The Southern 100 Marshals Association are looking to recruit more marshals for this years events, and beyond, on the Billown Course.

* If you have marshalled with us in the past, please consider returning.

* If you have not marshalled before and would like to, then please contact us.

* Young marshals are the future of our sport and we are especially keen to encourage younger people to get involved.

Closing the public roads and transforming the roads into a course for racing. This is achieved by erecting barriers and bales, checking roads closed and warnings signage is in place, checking the road surface is free from slippery substances, ensuring that spectators are in a safe position and that all livestock is safe.

After roads are closed marshals are the eyes and ears for the Clerk of the Course. In addition to the safety of the public and competitors marshals are in place to help the Clerk of the Course control the races by the use of flags, via messages passed through radio operators around the course.

Of course Motorsport is dangerous and incidents occur. Prior to an incident marshals will be assigned to certain tasks by the Sector or Deputy Sector marshal at the beginning of each session. The tasks are flags, assisting the medics with any casualty, use of fire extinguisher, moving a machine, dealing with spillages, clearing any Debris.

Marshals work as a team, so it is quite acceptable if you decide certain of the aforementioned tasks are not for you. You can do what you are comfortable with.

Any new marshal will be placed with an experienced marshal until they feel happy enough to take on a task of their own.

In addition to on the job training we offer all marshals an opportunity to attend one of our training courses and details of our courses are on application.

Isle of Man based marshals are sadly in decline and we are now more reliant on very welcome marshals coming to help us from the adjacent Isles. To help to increase the number of marshals from the UK we have appointed a UK marshals ambassador and this is creating more awareness of our events. However there are times at certain events when it is not possible to rely on visiting marshals for whatever reasons, so we need more Island based marshals.

In times past we have never been short of marshals living on the Isle of Man.

Certainly for the Billown Course. It now appears to be a generational problem. In the 50’s when racing started on the Billown Course, Castletown and the South of the Island was bursting with pride and there was no shortage of people wishing to get involved and help with the races. School children could not come of age soon enough to become a marshal and join their Fathers. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm has not continued through the generations and we now have a lack of young people who do not appear to be interested in getting involved. Some how we need to break this trend and attract younger people for the future of the sport.

For a young a man or woman there is a lot to be gained from becoming a marshal on the Isle of Man.

Motorcycle racing is in the Isle of Man’s DNA and is one of the attractions that make the Island famous. By getting involved you are helping to contribute to the Manx economy by putting on events for spectators to come to our Island to see.

Young people will learn new skills in first aid and have a greater appreciation of road safety.

Employers will be pleased to see marshalling on a persons curriculum vitae as an indication of team work, communication and life skills learned.

For all marshals though, it is an opportunity to make new friends, have a good bit of banter and feel proud that you have contributed to a great exciting event on the Isle of Man.