A message for all our Officials . . . to keep you in the picture

Friday 24th April 2020

The current suspension of athletics events created by the coronavirus crisis affects so many people in our sport – and especially our dedicated team of scottishathletics Officials.

We are absolutely sure that during lockdown our Officials will simply be itching to be back out there making athletics in Scotland happen!

Chief executive Mark Munro felt it was appropriate to communicate directly with this part of the sport so we’re sending a special message via email and the website to these highly committed volunteers.

Here’s the letter from Mark in full:

Dear Official,

‘I hope you are all well and coping with the current situation.

‘First of all, I just wanted to thank you all for your efforts over the winter period. It feels like a lifetime ago now and an unrecognisable world, but we had one of our best winters ever, in respect of athlete performances, but also in terms of event delivery.

‘For those of you involved in the cross country events, we have probably never had conditions so bad (except for perhaps Hawick), particularly between both the Stirling International as well as the Lindsays National XC.

‘You played, and play, such an important part in all our events. Not just as technical deliverers but also as a key impact in the athlete and club experience.

‘Secondly, this isn’t business as usual and clearly it is a time of great stress and uncertainty across the world.

‘There is no sport and, if anything, this time proves how important sport is to Scotland and how important athletics and running is to the Scottish community. Internally, we have made appropriate cutbacks and furloughed staff where we can to make sure we come out the other side intact.

‘What I really wanted to say to you is that we really appreciate the role you play in this great sport in Scotland; we miss you tremendously, want you to stay safe, and look forward to seeing you when the lockdown eventually eases.

‘I hope that you are managing to keep in touch with each other. If you are not let us know and we can hook you up with the relevant people/groups.

‘I also loved the video that a number of you created for social media recently, fantastic and shows the true spirit and camaraderie we have amongst the athletics family in Scotland.

‘Thank you again, please look after yourselves and stay safe.’

Kind regards

Mark