Scotland’s stars must be ‘resilient’, insists Munro

ATHLETICS: Chief’s rallying call to members that sticking together is the key

Athletics in Scotland must show real “resilience” to thrive and grow in a difficult landscape for the sport globally.

That’s the message from chief executive Mark Munro in his column in PB magazine, which has been issued to 14,000 scottishathletics members.

Munro wrote the column shortly before the coronavirus situation escalated and, at that time, was reacting to doping headlines around the screening of Panorama and leadership issues at UK Athletics.

If anything, and in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the key message holds even more weight now – that the best option for the sport in Scotland is to stick together to ride out storms elsewhere.

“I write this on the back of a massive high of pure Scottish camaraderie at the Lindsays Scottish Cross Country Championships Falkirk and the SPAR British Indoor Championships in Glasgow and following a number of weeks of Scottish record breaking successes on the international circuit, not least a young Jemma Reekie,” writes Mark in PB magazine.

“However, I’ve woken up this morning with the harsh reality of widespread allegations of unethical ‘cheating’ by the UK’s most successful athlete of all time and question marks about the culture set by a few individuals within our UK body.

“It is disheartening when we work so hard to develop our wonderful sport in this country from the grassroots right through to elite athletes and coaches.

“Whilst we are not perfect and there are lots of areas to improve on, the sport in Scotland in well connected, both strategically through the national strategy (Building a Culture of Success) and in practice, on the ground where it really matters.

“I think all the athletes, coaches, volunteers, supporters and spectators at the recent national XC at Callendar Park showed the true spirit of the sport and demonstrated resilience on a terrible day in tough, tough conditions.

“The word resilience is the key and athletics in Scotland must be resilient whilst these challenges go on around us at UK and global level. We must believe in what we are trying to achieve in Scotland and continue to drive forward setting the (moral) bar high and sticking to our principles.”

Meanwhile, scottishathletics chairman Ian Beattie firmly believes there has been a real legacy for athletics from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“We are seeing our membership numbers go up and our competition numbers going up, both in track and field and in cross country and road racing,” said Beattie, one of 1,795 finishers at the Lindsays National XC in horrendous conditions at Falkirk last month.

“The 2014 Games was a catalyst for a lot of areas. The role model thing helps.

“Sixteen Scottish athletes went to the Olympics in Rio. It’s great for us to have the likes of Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie and Eilish McColgan being such an inspiration to young girls because a lot of sports have trouble attracting and keeping girls.

“But most of the men and women at the top of the sport at the moment have come through the club environment.”

Chief executive Mark Munro says resilience will be key if athletics is to continue growing in Scotland.