Walkathon Questions

“I'm woking on organizing a Walkathon for next October. I've got a date reserved and have 10 days to fill out the permit application before the date is open to someone else.

Does anyone have any Walkathon advice? I'm interested in things like promotion and getting sponsorships, most urgently I need to plan logistics. The park space I'm reserving allows for a 6 mile loop around a 3 mile stretch of River with no road crossing. There is also a 3 mile loop possible.

I'm particularly interested in the items I'm supposed to indicate on the application namely:
set up time
registration time
event time
clean up time
water stops
check points
electricity needs
tent set ups
porta johns”

“Maybe do a google search for walkathons to get some of that info from other events?? What is your event raising funds for? Are your permit application "answers" going to be set in stone or can they be amended later on?”

“Ruby:

It shouldn't be too hard to make adjustments in our plan, but it will be easier if we have a good approximation with this permit and make only minor adjustments.

The fund raiser is for the Phoenix Society, (http://www.phoenix-society.org/) an organization by and for Burn survivors. I posted a thread on them a while back at: http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/40399,-1.php

We are planning on doing the Walkathon Otober 8, 2006 to coincide with National Fire Safety Week - so we can try to help prevent new burns while helping those who have been burned.

Our New England group has done an annual fund raising golf tournament. I had a great time helping out with that this year, but the overhead is very high compared to a Walkathon and more people can participate in a Walkathon than in a Golf Tournament.
I volunteered to be the main organizer. The folks who have been doing the Golf tournament for years have some skills and resources that will help, but none of us have done a Walkathon before.”

“Ped, this doesn't have much to do with the things you need help with at the moment but it might be a nice little something to tack on and some incentive for walkers....

Many massage therapy schools require students to do volunteer or community service hours. You could possibly get a whole fleet of students out to massage walkers during your walk-a-thon, for absolutely free. It's great experience for the students and an added bonus for the walkers. My school works on the Make a wish ride, walk for life, etc, etc. If you're interested and need help locating a school near you give me a holler.”

“I've done a bit of fundraising organization before (including walkathons). I can pull together some info I've got and email it to you, if you'd like. Might be after the holidays though because I've got way too much on my plate right now.”

“I'm trying to organize a walk-a-thong. The further back you are from the starting line, the higher your entrance fees.”

“Thanks Lil'

Nice idea Sass. Once we've got permits, I'll contact a few schools and see if they are interested.”

“Well, I took the plunge and we know have permits to do this thing on October 8, 2006. Anyone got more ideas?
Anyone want to participate?
How about if we could have pages for people to do different hikes/walks for the cause that day and you didn't have to come to Boston?”