Age Group changes: spotlight on off-track

With time ticking down until the Age Group changes for young athletes will be applied across our sport, in our latest update on the implementation of the changes, Project Co-ordinator Dean Hardman looks at some of the ways they will apply to off-track competition in England.

Over the past year, as with other disciplines and areas of the sport, our age group change implementation task group and the off-track sub group have considered how the changes will affect off-track competition. The approach has been collaborative, with not only a number of independent members engaged, but ongoing dialogue with the UKA Endurance Advisory Group, on which many of the sport’s key volunteer-led competition providers are represented.

Consistency around age group changes across all disciplines has been at the core of the discussions.

In implementing these changes in particular, we have always tried to prioritise athlete experience, alongside reducing the many complexities that have had the potential to make our sport difficult to follow and confusing for parents and athletes. For example, at the moment an athlete can find themselves in a different age group for cross country to the one they compete in in indoor, cross country or schools competition over the winter.

When the changes come into effect, the ‘cut-off’ dates for athletes will be 31 August, a move which will ensure that athletes compete throughout the ‘school year’ – across off and on-track disciplines – in their school year groups.

Another aspect that was considered and noted when the changes were being discussed was the need to lower the pressure on exam-age athletes, who currently compete at the top of their age group at the same time as encountering pressurised academic situations. While the cross country season obviously doesn’t directly clash with major school exams, most mock exams do happen in January, and the changes will again hopefully see a welcome reduction of pressure on these young athletes.

The introduction of an U18 age group and a refresh of recommended and maximum race distances for the new age groups is also something else which we believe will have positive ramifications for off-track competition. The current jump in distance progression – especially for junior boys – can be huge, and inconsistencies among race distances from competition to competition can make this even more challenging.

Competing at U18 level will allow for a more gradual progression in distances, and therefore increased potential to unlock a more positive athlete experience; retention of athletes is also an issues in off-track disciplines through the older junior age-groups, and this additional age group may help with a smoother and easier progression.

Throughout the implementation phase of this project, we have been engaged in dialogue with representatives of the off-track element of our sport, and we continue to hold constructive discussions on the specifics of implementing these changes as smoothly as we can.

We are very clear in our minds that athletes will ultimately benefit from these changes, whether they compete solely on the track, off-track or - as is the case for a huge amount of our young athletes - across disciplines.

We feel that there will be great benefits to having a system that categorises athletes in the same way across different disciplines, and we look forward to the additional consistency benefiting those already in our sport, and those who are yet to try it.