New Marske Harriers Report 2022
When I started to prepare this reported, I reviewed last year’s report, and by and large I could have copied and pasted most of it, and just changed a few dates and numbers.
On the face of it the club is in a strong position competitively and financially. However, we don’t exist in a vacuum.
Our sport (like most grassroots sport) is still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, together with the current economic challenges.
The NEYDL, formed in 2013 was made up of 18 teams in 3 divisions of 6. Last season we lost one club, and for the upcoming season we lost another club. Therefore, for operational and financial reasons the league has restructured into a 1[st] Div of 6 teams and a single 2[nd] Div of 8 teams. The leagues lost income and increased costs (especially stadium hire) has been offset by the reduction of fixtures, and therefore there has been no need to hold any fixtures at MSV – 2023 hire charge is £127ph!
NMH compete in the NTFL (seniors) and will be hosting a meeting at MSV – host clubs receive up to £600 reimbursement. The timetable runs 10:30 to 17:00 – at £127ph is over £800.
A wider question, is what the implications for MSV are (specifically the track), losing at least 4 fixtures this and future seasons?
Membership: last year at this time we had about 260 members, and we expected a post covid dip in numbers. In part this did happen, but we benefitted with a few defectors from Middlesbrough/Mandale, as well as the normal new recruits. Current membership stands at 263.
For many years our regular income from road races has matched or bettered that of membership fees. Last year income was down – but this is partly explained by lower numbers, and partly as a carry-over from 2020 when we had entries from races that were cancelled. There were also many fixture clashes, a legacy of the pandemic – eg London Marathon held in October (rather than the usual April), clashed with Redcar Running Festival. For 2023 it appears that entries are not yet recovering to pre pandemic levels, however this is not a major concern yet, at least not from a financial point of view.
We have secured a lot of funding via grants etc, which has enabled further improvements at LJSV track including the purchase new hurdles, and storage for them and other equipment. In addition, we continued to support pole vault by purchasing 12 new poles of various specifications. However, lack of progress in junior coach recruitment and development is still a concern. Though following the retirement Jill Sexton and Rob Pollard we have managed to resurrect the senior Thursday running group – thanks to a few members of the group attaining an EA Run Leaders qualification and a major input by Julie Sparrow.
We continue to work with Redcar & Cleveland BC, not just with the annual Redcar Running Festival, but also other projects including the alterations to the paths in Locke Park which improved the parkrun course and our 5/10/20 mile course, also resurfacing the throwing circle at LJSV.
Most recently in the completed installation of pathfinder illumination of the of the coastal path from Zetland Roundabout to Green Lane along the “Pink Path”. This was a bit a slog to secure the funding. This was a phase 1 pilot with phase 2 being the installation of the same technology along the pavement from Redcar to Marske. Following the positive reaction to the first phase, we are already well on the way to securing the funding to compete the project.
The next five years are going to crucial, the club and the sport generally needs to get more volunteers involved whether as coaches, technical officials, committee members. More people need to be proactive across the board, which doesn’t necessarily mean joining a committee!
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