The number of Officials and Marshals required for Club Events should not be under-estimated.  Whilst a Club Autotest meeting may run effectively with only a handful, a Forest Rally qualifying for a local Regional Championship may actually need upwards of a hundred people.

• Recruitment of new Officials and Marshals should be given a high priority by every Club these people are volunteers who are prepared to give their time freely, and many new Marshals of today will become the senior marshals and officials of tomorrow, so once you recruit them, do make them feel useful and involve them as part of the club team - the chance of entering a free raffle, even a letter to say thank you after the event (and do include a set of results!) often goes a long way.
• Recruitment possibilities are endless, but include by word of mouth, personal contact at events, club magazine, local media contact (radio/newspapers), library and college notice-boards etc.  It is a good idea to nominate your own Club Chief Marshal, who should maintain a register showing marshals interests and availability, and who would then liaise with individual event Chief Marshals in this respect.  Many Clubs have found the running of a 'Marshals Championship' (with a trophy presented at the annual club 'do') assists enthusiasm and retention of marshals.
• Whilst most marshals will gain their experience through 'on the job' training on events, it is important that this is supplemented by attendance at formal Training Days.  Utilising the MSA Training Instructors, an extensive programme of Training Days covering most of the disciplines of Motor Sport is arranged annually at venues nationwide, and supported by funding from the Motor Sport Training Trust.  These Training Days, although including a theoretical content, are as far as possible practically based - providing, for instance, the opportunity for a Marshal to put out fires with an extinguisher in a safe and controlled environment, and hence building the skill and confidence to deal with a real incident should that arise on a future event.  Major Club and Championship events often run their own training sessions for the benefit of marshals at a local level.
• Membership of one of the dedicated Marshals Clubs can provide a progressive pathway for upgrading, through identified training needs and practical application of skills, to the higher echelons of the sport.  Race marshals are included on the Race Marshals Register administered nationally by the MSA, and Rally Marshals have the opportunity of being included in similar Registers at Regional level in most areas of the UK.  Registration cards issued as a result include a record of Training session attendance, and show current grade and club membership of the individual.
• Club Officials are provided with the opportunity to attend Seminars or Workshops which are organised by the MSA to exchange information and widen understanding of the sport, and progression from Club Official to MSA licensed Official is possible through varying modular training programmes matched to the individual needs of different Officials (Clerks of Course/ Stewards/Scrutineers etc).

 

 
 
 
 
 

(Specific details on these programmes are available from the MSA).