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New Marske Harriers Report 2021
Nationally and locally, the track & field season for 2021 was delayed and was subjected to restrictions when it did finally get under way, with reduced numbers taking part. This continued into autumn and winter shown by reduced entries in competitions eg: Redcar Running Festival in October 50% of 2019, North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championship in December, 75% of 2019. North Yorkshire & South Durham Cross Country League the junior numbers were 50% of pre covid levels though senior numbers are showing signs of recovery.
New Marske Harriers participation is also reflected by the above – we have approximately 260 members, however as we rolled over our 2020 memberships to 2021 i.e. renewed with no charge, it is not known how many have effectively left the club. The real current membership may be nearer 150.
Aside from participation levels dropping through the effects of the pandemic, a much more serious loss to the club has been the reduction of our volunteer coaching staff. Some have taken the opportunity to retire due to their age, others due to the impact of covid on their work and/or family lives and others have found other activities to fill their leisure hours with. This is a double whammy as so much of coach education and development is through mentoring by more experienced coaches.
Coach recruitment has always been difficult, partly due to the structure of the sport which is complicated due to it being made up of several disciplines: track & field, road/trail running and cross county running being the most popular.
However, it is now even more difficult and more urgent. Unlike running disciplines where it is possible just to pull on a pair of shoes and run down the street, field events generally and throwing events in particular require direct supervision of a qualified coach for the safety of the participants and other people nearby.
The club is in the process of setting up a coach bursary scheme but this will only help with retention and development.
Coach recruitment from mainly parents and older athletes is increasingly challenging due to the size of the ongoing commitment required, when the workplace is also asking more of employees compared to previous generations.
Working with others .
New Marske Harriers has continued to collaborate with other agencies.
At Laurence Jackson School we have made substantial contributions that have seen improvements to high jump facilities in the form of a new storage unit and additional lighting, upgrade of track floodlighting, and improvement to the pole vault area (unfortunately we no longer have PV coach).
Having lost all of the usual road races (which are important both in terms of participation and revenue), in September we were able to successfully host the Northern 6/4 Stage Relays with the assistance of Redcar & Cleveland BC. This is the first time such a regional event has been held within the borough, with leading teams going on to take part in the National event.
Northern Athletics have indicated that they would like to return to Redcar in 2024.
The Redcar Running Festival, again in conjunction with RCBC was largely successful, despite lower numbers due to covid, provided useful revenue. The new course layout and finish into Zetland Park was well received, however there was some communication issues that resulted in outside contractors not deploying cones correctly (resulting in races being long) and road closures were not maintained as required.