As they celebrate their 125th year, Epsom and Ewell Harriers are calling for more coaches and volunteers to cope with a wave of young people inspired by the London Olympics.

Chairman Brian Vanderbilt said that he was delighted that so many youngsters are interested in the sport but said the club was struggling to cope with the demand.

"For the longest time the problem was trying to get young people involved however since the London 2012 Olympics we have been flooded with youngsters and now have the reverse problem.

"We cope as best we can but the lack of qualified coaches is something that affects a great deal of athletics clubs across the country."

Membership secretary David Blunt believes less senior runners go into coaching now simply because there are more senior events than there used to be, so rather than taking up coaching, older runners continue competing.

The club, which is based at the Poole Road Athletics track in Epsom, was founded in 1890 by a handful of men with an interest in cross-country running.

A century-and-a-quarter later the club now boasts around 250 members ranging from 11-year-olds to those in their early 70’s.

The club has an impressive roll of honours including John Smith and Don Turner who finished first and third respectively in the 1962 Comrades Marathon is South Africa.

The ‘marathon’ is actually a mainly uphill 55 mile run along the coast from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.

To this day Don Turner works hard behind the scenes as both treasurer and home match secretary at the club. Mr Vanderbilt said: "Don is brilliant, without people like him, this club wouldn’t exist."

Anyone interested in getting involved should contact Liz Sissons by emailing lizsissons9@gmail.com, or call 01372 724629.