Wolf Pack is hiring: Operations & Race Control Lead (3-4 October: bristol to wye valley survival race)

Wolf Pack runs two-day navigation races across the UK. Teams travel 30 miles or more by map and compass, complete checkpoints and challenges, and sleep out overnight. Phones are sealed, the start remains secret until racers are on the coach, and the Sacred Aubergine is treated with the seriousness it deserves.

We take the operation seriously so that racers can properly disappear into the adventure.

For Bristol to Wye Valley, 3–4 October 2026, we are hiring an Operations & Race Control Lead.

You will work alongside the Race Director and a volunteer crew running checkpoints, challenges and camp. This is a paid role with real operational responsibility — and the potential to become part of the paid crew Wolf Pack uses across future races.

The role

Your central responsibility is keeping Race Control functioning smoothly and maintaining a reliable operational picture of the race.

Around 35 teams will check in and out of checkpoints across the two days. You will keep the race log current, monitor expected arrival and cutoff times, identify missing or contradictory information, and respond when a team becomes overdue or needs assistance.

Wolf Pack’s normal system relies on checkpoint records, crew reports and racers contacting Race Control when they need help. Each team will also carry a GPS tracker at this race, providing an additional safety tool when normal communication breaks down.

The tracking system is not intended to be watched continuously. It will mainly be used when there is a reason to locate or check on a particular team — for example, when a team has missed a cutoff and cannot be contacted, when Race Control needs to locate a team for collection, or when approaching darkness or another safety concern makes it useful to confirm that a team is progressing safely.

You may also make occasional checks of the wider field where circumstances warrant it, but continuous GPS monitoring is not part of the role.

There are two emergency numbers: you will monitor one and the Race Director will monitor the other. You will handle routine operational decisions independently under the agreed event plan, including speaking to teams, gathering information and arranging practical support or collection.

The Race Director remains available when two situations arise simultaneously, when additional transport or resources are required, or when an incident needs a wider event-level decision.

Race Control is a mobile function and stays with you as you move around the event.

Registration and the start

The Ops Lead, coach crew and core event team will meet in central Bristol at approximately 6:15am on Saturday to prepare for registration and the start. Racers arrive from 6:45am and board a coach to the secret start. You will:

  • run registration

  • check mandatory kit

  • seal racers’ phones

  • coordinate bag loading

  • deal calmly with missing or late teams

  • help get the coach away on time

  • follow the coach to the secret start in the support vehicle

Once the race begins, Race Control goes live.

The support vehicle

You will operate the primary Wolf Pack support vehicle throughout the weekend and collect racers when required.

The support vehicle is an important part of the operation. It needs to be suitable for moving tired racers comfortably around the course, including people who may be wet, muddy or withdrawing from the race after many hours on their feet.

There may be long periods without any support calls, followed by several teams needing assistance at similar times. You will need to assess priorities, communicate clearly and resolve routine situations without waiting for step-by-step direction.

The Race Director can provide additional transport and operational support where necessary. Volunteer drivers may also assist when specifically coordinated, but you and the Race Director remain responsible for managing the response.

You must hold a full driving licence and be confident driving a seven-seat vehicle.

For this race, our preference is to recruit someone who can provide their own suitable seven-seat vehicle for the weekend. The vehicle should be reliable and comfortable, with at least five passenger seats available in addition to the driver.

The fee for the role is £600 for the race weekend where you provide a suitable support vehicle, with agreed fuel or mileage costs covered separately by Wolf Pack.

If you are a strong fit for the role but do not have access to a suitable vehicle, we would still like to hear from you. In that case, the fee would be £500 for the race weekend, with Wolf Pack arranging the support vehicle separately.

A mobile operations role

Race Control and participant support will not occupy every minute of the weekend.

During quieter periods — particularly during the opening hours of each race day — you will work as a roving member of the operations team. Depending on what is needed, you might:

  • help checkpoint crews find and set up their locations

  • deliver checkpoint equipment

  • place clue chests and other race materials

  • check that checkpoints are ready before teams arrive

  • move equipment between locations

  • help establish Race Control and camp

  • assist with setting up the finish

  • solve practical problems around the route

Wolf Pack will provide a dedicated Race Control phone and emergency number, which you will carry throughout the race. You will remain responsible for responding to calls and messages while carrying out these jobs, checking the phone whenever it is safe to do so. If a team needs support or collection, that becomes your priority.

This is not a role where you remain seated at a fixed control point all day. It is a mobile operational position for someone who can keep track of the wider race while moving around the course, completing practical jobs and responding when needed.

Scoring

You will also oversee the live scoring process.

Checkpoint crews will enter results into Wolf Pack’s central scoring system, with scores calculated automatically. Your role is to keep an eye on the incoming results, identify missing or contradictory entries, follow up with checkpoint crews where necessary, resolve discrepancies and ensure that the provisional leaderboard remains accurate.

This does not require continuous monitoring. Much of the process runs automatically, with your job being to notice and resolve problems as they arise.

You will be fully trained on the system before the event. You are not expected to build it or calculate the race manually.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who has held responsibility for other people outdoors or in live event environments and remained calm while doing it.

You might have experience as a mountain leader, DofE supervisor, expedition worker, youth worker, outdoor instructor, event operator or production manager. You do not need every possible qualification. What matters most is sound judgement, clear communication, practical competence and the confidence to take ownership of routine operational decisions without requiring constant direction.

You should be comfortable:

  • maintaining accurate records

  • handling several sources of information at once

  • using straightforward digital forms, spreadsheets and messaging tools

  • making initial assessments without becoming flustered

  • following an agreed incident and escalation plan

  • driving and collecting participants

  • solving practical problems independently

  • spotting when information does not add up

  • switching priorities quickly when circumstances change

  • working independently for periods while remaining part of a wider event team

You should also be comfortable using a smartphone, GPS tracking platform and basic digital Race Control systems. Full training will be provided on Wolf Pack’s specific systems.

Just as importantly, you need to understand what Wolf Pack is. The race is rigorous and also faintly absurd.

We need someone who can hold both sides at once: uncompromising about safety, accuracy and participant welfare, while entirely unbothered about looking sensible.

If you have raced or crewed with Wolf Pack before, please say so. It counts.

Dates and locations

The race takes place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026.

The Ops Lead, coach crew and core event team will meet in central Bristol at approximately 6:15am on Saturday to prepare for registration and the start. Racers arrive from 6:45am before boarding the coach to the secret start.

For anyone travelling from outside Bristol, this is likely to mean arriving on Friday evening.

On Sunday, you should expect to remain with the event until around 7:00pm, when the return coach departs with racers for Bristol. You will finish once the operational close-down is complete and the coach has departed.

You can live anywhere, provided you can manage the early Saturday start in Bristol and your journey home from the Wye Valley on Sunday evening.

Fee and expenses

The fee is £600 for the race weekend where you provide your own suitable seven-seat support vehicle.

If you do not have access to a suitable vehicle but are otherwise a strong fit for the role, the fee is £500 for the race weekend, with Wolf Pack arranging and paying for a hire vehicle.

The fee includes approximately four hours of mandatory pre-event briefing and familiarisation.

Where you provide your own vehicle, agreed operational mileage or fuel costs will be covered separately by Wolf Pack.

Where Wolf Pack provides a hire vehicle, Wolf Pack will arrange and pay for the hire and appropriate cover. Event fuel will also be reimbursed.

Food and sleeping

An evening meal is provided on Saturday. Please bring your own food and snacks for the daytime periods. Hot drinks will be available throughout the weekend.

You will sleep at the event camp on Saturday night in your own tent or vehicle.

Once the final team reaches camp and the evening operational close-down is complete, overnight responsibility sits with the Race Director, allowing you to stand down until Race Control resumes on Sunday morning.

Before the event

You will attend approximately four hours of mandatory pre-event briefing.

This will consist of:

  • an all-crew evening briefing of approximately 90 minutes, covering the wider event plan, crew roles, communications and race-day schedule

  • approximately two and a half hours of one-to-one briefing with the Race Director, split across two remote sessions

The one-to-one sessions will cover:

  • the route, checkpoints and cutoff structure

  • Race Control systems and the race log

  • use of the GPS tracking system

  • emergency procedures and escalation

  • participant support and collections

  • support-vehicle deployment

  • scoring

  • communications

  • the practical event schedule

You will receive the relevant event plans, contact information, templates and role instructions in advance.

The aim is that by race weekend you understand the operation, know what decisions you can make independently, and know when something needs to be escalated to the Race Director.

Applying

Email hello@wolfpackleague.co.uk with the subject line Operations & Race Control Lead Application.

Please tell us briefly:

  • who you are and where you are based

  • what relevant outdoor, expedition or event experience you have

  • where you have previously held responsibility for participants or members of the public

  • about a time something went wrong and how you handled it

  • what experience you have with event operations, record-keeping or race/event systems

  • whether you have access to a suitable seven-seat vehicle and, if so, what vehicle it is

  • whether you are available from approximately 6:15am on Saturday 3 October until around 7:00pm on Sunday 4 October

  • whether you have raced or crewed with Wolf Pack previously

Please attach a CV.

We will review applications as they arrive and invite suitable applicants to a short remote interview. We may appoint before a formal closing date, so early applications are encouraged.