TRR Angels and Foot Soldiers is an initiative aimed at providing these roles at Tasmanian fun runs to help people achieve their running goals.
What is a pacer? A pacer is a runner who leads a running event at a certain pace – ensuring that they finish in a particular time. For example, many marathons will incorporate pacers for a particular finish time (e.g. 3:15hrs, 3:30hrs, 3:45hrs, 4:00hrs). The goal of the pacer is to run at an even pace throughout the run (instead of being caught up in the early rush at the start or fade-out towards the end). Many runners also prefer to run in a group, with benefits such as encouragement and camaraderie gained along the way. Some athletes have essentially become professional pacemakers, and are often paid to travel to races and pace at big events. But a lot of the time, the sense of achievement in helping others reach goals means that pacers are usually happy to help out.
Why Angels? The idea came about while two TRR runners had volunteered to pace the 2 hour group for the Point to Pinnacle in 2014. When the going got tough, Dave Bailey provided his usual encouragement and support which led one of the runners to ask if he was “some kind of running angel” (let’s face it…he is). So our Angels were born.
What is a Foot Soldier? This initiative is designed to eliminate everyone’s number one fear surrounding their first fun run – coming last. Our Foot Soldiers have one job – to come last. Well, offering support and encouragement throughout the entire race is their job also.
We offer this service to all interested fun runs throughout the State, and have been doing this in an ongoing capacity for over five years. Race organisers offer complimentary registration to our Angels and Foot Soldiers – if you’re interested in being an Angel or Foot Soldier, drop us a line here.
Our Angels and Foot Soldiers aren’t paid, so we just ask that you say thanks, nod of appreciation, or give them a high-five if you ever see them out running… or if you really want to show your appreciation, there’s nothing better than running a PB or finishing your first fun run. After all, that’s what they’re there for!
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