There are many ways that anyone, from casual fans to official volunteers, can help make NCRunners better for everyone.
Volunteers Welcome
In any given week, there are more meets to cover than there are NCRunners staff members to cover them, and that is particularly true of the weekday events (all of our staff members are either students or have primary jobs). Even at the meets we already cover, there are too many aspects of coverage for one person to possibly handle. We are currently recruiting volunteers that fit the following two profiles:
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If you have strong computer skills and can work quickly in a high-pressure enviroment, we are looking for live help (uploading photos and vidoes, posting results) at state meets and major, national-level meets (such as New Balance Nationals). You would get to be on-site for all the action, and support the NCRunners reporters while providing faster content for our users. Having your own quality laptop would be a plus, but isn't a requirement.
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If you have a camera (digital or video) and a willingness to go to meets in your area, you can become an official coverage volunteer, with a chance to have your content featured in the weekend recap articles.
If either of these tickles your fancy, email the webmaster (jgeorge@milesplit.com) and offer your services! All official volunteers (those approved and assigned by me) will be compensated with official NCRunners/MileSplit gear.
Everyone Can Contribute
At its best, NCRunners is a community: a large and diverse group of people that share a common passion for North Carolina track and cross country. That means you don't just have to be a "consumer" of our content, you can actually add to it! You don't have to be a staff reporter or even an official volunteer to make a positive contribution to the site, and provide something that may prove valuable to another fan of the running sports. Here are some ways that anyone can feel more involved in the coverage, and
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If you take pictures or record videos at meets, share them with other NCRunners fans by posting them on the meet page (tutorial for this coming soon).
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Post training/racing questions, supportive comments, or topics for interesting discussion (even including links to outside stories or articles) in the forum.
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Follow your favorite athletes, be they your own children, your teammates, or just the ones that impressed you the most (this can be done from their profile page).
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Interact with other athletes by commenting on their performances and accomplishments (again, through the feed on the profile page).
Periodically, NCRunners will reference a list of the top contributors to the site (which is accessible to the public anytime from the main Forum page). Regular contributors may even earn some free, "insider" NCRunners gear (the kind only worn by our reporters and major volunteers)!