You may have noticed a distinct lack of information about this seasons Highland March [HM]. Since 2003 the marchers have been taking it upon themselves to walk from ICT’s penultimate game to the last game of the season and in doing so they have raised quite a considerable sum of money for various charities.
Since joining the SPL (SPFL) the HM has had to endure the wretched split of the league after 33 games. This means that the HM doesn’t know where the route will be until about four or five weeks prior to setting foot down or up the road. Add to this a mid-week fixture and a week on the road becomes three or four days.
In this short timescale the HM has to arrange accommodation which is sometimes already booked up by others as the holiday season gets underway. The HM also has to arrange a support vehicle and all the logistics that go with it. Route planning also takes up a lot of time especially if it’s a new route or tweaking old routes to add a new challenge.
Without a sponsor to help costs the HM crew have to foot the bill individually which can be £250-300 each depending on how many are in the team.
After a discussion between those that were intending to take part this year it has been decided to cancel this year’s event. As mentioned above, this is a culmination of [mainly] costs, difficulties getting time off work, the awful fixture and exams etc.
The HM crew will be hold a meeting later this year to discuss a way forward and attempt to inject some much needed enthusiasm in to the event.
Hopefully the HM will return in 2017 with fresh ideas to bring back the good times.
Highland March – 2016
You may have noticed a distinct lack of information about this seasons Highland March [HM]. Since 2003 the marchers have been taking it upon themselves to walk from ICT’s penultimate game to the last game of the season and in doing so they have raised quite a considerable sum of money for various charities.
Since joining the SPL (SPFL) the HM has had to endure the wretched split of the league after 33 games. This means that the HM doesn’t know where the route will be until about four or five weeks prior to setting foot down or up the road. Add to this a mid-week fixture and a week on the road becomes three or four days.
In this short timescale the HM has to arrange accommodation which is sometimes already booked up by others as the holiday season gets underway. The HM also has to arrange a support vehicle and all the logistics that go with it. Route planning also takes up a lot of time especially if it’s a new route or tweaking old routes to add a new challenge.
Without a sponsor to help costs the HM crew have to foot the bill individually which can be £250-300 each depending on how many are in the team.
After a discussion between those that were intending to take part this year it has been decided to cancel this year’s event. As mentioned above, this is a culmination of [mainly] costs, difficulties getting time off work, the awful fixture and exams etc.The HM crew will be hold a meeting later this year to discuss a way forward and attempt to inject some much needed enthusiasm in to the event.
Hopefully the HM will return in 2017 with fresh ideas to bring back the good times.