Inverness Harriers club president Charlie Forbes say club are working on solutions after closing 200-strong waiting list
Inverness Harriers have had to close their waiting list for new members after numbers spiralled to over 200.
The 78-year-old club cited a lack of coaches for the decision, with numbers attending sessions already maxed out leaving a large number of children missing out on their athletics fix for the foreseeable future.
There are half a dozen coaches at the level required to lead sessions, with the club restricted by ratio restrictions.
Club president Charlie Forbes says it is an unfortunate situation, but that the Harriers are actively working on solutions in the short-term while encouraging more people to pursue coaching qualifications to help ease the issue long term.
“It’s something we’ve known about for a while now, but we don’t have enough qualified coaches to supervise the sessions,” Forbes explained.
“We’ve got a lot of parent helpers, but we need people – it doesn’t have to be a parent – to become a qualified coach, because we’re really short at the junior end.
“The main issue we’ve got right now is that the numbers we deal with, we’re maxed out in club sessions.
“We are looking at ways we can change that, and we are in the process of advertising for a part-time development officer.
“That’s not going to be the answer to the whole problem, but it will help create a club structure where we can cater for these numbers better.
“We’re in the process of restructuring the club’s coaching to try and accommodate the numbers too, so we’ve got a few ideas that we’re working on.
“It’s a very difficult situation that we’re in just now with the lack of coaches basically.”
The Harriers would subsidise any coaching course for an interested volunteer, with the process of getting to the required level two taking around 18 months.
However, if the club can work out a new coaching structure, they may be able to begin easing the waiting list more quickly than that.
In previous years the waiting list has generally sat at between 100 and 150 people, but there has been a surge of interest over the last six months or so.
While clearly providing a challenge for the Harriers, it is also a mark of how popular they have become.
“We decided a few weeks ago to put a hold on the waiting list, because there’s no point in adding more people if we can’t accommodate them with a system that will eventually get them into the club,” Forbes reasoned.
“It’s a very difficult situation, and we’re very frustrated with it as a club.
“It does say a lot about the popularity of the club though, and the amount of publicity the club has had over the last year or two.
“There are triathlon clubs and orienteering that involve running, and people often try to mix and match. It’s good for the whole environment of the area that we create that, and there have been good role models.
“Megan Keith, for example, did more orienteering as a young child and didn’t start formal training with us until she was about 15 or 16. She did a bit of cross country running, so that message has gone out to not be too worried about starting too young.
“We are looking at the situation, and trying to address it.”
