We are excited to announce that we now have an additional volunteer role at Barry Island 10K on Sunday 15 June, offering yet another way for Extra Milers to support this fantastic seaside event. Along with the usual roles of supporting the start-finish line, helping at the midway water station in Romilly Park or checking in runners bags at the Event Village, we now offer you the role of Green Miler!

We are looking for a few energetic volunteers to help us keep the beautiful locations we run through clean and tidy, while also having the opportunity to take part in the race.

Green Milers will start alongside race participants, carrying litter pickers and rubbish sacks. On the way to the midway water point the aim is to collect any rubbish dropped by participants such as gel sachets or energy bar wrappers. Once inside Romilly Park, the focus is on collecting the paper cups which will have been distributed to runners by the Extra Milers at Romilly Park water station. This will be the slowest section of the run for Green Milers, as they clear as many cups for recycling as possible from the park before leaving. For the next 5 kilometres, the focus is back on collecting rubbish dropped by competitors, before enjoying a triumphant return to the event village, crossing the finish line and collecting a finishers medal.

Green Milers will play a vital role in helping Run 4 Wales as event organisers to keep the beautiful areas our race routes traverse clean and tidy, while actively helping us to reach some of our environmental goals outlined in the R4W Way. With over 50,000 participants taking part in our event programme each year, we recognise the important role we play in shaping the environmental behaviours of our participants and the importance of minimising the environmental impact of our events.

You may recognise this role as a “plogger” which is the Swedish term for picking up (plokka) and jogging (jogga). It was invented in Stockholm in 2016 as a way to stay active while contributing to a fantastic community initiative to keep the local area clean. Read this great article which explains in more detail the vision of founder Erik Alhstrom. There is even a World Plogging Championship, which takes place annually in Italy where runners win on a points system based on distance travelled, race time, elevation gain and the amount of waste collected. 1,289kg of waste was collected at the 2024 Championships!

We ask that all Green Milers can easily run a 10K at a 16 minute per mile pace. This gives enough time for stopping to collect litter along the way and still stay well ahead of our Back Markers who will be walking at a 20 minute per mile pace. We also ask that you commit to picking up as much race day litter as you can!

If you’d like to apply for this role then more details are on the Run 4 Wales volunteering platform Rosterfy. Don’t fancy running a 10K? You can also sign-up for our other event volunteer roles – we need over 150 volunteers to support runners on event day, cheering them on and keeping them safe around the course.

Volunteer roles available include:

· Hand out finisher items at the finish line on Friars Road

· Look after runners bags in the Bag Drop Marquee on Promenade Gardens (with a fantastic view of the sea!)

· Direct and cheer on runners around the course as a Course Marshal

· Join the Romilly Park water station team

· Be a roaming Cycle Marshal, helping at different key points around the route

We welcome groups and individuals to get involved. If you are part of a community group or young person group, email our friendly volunteer team for more information: volunteers@run4wales.org