The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Alan in the running for award
Perth Strathtay Harriers coach Alan Erickson has been nominated in the Scottish Athletics National Awards. The club is also up for an award. Picture by Steve Brown.
ATayside athletics club has been shortlisted for two awards for the first time in its more than 70-year history.
The Perth Strathtay Harriers club is a finalist in the Para-Development Club of the Year category of the Scottish Athletics National Awards, with coach Alan Erickson nominated in the Club Development Coach category.
Alan said it was a real honour, adding :“The main award for me is seeing my athletes develop, but to receive recognition is great.
“Coaching and developing athletes is a huge passion of mine and I go at it full throttle.
“I invest a lot of time, emotional energy and resources in coaching, but I don’t see it as a sacrifice, quite the opposite.
“I am always researching, thinking, learning from failures, programming and planning, trying to figure out how I can improve as a coach and make things better for the athlete.
“I think my squad know this and value it, therefore to be recognised for the award is awesome.”
Club chairman Jim Hunter said: “From a club perspective, Alan Erickson is a dedicated hard-working volunteer sprints coach, who has consistently produced national standard athletes over a number of years.
“His determination to carr y on remote, safe training through this year is a perfect example of his drive to produce the ver y best performance athletes.”
The ceremony is due to take place on Saturday at 7pm, with the winners being announced virtually on YouTube.
Mr Hunter said the ParaDevelopment nomination was a tribute to the inclusive approach the club has developed over the last decade and more.
There are between 40-50 athletes with a physical, sensory or learning disability training year round and the club has had considerable success with Scottish, UK and international-level participants.
They include a current age group world record holder in race running , Matthew Doig.
The Perth Strathtay Harriers was established as a club in the 1940s.
It is entirely volunteerled and offers athletics training and competition opportunities for people in Perth and Kinross.