CEO blog: July 2025

On behalf of everyone at England Athletics I would like to wish all those competing in this summer’s England Athletics outdoor track and field championship programme the very best of success and enjoyment. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our hard-working volunteer Technical Officials and Event Staff, without whom this event programme would not take place and to whom we are deeply grateful for their commitment, focus, and dedication. I would like to also thank our host venues, particularly Birmingham Alexander Stadium but also partners at the Manchester Athletics Arena.

Our volunteer officials

I am aware that many of the Technical Officials working in this summer programme have served our sport for numerous years and will be using their experience to help mentor and support newer and less experienced officials coming into our sport. This is hugely important as we look to build a robust and sustainable foundation of volunteering to ensure that generations of athletes can continue to enjoy our wonderfully diverse, and inclusive sport for years to come.

Our sponsors and partners

I would like to thank our sponsors and partners at England Athletics for their continued support to this and other EA activities. In particular our sponsors Citroen, Kukri, SportsShoes, and Sport England. Commercial sponsorship, alongside income from member clubs, bodies, licensed events, and registered athletes, is vitally important to enabling England Athletics to deliver its strategic priorities and support services to our clubs, athletes, coaches, officials, and runners.

Our athletes

To all those competing athletes taking part in the England Athletics outdoor track and field championship and international programme this summer, do your very best; that is all you can do. Most importantly try to enjoy the experience and remember that the journey to fulfilling your potential is often not a linear and straightforward one.

There will inevitably be roadblocks and hurdles to overcome on your way to success, but every experience is a learning opportunity and with it comes the building of resilience, understanding, wisdom, and hopefully improvement. Many of the current senior England and GB internationals have competed in these summer championships and I am sure would acknowledge that there were times when they found it challenging, and that progress stalled due to factors both within and out of their control. Perseverance and keeping a healthy perspective are important during these times, as is having a strong sporting and social support network around you.

Age Group changes

Thanks once again to everything that you do for our great sport in whatever guise. 2025 has already seen a number of fantastic individual and collective team performances both on and off the track across England and on the international stage. We are only 12 months away from the new age groups for competition being introduced across the UK and I would encourage competition providers, athletes, coaches, technical officials, volunteers and parents/carers to take a look at the detail behind these changes that were approved by the UKA Board back in December 2023. The autumn and winter season in 2025- will be the period when people start to prepare ahead of 1 April 2026, when these changes come into effect, so it is important that people are alert to these changes, the rationale behind these changes, and make preparations accordingly.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those forward thinking volunteer leaders on league, association, club and championship organising committees across England who have already demonstrated great leadership by embracing the age group changes that are coming into effect from April 1st 2026 and for proactively taking steps to put the athlete, the coach, the technical official, and the parent/carer at the heart of their decision making. It has been assuring to see and hear that organisations such as the YDL, English Cross Country Association and many others are already planning towards the 2026-2027 season, operating under the new age groups.

Championships

We are of course less only a year away from a home 2026 European Track and Field Championships being held here in Birmingham and another Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow. We are proud of the role that we will have to play in taking the team to the Commonwealth Games and are also very much aware of the inspiration that a home European Championships will create in the Birmingham and West Midlands region. With that in mind we are working proactively with the organising committee, local councils, universities, clubs, and partner bodies to develop a legacy plan that will help to get more people engaged in our great sport. That is certainly something for us all to look forward to and we will be extremely proud of the role that we have to play in supporting athletes, coaches, and technical officials who aspire to represent their country at these events.

Commonwealth Games

I am sure that those athletes competing in our senior and age group track and field championships this summer will have thoughts on selection for their country at either or both of the above events but also for future Commonwealth Youth Games and world and European age group and senior selection. We are expecting notice of where the CYG competition may be held in the next two years, and we know that this event, and other age group representative competitions have previously served as a great stepping stone for some of our current crop of senior stars such as George Mills, Mollie Caudery, Phoebe Gill, and Dina Asher-Smith.

Chris Jones, CEO