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Ogden Marathon, Saturday, May 16, 2026: Ogden Canyon Cleanup Volunteers Needed!15 March 2026
Here is an opportunity for you to enjoy scenic Ogden Canyon safely, on foot, for an entire morning! Marathon officials have once again agreed to help our volunteers clean up the canyon during the event. We are looking for a total of 28 volunteers. During the marathon, traffic in the canyon is tightly controlled and vehicle speeds are drastically reduced. This provides much needed protection for our cleaning volunteers. Each volunteer will receive an official volunteer shirt and will be invited to the volunteer bash after the marathon. The details of how it works are included below so that you can decide if you want to participate. It is so rare to have the opportunity to enjoy the canyon without dangerous automobile traffic. And it’s fun to participate in such a big event with racers who are very gracious and appreciative. Our volunteers really enjoy the outing. If this sounds fun to you, we’d love to have your help. Thank You! DETAILS Needed: 28 volunteers who will be organized into 14 two-person teams. Volunteers will receive:
Items will be delivered to you on Friday evening before the marathon. At 6:00 a.m. (the first runners start arriving about 6:45 a.m.), each team will drive close to their assigned garbage can locations (14 each, one every third mile) in the canyon where a vehicle can be parked out of the way. Then the teams will walk to their designated locations. We ask that you wear your marathon shirt (for identification purposes), gloves, and good, solid footwear! Each team will be asked to use the first hour after arrival to thoroughly clean up the roadway and the river and its bank from their designated location to downstream one-third mile to the next designated location (the next garbage can downstream). This is an effort to clean up the litter that has accumulated in the environment since the last cleanup effort—and it is always substantial! Volunteers will be asked to carry everything possible to any garbage can location and to place the debris in the can or in a liner. If the debris will not fit in a liner, then place it near the can but away from the runners (behind the cans). This is also where any full liners will be placed. After their designated one-third mile has been cleaned, volunteers are free to roam the canyon as they wish, keeping it cleaned up, dumping any additional trash they find at the garbage can locations, and replacing full liners with fresh liners, as needed. In addition, they can gather up discarded articles of clothing and place the clothing in piles near the garbage cans for the clothing charities to collect after the race. Runners are aware that they will not get their discarded clothing back. No later than 11:00 a.m., all volunteers will be asked to make their way back to their means of transportation. Anyone driving a vehicle in the canyon during the race must wait to join up with the police escorted caravan traveling in their desired direction. We encourage everyone to time their walks in the canyon so they will not be in danger once law enforcement opens the canyon to regular traffic, which is usually about noon. Our volunteers will not be involved with loading the garbage trucks or the clothing trucks as they sweep down the canyon at the end of the race. This work will be performed by other volunteers already assigned these tasks. If you would like to be part of this great community effort, please email Rick Kearl at [email protected]. |
