Blog: England Athletics CEO Chris Jones

England Athletics CEO Chris Jones looks back on another successful track and field season and also forward to future plans for England Athletics, whilst sharing updates on our programmes and competitions.

Reflecting on the track and field season

I wanted to take this opportunity at the end of the 2025 summer track and field season to congratulate and thank everyone for their contributions to making this summer period such an enjoyable and memorable period for our great sport across England.

On the day of the World Athletics Championships and World Para Athletics Championships taking place this September in both Tokyo and Delhi respectively, the strength of the GB and NI team, and in particular the strong English cohort of competing athletes, reminded me of how important our entry gateways are in athletics but also how essential the local structures are in our sport to enable talent to first be identified and secondly to blossom.

Thank you

To our member clubs and associations, the licensed coaches and leaders, our technical officials and the countless other selfless hard-working volunteers who have provided so much of their time, skill, enthusiasm, and dedication to benefit others, we thank you.

I am sure that each and every one of the competing athletes taking part in these forthcoming 2025 World Athletics and World Para Athletics Championships will recognise the huge contribution that such individuals have made to their progress, and how important it continues to be to the future success of our sport.

Looking ahead

As we look towards what will be a busy off-track competitive period with athletes preparing themselves for cross country and multi-terrain events, it is a timely reminder of the cyclical and all year-round nature of our sport – it never stops giving and there is always something for everyone in athletics whatever ability, aspiration, or background.

This forthcoming period is traditionally the time when clubs and competition providers hold their annual general meetings and when the end of the outdoor track and field season is celebrated up and down the land, with award evenings as hard-working individuals and successful athletes are thanked for their contributions during the last year and in some cases over many years.

During September, we will see the first of our nine Regional Volunteer Award evenings take place across the English regions, and after that, we will recognise the National Award winners on Saturday 29 November in Sutton Coldfield, on the same weekend that our National Competition Conference takes place, the next day on Sunday 30 November. Further details on this important conference will be available very soon as we bring together organisations involved in delivering competitive opportunities for athletes to share best practice, network, and to hear about developments in our sport.

Upcoming age group changes

This autumn and winter will also mark a transitional period as we move ever closer to the new age groups for competition taking effect from 1 April 2026. This date will soon come around so I would encourage as many coaches, officials, athletes, parents, carers, teachers, and volunteers to ensure that you are up to speed with these changes and what it means for you.

These are UK-wide changes with the changes to age groups having been ratified by the UKA Board in late 2023. I am aware that some clubs and competition providers are using this change as an opportunity to rethink a number of other aspects of competition delivery such as formats, entry and results experience, and also the atmosphere created at competitions.

It does feel like a crossroads moment and an opportunity for us all to collaborate together to build an even healthier future for our youngest participants.

New approach to funding competition

We recently launched our new approach to funding competition at England Athletics too. This new single open pot approach means that we will potentially open up the opportunities for a wider range of providers to pitch for funding to enhance the athlete experience and to share our ambition of retaining and growing more athletes in our great sport, particularly during their formative years.

The wider UK-wide track and field visioning group, chaired by Olympic medallists Steve Smith and Steve Cram, is due to produce its findings and recommendations in the next month or so and this work will be shared widely across the sport as we look to enhance our offer to our youngest athletes and look to continue to evolve and innovate as a sport.

More information on this will be available in the next month or two, but it will certainly be pivotal in informing how England Athletics adapts its work and services to our youngest athletes, and I firmly believe that this 'charter for change' will be helpful and beneficial to providers of our sport at all levels.

Once again, thank you for all that you do for our great sport. 2026 promises to be a wonderfully inspirational outdoor track and field season with the European Championships coming to Birmingham and the Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow.

English athletes will be competing for medals at these world class events, and we all know that none of it would be possible without world class volunteers, coaches, officials, club leaders, and facility providers.

Best wishes, Chris

Chris Jones, CEO, England Athletics

England champs photos by Pat Isaacs