that fellow volunteer V had already set up the canopy and tables, but still had a fruit mound/pile to sort out. In a matter of minutes, we had artfully arranged the water bottles, bananas and oranges on the table tops readily in reach for race finishers.

Going the extra mile

The Elite Race began at 10am and in under five minutes the first runner had crossed the line. As an assortment of club colours funneled through the finish line, we helped to keep things moving and maintain a tidy finish area, collecting banana skins and empty bottles from tired runners.

The Fun Run began at 10.20am. It was won by a young girl in an elite race time, a result that raised a Butetown smile from the cheering crowd. We guided runners over both of the electronic tracker finish lines to ensure they would register a time. Fiona presented gold medal balloons to all the young runners to reward their achievements. We continued to cheer runners home until all had completed the distance.

Did you know? Former Marathon world record holder Steve Jones ran a sub-4 minute mile during the original incarnation of the Butetown Mile.

Following the race, Sarah conducted the winners presentation (see full results here) and thanked all volunteers for their efforts: the event simply couldn't go ahead without such support. We stayed to help pack up the excess refreshments and balloons, and to ensure the area was litter free.