England Athletics to unwrap event licencing changes in 2023
2023 is set to welcome exciting initiatives with changes to event licencing.
At England Athletics we took responsibility for runbritain licencing and all road and multi-terrain races in England from 1 September 2022. Although outwardly there have been minimal changes, we have been working hard behind the scenes to make some really positive steps forward. Our style is already changing. We believe that events should be runner focused, with the guidance lighter in format without compromising quality and ensuring the rulebook is followed.
All our inherited processes from the runbritain era are under review and where we can, quick action has been taken. We have improved our customer service to runners, our race organiser community and our event adjudicators. Faster responses, quicker solutions and less bureaucracy has been the key to making this happen. We hope that this is already being experienced by the athletics and running community.
The runbritain brand will be phased out in 2023 and be replaced by a new name and identity to reflect all the exciting initiatives we have planned.
We are currently reviewing our guidance documents for our race organiser community, looking for better ways of sharing it and clearer communication. We are also working on some new materials that are now needed as road and multi-terrain events have moved on, post-pandemic, and we want to ensure we have the right resources to reflect this.
Road running and multi-terrain events are beginning to recover in number. We’ve had more than 3,400 licenced races in 2022, which is 91.4% of 2019 and 173% of 2021 totals.
We have also committed to a new digital solution for the licence system. Faster, more modern, easier to navigate and a simpler interface. This will also include a much improved and more fit for purpose event finder and online entry platform. We expect that to be delivered in a phased approach during 2023.
We will be launching a recruitment campaign for event adjudicators in January. This role is vital to the way we want to continue to work with race organisers. These officials are a way of checking licence standards and an independent set of eyes for us as the governing body. However, their work is much more than this, with a renewed emphasis on feedback for the race organiser with positive and constructive suggestions. This will improve the quality of every event we licence.
We will bring you regular updates of what is happening and when it will be delivered. If you have any questions on this you can contact us via barryhopkins@englandathletics.org or Vickie Armitage via varmitage@englandathletics.org.
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