News

Financial support package for local competition

[Update - please note that the applications are now closed after the deadline date of 8 August]

England Athletics is delighted to announce a financial support package for local competition (launched 24 July).  Following the cancellation of the National Track and Field and Combined Events Championships (all age groups) due to the impact of Covid on training and competition opportunities country wide, England Athletics is aiming to support local competitions to help reduce travel, enable small competition events and to encourage clubs and organisers to try new competition formats within a Covid-19 secure environment.

Grant Application, webinar and resources

England Athletics is working with its Regional Councils and competition providers such as the National Athletics League to coordinate this country wide opportunity through the support of a grant application process.

Grants will primarily support competition providers with the costs of adapting their competition environment to ensure it is Covid-19 secure. Clubs and organisations are advised to submit their applications as soon as possible in advance of an 8 August deadline - there are limited funds available and any successful applications will receive grants up to a maximum of £500. We aim to process applications within 10 working days from the 8 August deadline (or sooner for competitions to be held earlier in August).  [*UPDATE: APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED*]

Please note - as the deadline is within the first week allocated to competition, you can apply
retrospectively if you already have a competition planned and licensed for August.

All prospective competition providers are invited to view the revised 2020 competition schedule and the return to competition guidance and learn from the best practices implemented by the organisers of the England Athletics pilot competitions through a new resource for track and field competition providers.

A webinar is being held on the 28 July at 6pm when Nick Wilson (Nuneaton Harriers) and Martin Walsh (Yate and District AC) will share their experience of organising pilot competitions. Click here to reserve a space.

Pilot Competitions

One of seven pilot competitions arranged by England Athletics was held at Yate, Gloucester on 18 July with 69 competitors competing in four disciplines across six age groups.  This event was part of a series of pilot competitions as part of England Athletics planned return to limited competition.  England Athletics would like to put on record its thanks to the organisers and looks forward to continuing to develop further competition opportunities in the remainder of this extended season.

This coming weekend two further events are being held as part of our planned return to competition.

Feedback from parents included:

"Many thanks to you and everyone that made today possible. Alice was delighted to have the opportunity to compete and will provide feedback to EA. I thought everything ran very smoothly, there was clear guidance and good adherence. I can’t think of a single negative."

"Thank you for putting on an amazing event.  My son really enjoyed racing again.  I will get him to fill out the survey.  Thank you and your team. Fingers crossed for many more events."

"Thank you all for setting up the meeting. As a parent / observer I felt the part of the day we attended was well organised."

"Many thanks to you and all the team for the hard work put in yesterday. I thought it was very successful and hopefully will pave the way for athletics resuming again."

 

A video of the event can be viewed; watch below or click to view video on YouTube.