The Enterprise Minister has said there will be enough marshals for this year’s TT.
Dr Alex Allinson explained there would be more clarity on numbers once training had been completed but the department expects to have trained 1,120 marshals.
This is up from 750 in previous years.
He was replying to a question asked in the House of Keys sitting on Tuesday by Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Tim Glover, who asked if there would be enough marshals for the TT races this year.
Dr Allinson said: ‘The short answer is yes.
‘There will be more than enough marshals for this TT.’
The registration process opens this week and the minister said there will be more clarity on numbers ‘once marshals have signed on’.
He explained that many people come from across to volunteer as marshals and he hopes people from the island will take up the opportunity to get involved.
Dr Allinson says there will be ‘almost three times as many marshals fully trained’ than in previous years.
Mr Glover was concerned that a number of experienced marshals won’t be returning, to which Dr Allinson took the time to thank all marshals ‘past, present and future’ for being ‘a core’ of the TT.
‘It saddens me that some marshals feel they can’t takeup previous roles.
‘We’ve had two years [of no TT] and during those two years we’ve had a degree of anxiety as to whether the TT will come back and what I’d like to reassure those marshals is that they are welcome to come back and take part in the event,’ he said.
Incident management courses have been set up as usual to provide those volunteering from here and across ‘excellent training’.
He continued: ‘It would be nice to see more people from the island taking it up, also we’ve seen honourable members do it in the past.’
Douglas South MHK Claire Christian asked if there was any concern that if Covid-19 cases don’t decrease by TT, marshal numbers may be affected.
She also wanted to know what precautions marshals would be taking during the event to stop transmission.
The minister made the point that the TT is an outdoor event so the ‘risk of Covid-19 for those involved is fairly minimal’.
He added that the department will look at places where people are likely to congregate, such as the pit lanes would be looked at as marshals would be in close contact with each other.
‘There’s always a slight possibility that people may not be able to travel to the island which is why the TT Marshals Association will be opening up island training,’ Dr Allinson said.
There will also be two online training courses that can be completed in the island to allow people to take up the role of a marshal and to accompany the incidents management course every marshal has to do.
Mrs Christian said: ‘It’s no secret our marshals like to go out and enjoy themselves. Will they be expected to marshal if they test positive?’
The minister stated that the government is currently adopting a more endemic phase of dealing with Covid-19.
A range of advice will be released, according to the minister.
For previous reports about marshals,
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