Torquay parkrun volunteers call for kindness after verbal abuse
Torquay’s Parkrun event director is concerned for her volunteers after one endured verbal abuse from a man who she says has repeatedly ripped down safety flags.
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A Torquay Parkrun official is reminding people to be kind after a volunteer was allegedly verbally abused at Saturday’s event.
Parkrun, a global event run every Saturday across various locations, is a 5km trek and in Torquay part of the course runs alongside a road.
Event director Megan Atkinson said through the Parkrun risk assessment the volunteers put up bunting flags for the 20m stretch beside the road to keep runners on the path and away from cars.
She said for two weeks in a row a man who liked to cross the road at that particular spot had ripped the safety flags down, and on Saturday morning verbally abused the volunteer marshal there.
“He literally just has to walk around them which is maybe an extra five or 10 metres but he rips them down and throws them on the road,” she said.
Ms Atkinson said the man subjected the volunteer, who did not wish to be identified, to a barrage of swearing.
“It’s one hour a week at the same time and we have been running for eight years so it’s not a new thing and we’ve been putting the flags up for a long time,” she said.
“I have raised it as an incident through Parkrun Australia so I am sure they will be in touch with me by Monday if there is anything further I should do.
“Any time we have any incident we have to report it and we didn’t the first time hoping it was a one off but I am worried about my volunteer and knew I had to report it.”
Ms Atkinson has reached out to the community on social media asking the man to email Torquay parkrun to address the issue.
She said the incident was a reminder for people to be kind to others in the community.
“The volunteers are giving back to the community to let others enjoy their morning,” she said.
“It’s all run by volunteers, no one pays to participate and we turn up every week.
“People do Parkrun for various reasons whether its fitness or to walk, integrate into the community and just make friends.”
About 150 to 200 people participate in Torquay Parkrun each week.
Ms Atkinson said Saturday morning saw a four year-old all the way up to people in their late 80s complete the 5km trek.
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