Thanks for your support! Please keep renewing membership to help our sport

Sunday 31st January 2021

Mark Munro looks back on 10 years ahead of his move to UK Athletics

Departing CEO Mark Munro has thanked members for supporting scottishathletics during the Covid-19 crisis.

And he urged members to maintain that backing for their national governing body and the sport itself by continuing to renew.

Around 75 percent of our membership stayed loyal to scottishathletics between last March and last December – and Mark stressed the importance of that support.

‘There has been a hit on membership and on activity (with events and all group training currently suspended), of course,’ he said.

‘We are down maybe 30 percent or so in membership on this time last year.

‘But we have a strong and robust structure or framework for the sport. In the context of the global pandemic, we’re still strong financially. We are still supporting athletes and we are still supporting coaches and clubs.

‘The system will evolve over the years to come and that will be led by the new CEO and the Board – with a huge input from volunteers. But, like everyone else, scottishathletics have to chart a way forward to move out of Covid-19.

‘I’m pretty certain and confident that with strong clubs and good coaches will help in that.

We’ve worked hard to deliver events where possible and the Lindsays Short Course XC at Scone Palace in December was a success with protocols in place (photo by Bobby Gavin)

‘Thank you to everyone who has renewed their Scottish Athletics membership over the past year to 10 months or so. We appreciate that support and loyalty.

‘Membership income is important to help in the development of the sport.

‘So please do renew – if it is appropriate for you financially – and hopefully it is not too long before we can deliver events for you (when it is safe).’

Colin Hutchison will step up from his position as Head of Development to succeed Mark as new CEO next week. Colin has stressed putting clubs and people first will remain very much the priority.

‘Despite the obvious challenges facing us all currently, athletics in Scotland is well-placed to emerge in a stable position from the pandemic and I know that by us all working closely together, athletics in Scotland will come back even stronger,’ he said.

‘The success of athletics in Scotland over the past decade has been driven by placing clubs and people at the heart of everything we do.

‘This continued approach, alongside delivering the strategic initiatives outlined in (our strategy) ‘Building a Culture of Success’, will ensure continued success at all levels.’