The Cross-Country Starter

British Eventing volunteer Nick Tompkins on working at London 2012, locating the bacon sarnies and emotional reunions with injured riders

I have a full-time job as an inspector of taxes and have never competed, just hacked and hunted.

I got into volunteering at British Eventing (BE) events when I went along with a friend who was fence judging at Northampton Horse Trials in May 1986. I obviously didn’t do a bad job as I then got asked to do more and became a frequent steward on the steeplechase at Burghley. In 1990, I went to fence judge at Milton Keynes Horse Trials and the cross country starter didn’t turn up, so they put me in charge instead. It has sort of become my niche since then. I’ve now volunteered at 345 BE events over a total of 660 days.

I usually arrive at an event early and my first port of call is to find a bacon sandwich.

I then collect clocks, the running order and time sheets, and discuss timings and how we’ll run throughout the day with control, the collecting ring steward and timekeepers. It’s a long day with a lot of summertime events now running until after 7pm. My aim is that every competitor gets round and has a nice day and that we finish on time. It’s a big team effort and I’m only as good as the people around me.