Your vote matters

The England Athletics Annual General Meeting (AGM) – which takes place on 26 October – represents one of many upcoming opportunities for clubs, member bodies and other stakeholders to have their say in elements of the running of the organisation.

Full details of the AGM How to vote

For those unable to join us in-person in Birmingham on the day, a livestream will be available.

Our pre-meeting webinar has now taken place where stakeholders were given the opportunity to hear from the Board, and ask any questions they may have.

Watch back the webinar

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One of the agenda items at the AGM will involve members being asked to confirm the England Athletics Board’s recommendation to re-appoint Gary Shaughnessy as Chair for a further term, through to 2028.

On the re-appointment of Gary as Chair, Senior Independent Director at England Athletics, Tunji Akintokun MBE, commented:

"Under Gary’s stewardship as Chair, we have continued to make strong progress as a board in respect to our main priorities from the Future of Track & Field participation and competition challenges, to the ongoing development of our road running and off track services provided to our member clubs, and important subjects such as EDI & Sustainability, ensuring that our governance structures, our strategies and programmes, embrace diversity, difference of opinion and thought, recognising the role that our sport can play in not only delivering sport outcomes but wider societal impact."

Here, Gary looks back at his time as Chair so far, and articulates his visions for the next four years.

"Over the last three years as Chair, I have certainly learnt a number of lessons and, looking back, would do some things differently. However, I also feel that I have been a force for good in the sport and have helped deliver some of the fundamental actions that were vital for the future."

What we have achieved together

As an organisation and a collective sport, we continue to strive for positive, lasting change. However, despite the outcome of the Special General Meeting on age group changes held in June, some individuals wish to reflect their concern about that process by voting against my re-appointment and by asking others to do likewise. I would encourage you to ask me any questions at all at the webinar on 14 October, We will also keep you updated on the progress we continue to make in terms of ensuring that everyone has a voice in how these changes will be implemented.

More on the Age Group changes

Challenges and opportunities

A key strength of athletics in this country, in my opinion, is the clubs on which the sport is built. I was so proud to be Clubman of the year at my local club this year, and I believe that is our clubs that make the sport relevant and accessible for your community; our clubs that create the atmosphere that supports enjoyment and ambition, and realises potential.

This is one of the reasons that - while naturally, I would very much appreciate your support by voting in favour of confirming my appointment as Chair - I absolutely acknowledge and wholeheartedly agree with your right to vote me into office or vote me out. I would simply ask for three things.

• Firstly, please consider the videos and notes I’ve written before your vote either way.
• Secondly, whichever way the vote goes, please get behind the Board to help make this the sport it is for many but could be for many more.
• Finally, please vote. In the three years I’ve been here, the AGM votes have had very low take up. The same has been the case for some time apparently. Your opinion genuinely counts, and we are genuinely listening.

What the sport means to me

Hear from key individuals

There are several ways that we at England Athletics look to work with the athletics and running community to better our sport for our current and future participants, volunteers, coaches and officials. From the Athlete Panel to Regional Councils and forums, we want you to have an opportunity to shape what we do. Hear from Athlete Panel member, Laura Weightman, and England Athletics Board member, Lorna Boothe MBE OLY, on the importance of using your voice.

“First of all thank you for all those clubs that have nominated me for another term as a Non-Executive Director.

I have been in the sport for over 50 years and my personal experiences span from being an athlete, team management, coach and administrator all from grassroots to World and elite performance level.

I have a passion for my sport and I have very strong values.  I have seen gaps in our sport over the years and it is very clear to me that working together, we learn and achieve much more than on our own. During my time on the Board, athletics in England has become a more professionally run sport with a better structure.  We are making sure we are listening and feeding back to the appropriate teams, being transparent and inclusive.  We are working better with the other Home Countries and UKA.

I am proud of how the sport has progressed and what EA has achieved under the present Board and Gary’s outstanding leadership.”

Lorna Boothe MBE OLY

"Representation in our sport matters in so many ways. Ensuring that the voice of the athletics and running community is heard, listened to and taken into account is absolutely vital in driving our sport forward. 

"As a member of the recently-formed England Athletics Athlete Panel, I'm delighted to be playing a part in representing the athlete voice, and getting issues important to athletes heard and spoken about. I would urge all clubs and member bodies to take every opportunity to engage and interact with England Athletics in any way available to them, of which there are many over the coming months.

"Get involved in your sport - your vote matters."

Laura Weightman

Our key achievements

The table below shows our key achievements in the last three years against each strategic priority.

Participation

• Recovery in registered athletes to 173,000.
• Over 20,000 4-11 year olds engaged through funetics, support by securing c.£300k investment following the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
• Launched PB awards programme to rewards improvement.
• Over 40,000 engaged in running through RunTogether.
• Launch of the Personal Best Foundation.

Clubs & Facilities

• Roll out of Track Mark with all key facilities achieved the standards.
• Launched Facility Improvement Fund.
• Launched Club Support Fund.
• Launched Club Hub resource platform for clubs.
• Improved our capability to respond to growing number of welfare and safeguarding cases being reported in our commitment to supporting a safe sport.
• Continued investment in the Annual Regional Volunteer Awards, National Awards and Hall of Fame.
• Continued investment in club governance through the Club Leaders programme and the roll out of Club Standards.

Coaches and Officials

• Taken over responsibility for Coach and Officials education, licensing and development.
• Launched the Coaching Review to inform future developments.
• Formed UK wide Coach and Officials working groups.
• Implemented changes to make it easier for coaches to qualify and officials to become licensed.
• Removed additional costs for Officials renewing their licenses.
• Working to develop relationship with coaches.

Competition

• Improved technology through Roster Athletics.
• Re-imagined England Championship format.
• Continued investment in English Schools £100k per annum.
• Continued investment in Area Associations, leagues and counties over £150k per annum.
• Launch of Track and Field Participation Task Force.
• Age group changes approved.
• Domestic competition licensing and calendar planning now co-ordinated by EA.
• Launch of RunEvents after taking on the responsibility for Road and Multi Terrain Licensing.
• Continued investment in supporting Masters Athletes to represent England.

Talent

• Development of Talent Hubs in Leeds, Birmingham, Loughborough and St.Marys.
• Development of strong talent pathway in JTP, YTP and STP.
• Most successful Commonwealth Games this century with 34 medals.
• Successful Commonwealth Youth Games.
• 9 athletes from EA talent pathway represented Team GB at Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
• Continued investment in England Teams across all disciplines.
• Increased investment and focus on Para-athletics.
• Increased investment in external investment into the talent pathway through LME and DISE.

Leadership, Digital, Commercial, Engagement

• Customer service satisfaction rating of over 85% supported by investment into a new CRM system.
• Creation of the Athlete Panel to help inform the Board.
• New Governance Code for Sport compliance.
• UK anti-doping action plan compliance.
• Launched sustainability strategy and action plan.
• Increase diversity of Board and Regional Councils through Diversity Action Plan.
• Supported UKA in developing new policy for Transgender participation in the sport.
• Improved relationships and working practices with England Council.
• Increased investment in Research tools to aid consultation e.g. Huddle.
• Annual consultation and published findings/ actions.
• Strong financial position in difficult climate of rising costs.
• Strong culture amongst staff with over 90% proud to work for the organisation.
• Became secretariat of the APPG for running and forged strong relationships with RIA and National Running Show.
• Support for new product development and revenue diversification.
• Strong relationship with UKA and HCAFs.
• Improved engagement across our social channels with over 230,000 followers.
• Investment in communications platform to serve newsletters and key information to all stakeholders.