Walkathon Guide

Planning a walkathon can be great fun, but with lots of things to take into consideration, it can be easy to forget some of the most important factors. Like cars whizzing around a track, your walkers will need to refuel to keep their engines running. This might involve sending everyone a message via the Facebook event page a couple of days before the event to remind them to bring some drinks and a few snacks, getting walkathon volunteers to man water stations along the route or even spotting another fundraising opportunity when it’s staring you in the face.

When big organizations host marathons and other running events, at every mile or so there will be huge tables covered with bottles and lined with lots of cheerful and encouraging volunteers holding out water and energy drinks to the runners as they pass. If your walkathon is attracting a lot of attention, it might be worth getting in touch with some big beverage companies or your local store to ask for a donation of bottles of water or energy drinks. It’s great publicity for them and it means you don’t have to spend any of your budget on making sure your walkathon participants stay hydrated.

Unfortunately, these companies can’t give out free drinks for everyone – if they did, they wouldn’t make any money – so you may have to provide water yourself. The cheapest way to do this is buying some plastic cups and big bottles of water, and getting a crowd of happy helpers to pour them out ahead of the walkers’ arrivals. A local school or other organization may be able to lend you some tables to put up along the way.

While it is necessary to provide free water for walkathon participants, providing free food is a choice that you can make for yourself. Giving walkers a little energy boost at various points along the walk or perhaps a treat at the end will give everyone a great feeling about the event, and will ensure that they all have enough energy to get around no matter what they had for breakfast. If you do decide to provide free snacks, there are ways to provide it while keeping costs down.

One of the first things to remember about providing food is that for some walkers, the walkathon is not just about raising money but it’s a way for them to get fit, too. This means that there may be a lot of health conscious people who know that, as Licensed Prescriptions states, regular exercise does not mean that you can eat what you like. On the other hand, there will be those who will love free sweet treats on their walk. Try to provide a selection of food that will cater to almost everyone. Avoid foods that can spark severe allergic reactions in some people, such as nuts. To keep costs down, try to stick to just two or three different foods and order them in bulk to get a discount. Dried fruit is a great healthy option that’s packed with energy, while a slightly less healthy option could be bowls of candy. Chocolate bars make a good snack to give to walkers when they reach the end of their walk.

The advantage of putting on a big fundraising event is that everyone likes to get involved and wants to pitch in. If there is an area like a park, field or even a backyard where people can congregate before and/or after the walkathon, it gives a great opportunity to set up a few stands to sell homemade cakes, cookies and muffins to raise a little bit of extra money for your cause. There are some great ideas online to give you some guidance on the traditional bestsellers at a bake sale, and you can choose the ones that are most likely to go down well after a good day’s walk.

What food you provide depends on the time of year and the resources available. If you have an electricity supply available, the choice of foods you can provide will be greater. For example, ice cream and popsicles could sell extremely well on a hot summer’s day, while hot cups of soup or chowder could be perfect for a chilly winter’s walk.

No matter what the scale of your walkathon, there are plenty of options for what food and drink to provide to keep your walkers walking and make your day a great success.