Age Group Masters Road Racing Programme update

Due to the unprecedented events of 2020, and the impact of Covid-19 on the competition calendar, England Athletics in consultation with the event providers and the British Masters Athletic Federation have announced an update regarding the current masters qualifying and representative programme. Please note these revised arrangements are subject to any future changes or restrictions regarding Covid-19.

Click here for the Age Group Masters Road Racing Programme update document (PDF 200kB – 6 August 2020) or read the update below:

The MARATHON

Representative Race:

The organisers of the Asda Foundation Yorkshire Marathon have yet to announce their arrangements for
2020, however in consultation with Run for All, and the British Masters Federation we have made the
decision to postpone this representative opportunity until 2021. With ongoing uncertainty around the
likelihood of mass events taking place this autumn, the format which those events might take, and the
potential for Covid-19 spikes, we believe it is in the best interests of the team, which includes a wide age range of runners, significant travel and overnight accommodation for many, including family members and friends wanting to attend to show their support, to postpone until next year. By deferring until 2021 we hope to enable all qualifiers to enjoy the full experience of representing the team in a post-Covid world, and to be able fully celebrate their achievements with family and friends on the day.

Runners who were due to represent the England Masters team, and had also entered the 2020 BMAF Marathon Championships, should note this is still on hold, with further information to be communicated via BMAF in due course.

Further information about the 2021 representative event will be communicated in due course.

Qualifying Races:

• Qualifiers from Chester 2019 and Yorkshire 2019 who had already entered for Yorkshire 2020 will
  retain their place on the team, which will carry through to a representative place on the England
  Masters team at the 2021 Yorkshire Marathon next autumn.
• The 2020 Rightmove MK Marathon Reimagined will not count for qualification. Runners who had
  entered the MK marathon as a Spring 2020 qualifying event, will have the option to transfer their
  entry to MK marathon 2021 instead, which will serve as a qualifying race, for a future representative opportunity, to be confirmed at a later stage. https://mkmarathon.com/transfers-and-deferrals/
• The Brighton Marathon weekend revised format of events set for September 2020 will not count as
  a qualifying event, nor will the 2021 Brighton Marathon.

The HALF MARATHON

All three qualifying races took place prior to Covid-19 restrictions. Runners who had been confirmed as
qualifiers and had already entered Fleet Half Marathon 2020 as the representative race will retain their place on the England team with the chance to compete at Fleet on 21st March 2021.

All England representatives were communicated the option to defer their entry and place on the team to
2021 by email back in March of this year. Runners who instead cancelled their entry will retain their place on the team, but they will still need to re-enter the race for 2021, once entries reopen in the autumn. Places will be limited, please see the event organiser’s home page: https://fleethalfmarathon.com

The 10K

All three qualifying races took place prior to Covid-19 restrictions. Runners who have already been
confirmed as qualifiers and had entered the representative event due to be Great Bristol 10k in May 2020, will have received a refund of their entry from the event organisers, but they will retain their England qualification place for a future event in 2021, to be confirmed at a later stage.

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Unannounced representative events for 2021, and future qualifying events are under review, and further updates once confirmed, will be made available on our Masters webpage.

Given the ongoing uncertainty this is likely to be towards the end of October at the earliest. We would kindly ask you to refrain from emailing for updates in order to help our team manage the volume of enquiries – please continue to check the website which is your best source of information regarding the above along with our social media channels and e-news bulletins. You can ensure you are receiving our email newsletters by checking your profile and mailing preferences at:
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