You’re the lucky ones who get to sprinkle joy on every runner’s final moments — handing out medals, cheering like champions, and keeping the finish line flowing with just the right touch of finesse.

You need to be comfortable lifting, bending, carrying, and being vocal when necessary for the safety of your fellow crew and other runners.

What the hospitality team does:
• Prior to the race start
     • Unlock portable toilets
     • Set up & cover tables
     • Unbox and unwrap medals
     • Fill coolers with bottle water
     • Set up trashcans with extra bags. Cover the city cans so our runners use ours.
     • A separate team prepares the watermelon.

• Once the race starts:
    • Keep the runway open — give runners space to fly through the finish and slow down on their own terms, but then keep them moving so there is space for all the runners behind them. No spectators allowed between barricades or sections with pennant flagging.
    • Be a calm helper — for medical needs, point runners to the first aid tent and assist as needed. Anything serious gets relayed to a race committee member.
    • Trust the magnetism of medals — if they want one, they’ll come right to you.
    • Let the water stay put — runners will likely empty the first cooler first, so pull it away to restock from the box truck
    • Empty the trash - watermelon rinds are heavy! The team needs to keep an eye on our trash cans and empty them before they get too heavy to manage. The dumpster is at the east end of the parking lot.

Once our last runner crosses the line — look for the cheerful human with balloons — then the finish line crew become the wrap‑up wizards 🪄.

After the final finisher, you’ll help with:
• Tossing trash so everything feels fresh again
• Consolidating items into fewer boxes (the “tetris of tidiness”)
• Stacking and organizing equipment so it’s easy to grab
• Keeping leftover bibs, shirts, and medals separate for the race committee to sort

You’re not loading the truck — just giving the load‑out team a beautifully organized head start.

What to Wear: dress for adventure!
All our volunteer magic at the SSWS 5k happens outdoors, which means you’ll be sharing the same weather as the runners — sunshine, humidyt, breezes, surprise sprinkles, sometimes we may even have a storm come thru. If there is a severe weather event, you will be notified in plenty of time to get out of the elements.

Every volunteer receives a special orange Lakeland Runners Club volunteer shirt — your badge of honor and the easiest way for runners to spot the heart & soul that makes race day possible. Pair it with comfortable shoes because you will be hustling around for a few hours.

No volunteer shirt or lanyard yet? No problem—you can grab both at volunteer check-in (the orange square on the map below).