You don’t need to own a pair of trainers or a sweatband to be a part of the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) fantastic London Runs. Volunteers ensure our runs are a great experience by helping with essential roles at each event.   Around 30 people give up their time to volunteer at each of our London Runs and take on a variety of jobs including registering our runners, looking after runners’ bags, giving out water during the run and handing out medals at the finishing line.

Our volunteers come from all walks of life: a student studying for an event management degree, a retired teacher, someone unemployed and looking to play an active role in their community. What they all have in common is the desire to ‘give something back’ to their community and in giving their time, they are helping the BHF continue its life-saving research to fight heart disease.

Our London Runs take place at some fantastic places such as the Tower of London and Hyde Park, and volunteers and runners enjoy soaking up the atmosphere before and after the run so that the whole event becomes a really fun, social time for runners and volunteers alike.

Kate Glover, Regional Events Organiser for the BHF’s London Runs says : “Our volunteers are a fantastic bunch of people and play a vital role in each event they attend. It’s great to see people’s talents being used in a variety of ways – from the person who’s good at administration or someone who’s great at motivating the runners. It’s very satisfying to see volunteers become experts at what they do. And what they do is incredibly valuable to us.”

Richard Ruffell has been a BHF volunteer for over twenty years and was recently honoured by the BHF for his contribution to the charity. Richard takes on a variety of tasks such as looking after the men’s bags, providing t-shirts or handing out medals at the finish line.  Richard says of his experience as a volunteer :

“It is always a great pleasure to help out at these events and I am just one of many volunteers who give up their time to help. There is always a good atmosphere at the runs and it is always good working with the other volunteers and meeting the runners. Hearing the stories of how the BHF has helped some of the participants makes volunteering even more worthwhile.”

Volunteering with the BHF for just half a day a month could fund one of our young scientists to carry out life-saving research for a whole hour.

If you’d like to volunteer at one of our London runs go to bhf.org.uk/lonrunsvols

If running is your thing there is still time to sign up to one of our London 10k runs this summer! Visit bhf.org.uk/events