Action, Please.

I was at the Scottish Athletics Awards Presentation and Dinner on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. Apart from the great and the good of Scottish Athletics as at present set up, many of the very best athletes in the country were also there from the top veterans (Darren Scott got the award) to the best of the Commonwealth Games athletes (Steph Twell got two and Eilidh Childs got one). There were many runners and former runners in attendance and Daley Thomson was the Guest of Honour. Tables had been taken by Central AC, Shettleston Harriers and Inverclyde among others. Not many clubs were not represented but, I'm sorry to say, Clydesdale Harriers was among that number. When I joined the club - and right up until almost the start of the 21st century - we always had a representative or two at all of these occasions. At £39 a person, it was only £390 per table and we could easily afford that. Go to a hotel in Glasgow, eat your dinner, clap the award winners, maybe dance at the ceilidh and go home. How difficult is that? And CLYDESDALE HARRIERS is mixing with the best in the sport in the country and getting seen to be there.
It got me thinking about how the club has been shrinking unnecessarily in recent years.
* We have no one attending West District meetings;
* Our attendance at County Association meetings is better than it was but not as good as it used to be;
* We used to host many cross-country championships: county, district, Scottish vets, Scottish Schools and even the world championships have all been hed in Clydebank in the past - why not now?
* We used to organise the County Schools but that has been handed to the LAP;
* We used to have races for young athletes in conjunction with the Dunky Wright - why not now?

That's just a start - I could go on for much longer. In particular we are letting the young athletes in the club down by not hosting these championships and races aimed at the younger generation but we are enthusiastically promoting 5000 and 10000 races for seniors and joggers.

First suggestion: put on a 3000 for young athletes on the day of the Dunky Wright;
Second suggestion: get really involved in the County Schools and encourage local schools.

Remember we as Clydesdale Harriers
* were the first ever club in Scotland;
* were the first club in Scotland to have a Junior (ie Under 20) section;
* were one of the first three clubs in Scotland to form a women's section;
* in organising the Youth Ballot Team race for U17's after the war were organising one of the very first races for that age group in the country;
* were the club who proposed to the AGM of the SAAA that there be a national championship for U15's.

So why the lack of initiative now? I say to the Committee that we must develop as a club and we really must do more for the younger athletes.