ATHLETICS NORTHERN IRELAND
Annual General Meeting Wednesday 25 November 2020
Contents
Agenda AGM Minutes- 16th October 2019
Honorary Treasurer’s Report for the Year End March 2020
Director of Business & Operations Report
Director of Coach & Athlete Development Report
Events & Commercial Report
Marketing & Communications Report
Athlete Development Report
Coach Development Report
Para Athletics Report
Track & Field Committee Report
Cross Country & Road Running Committee Report
NI Masters Athletics Association Report
NI Mountain Running Association Report
NI Ultra Running Association Report
Board, Staff & Committees Lists
Agenda
Athletics Northern Ireland (2008) Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of Athletics Northern Ireland (2008) (the Company) will be held on Wednesday 25th November 2020 at 7.30pm. Due to restrictions linked to Covid-19, the Annual General Meeting of Athletics Northern Ireland will be held via Zoom
Agenda
1. Welcome & Apologies
2. To approve the Minutes of the 2019 AGM & Matters Arising
3. To receive the Annual Report of the activities of the Company of the year ended 31st March 2020, to
include Senior Staff Reports
4. To receive the Accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2020, to include Directors Report
and Auditors Report
5. To Appoint of the Company’s Auditors for the period ended 31st March 2021
6. Motions before the meeting
6.1 To Retain the Membership Fees at level approved in 2019
7. Chair’s Remarks
8. Appointment & Election of President, Vice Presidents and Sub-Committees
8.1 Appointment of President & Vice Presidents
8.2 Appointment of the Cross Country & Road Running Committee
8.3 Election of the Track & Field Committee
9. Response to questions raised by members
2019 AGM Minutes
MINUTES OF THE ATHLETICS NORTHERN IRELAND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2019 IN THE LES JONES ROOM, ATHLETICS HOUSE (MARY PETERS TRACK), OLD COACH ROAD, BELFAST
Attendance
Dr I Taylor President/ NI Mountain Mr D Abrahams Vice-Chair/Unattached Runners Association Mr D Seaton MBE Chair/North Down AC Mr J Allen MBE Honorary Secretary/Willowfield T Hrs Mr R Corry Honorary Treasurer/Willowfield Mr A Wall Minutes Secretary/North T Hrs Down AC
Ms C Ashford Athletics NI Ms S Bratten Athletics NI Ms J Newton Athletics NI Ms K Woods Athletics NI
Mr G Moffett Ballymena & Antrim AC Mr P Magee Beechmount Harriers Ms U Hillman City of Lisburn AC Ms S Nixon City of Lisburn AC Mrs W Philips City of Lisburn AC Mr D Turtle East Antrim Harriers Mr L McAteer East Antrim Harriers Mr N McCartan East Down AC Mr J Quinn MBE East Down AC Mr A Daye Jog Lisburn AC Ms W Davis Lagan Valley AC Mr R Fullerton Lagan Valley AC Ms J Alexander Mid Ulster AC Mrs M Mathieson NI Civil Service AC Mrs A Maguire NI Masters Athletic Mr F Marsh North Down AC Association/St Anne’s AC Mr J McGarvey North Down AC Mrs L Lappin Scrabo Striders Mrs F McAvoy Scrabo Striders Mr G McGonigal Scrabo Striders Mr C McCrum Seapark AC Mr A Smyth Seapark AC Mr M Cooke St Malachy’s AC Mr B O’Callaghan Ulster Athletics Council Mrs B Scott Unattached Mr K Scott Unattached
Mr G Carson Victoria Park and Connswater Mr L Cochrane Willowfield T Harriers AC Mr R Black Willowfield T Harriers Ms K Walls Willowfield T Harriers
1. Apologies
Mr T Alderdice, Mr C Atkinson, Mrs P Brown, Mr B Brodie, Mrs J Brodie, Ms E Ferguson, Mrs E Glover, Mr J Glover, Mr R Mack, Mr D McKibbin, Mr R Montgomey.l
2. Minute’s Silence
The Chair opened by welcoming everyone to the meeting. He then spoke briefly about those who had passed away throughout the past 18 months:
Ronnie O’Neill – Lagan Valley AC – 17/8/18 Frank Ward – Olympic AC – 24/8/18 Darren Hogg – Murlough AC – 2/9/18 Crawford McKibbin –Brother of D McKibbin – 23/12/18 George Williamson – Sparta – 25/12/18
Tommy Tyrell – East Antrim Harriers – 4/1/19 Brian McCorkell – Lagan Valley AC – 14/1/19 Craig Lynch – Shercock AC – 8/9/19 John McAdorey – Ballymena & Antrim AC – 25/9/19
There followed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to remember all those who had passed away.
3. Previous Minutes
The Minutes of the 2018 AGM were deemed to be accurate. The minutes were proposed for adoption by Mrs B Scott and seconded by Mr J Quinn.
4. Honorary Secretary’s Report (including reports from senior staff and sub committees)
The Honorary Secretary’s Report was received. Further to the report circulated the Honorary Secretary stated that the membership of ANI was now 8,600 athletes.
The following reports were also received:
Business & Operations Report Coaching & Athlete Development Report Events & Commercial Report Athlete Development Report Coach Development Report Track & Field Competitions Committee Report Cross Country & Road Running Report NI Masters Athletics Association Report NI Mountain Running Association Report
5. Honorary Treasurer’s Report
The Honorary Treasurer’s Report was received. Further to the report circulated the Honorary Treasurer stated he had being carrying out this role for 26 years. He was pleased that the auditors found ANI fit for purpose and also pleased with the 16% increase in retained earnings from the last year end in September 2017. He said that the audit process was very strict and it took over 2 months to deal with all the auditor’s queries. 6. Chair’s Remarks
The Chair began his report by stating that he had been the Chair of ANI for 12 years and thanked everyone involved in athletics for the support they had given him over that period. He also thanked the Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer for all the work they did, a lot of which was unseen He wished J Allen all the best as he takes over the role of Chair. He then thanked A Wall for taking the minutes this evening.
He thanked the two main committees for all the work they do on a voluntary basis. In the Cross Country and Road Running Committee, J Quinn and T Wall have acted as Chair and Secretary respectively for many years. This meeting would also see J McLaughlin step down from this committee, which he had been involved in for over 25 years. He had been a top class athlete before joining this committee and would be greatly missed. He also referred to the work done by J Alexander and B Scott on the Competitions Committee.
He went on to say that a lot of our officials are recognised at a UK level, with J Alexander often helping at national events. He congratulated K Scott on being awarded Young Official of the Year by Sport NI. He also said that other regions in the UK envy the standard of officials we have in Northern Ireland.
He then talked about the role that J Glover plays in athletics in Northern Ireland and the way he works tirelessly for the sport. He was delighted that he was recently awarded the British Empire Medal.
He then thanked Jackie Newton for all the work she had put into the most recent Commonwealth Games. The results from these games with regard to athletics had been very good, which will have a positive impact on the funding we received. Leon Reid had got a bronze in the 200m, and our other athletes had also
performed well. Dempsey McGuigan was 6th in the hammer, Emma Mitchell broke a Northern Ireland record, Adam Kirk-Smith was 8th in the steeplechase, Kate O’Connor was 8th in the heptathlon and Kevin Seaward was 4th in the marathon,
He also thanked the office staff members, who were led by Kerry Woods. He felt that the office was always a very pleasant place to visit. He thought that Kerry was always professional, helpful and cheerful and that athletics owed a great debt to all the office staff.
He then thanked Dr I. Taylor for his work to date as President. The post involved a great time commitment and involved a lot of travel. It was interesting that he was the third English President following Brian Downing and Pam Brown.
He was heartened that ANI now had over 8,000 members. It was really a small business following the taking off of the jogging boom. He has been in the sport since he was 13, and had always worked with some great people. He remembered Les Jones who had always influenced him and had left a great legacy.
He finally wished David Abrahams all the best in his new post of Vice-Chair. David would become Chair of ANI after a year. He was a former international athlete and will bring great business acumen to the post.
7. Election of Office Bearers
President: Dr I Taylor No election
Vice Presidents: Mr T Alderdice No election Mr J Glover
These Vice Presidents are to stand in for the President when they are unable to attend an event.
Honorary Life Members J Allen proposed the R Corry and D Seaton are appointed as honorary life members following their stepping down as Honorary Treasurer and Chair respectively. He also proposed that J Quinn be appointed as an honorary life member. This was agreed by all present.
Chair: Mr J Allen No election Vice-Chair: Mr D Abrahams By appointment Honorary Treasurer: Mr A Wall By appointment
8. Election of Other Honorary Positions, Sub-Committees & Delegates to Other Bodies
Cross Country & Road Running Proposed Seconded Mr D Seaton Mr L Cochrane Mrs M Mathieson Mrs M Mathieson Ms W Davis Dr I Taylor Mr J Quinn Mrs M Mathieson Dr I Taylor Mr R Black Mr A Wall Mr R Fullerton Mr P Magee Mr G Carson Ms W Davis Mr R Montgomery Mrs M Mathieson Mr J McGarvey Mr R Fullerton Mr D Seaton Mr L Cochrane Mr R Corry Ms W Davis Mrs M Mathieson Mr J McGarvey Mr A Wall Mr D Seaton Mr L Cochrane Mr R Corry Mr R Fullerton
Track & Field Competitions Committee Proposed Seconded Mrs B Scott Ms W Davis Mrs W Philips Ms S Nixon Mrs W Philips Ms W Davis Mrs E Ferguson Mrs B Scott Ms W Davis Mrs W Phillips Mr K Scott Dr I Taylor Mr R Mack Mrs B Scott Mrs A Maguire
Ms W Davis Mr R Fullerton Mrs B Scott Mr K Scott Ms W Davis Mrs W Philips Mrs E Glover Mrs A Maguire Mr R Fullerton Mr J Glover Mr K Scott Mrs B Scott Mr R Fullerton Ms W Davis Mrs W Philips Mr F Marsh Ms J Newton Mr D Seaton
Although 11 people were nominated for this committee, which is one more than required, J Allen felt that rather than go through an election, the committee should co-opt one of the above at their next meeting. This was agreed as the best course of action.
Prior to the nominations for this committee, J Alexander stated that she was not going for re-election, due to her frustration regarding the increased disconnect between the number of athletes in Northern Ireland and those taking part in competitions. She felt this was due to delays in ANI publishing its Competition Strategy. A vision for the future of track and field competition was needed quickly. In response, J Newton thanked J Alexander for all she had done. Work on the strategy was ongoing and a lot of time had already been put into it. Feedback had been sought from the athletics community and this was currently being analysed. It was hoped to have the strategy ready by this December and it would be put before the Track and Field Competitions Committee at their first meeting after this for their comments. W Philips also thanked J Alexander for all she had done and voiced her frustration in the delay to this strategy being produced.
Proposed Seconded Legal Advisers: Stephen Scott & Company Mr R Corry Mr R Montgomery
Facilities Inspectors: It was agreed that this role should be held in abeyance as the UKA’s Trackmark had superseded the work of the inspectors.
Auditors: Hill Vellacott Mr R Corry Dr I Taylor
Media Liaison Officers: As with the facilities inspectors it was agreed that these roles should be held in abeyance. G Carson was unaware he was a medial liaison officer for ANI.
Statisticians: It was agreed that this role was no longer relevant.
NI Sports Forum: ANI currently has no members on the board of the NI Sports Forum, although it is invited to their meetings. The Honorary Secretary will look at which officers will represent the sport at its meetings. It was asked how appointments were made to the Forum, to which J Allen replied it was by an election.
Mary Peters Trust: Mr T Wall Mr J Allen Mr R Corry
CWG Council: Any 3 Board Members Mr J Allen Mr R Corry
9. Motion Before the Meeting
Submitted by the Ultra Running Group and North Down AC Article 1.1 Interpretation Under the section ‘Discipline or Disciplines of Athletics’ Add ULTRA RUNNING to the list. This was passed unanimously. W Philips asked if ultra-runners would now receive funding. J Allen replied that this would only be done on a merit basis. He gave the example of NIMRA who often fund themselves for competitions. He also stated that ultra-running was any distance longer than a marathon.
10. To Decide upon the Annual Affiliation Fee and Annual Registration Fee
K Woods explained that as it was some time since the affiliation fee has been raised, ANI were proposing the new fee for those over 16 would be £12 (up from £10) and those for athletes aged between 11 and 15 be £6 (up from £5) This would come into effect from 1st April 2020. There was no proposal for increasing the registration fee from its current level of £100. However, the general feeling was that rather than wait, all fees should go up at the same time. A new registration fee of £120 was therefore suggested, with £60 for associate clubs (i.e. promoters of road races). There was unanimous support for these increases.
It was asked why affiliation fees were not paid by athletes under 11. J Allen replied that this was mainly due to the lack of competitions for these athletes.
Before the meeting closed G Carson asked how D Abrahams had been appointed. J Allen referred him to the minutes of last year where the procedures had been agreed upon. Moreover, the advertising for this post had been as wide as the advertising for any position, paid or otherwise, in ANI.
The meeting closed at 8.30pm.
Tony Wall Minutes Secretary
Honorary Treasurer's
Report
Tony Wall Year Ended 31st March 2020
It gives me great pleasure to report to the members of Council at the Annual General Meeting on the financial statements for the 12 months ending on 31st March 2020 as presented within the body of the report and appended thereto.
The accounts as prepared were presented to the Management Board on 23rd September 2020 and carry the appropriate auditor’s certificate in accordance with the Memorandum & Articles of Association under article 5.1.4. The accounts as presented were approved by the Management Board and reflect a £121 profit after tax, giving retained earnings of £78,335. The tax charge is so high as some was owing from last year. Whilst the majority of this financial year was much the same as any other, in the final month of March the first impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic were felt with the cancellation of many events, including the Titanic 10k and Craic 10k races as well as Jimmy’s 10 and several other club races. The ongoing nature of the pandemic will have a major impact on ANI’s revenue streams in the forthcoming year.
Details of the above can be found in pages 7 & 8 of the financial statements, with further details provided in the notes to the accounts on pages 9-12.
Budgetary Control Budgets presented to the board attempt to reduce costs without depleting the reason for our existence, however, we are always exploring future opportunities for income generation. We have a duty of care to ensure effective credit control and governance is exercised at all times. The outlook for 2020/2021 requires adherence to budgets, ensuring no adverse or unusual policy decisions and good housekeeping on both internal and external controls. However, it has been difficult setting a budget when the outlook is so uncertain, and whilst less activity reduces expenditure, it has a bigger impact on income. Therefore, it will be more important than ever to ensure that no money is wasted. The main priority is to try and retain our excellent members of staff whilst providing the same level of service to our members.
Conclusion The main objects of the company have been achieved as well as the promotion and control of athletics in Northern Ireland including our management of athletic competition, coaching and high-profile international events on our limited budget.
May I take this opportunity to thank all who have assisted me during my first year as Honorary Treasurer, in particular our outgoing Chair, John Allen MBE, our Vice-Chair David Abrahams, the President Dr Ian Taylor and representatives of the Management Board and all Committees. I would also thank all our professional and administration staff for their valued support and assistance, especially Kerry Woods whose assistance has been invaluable to me in my first year as Honorary Treasurer.
Just a final word on John Allen who has been Secretary of ANI for many years and Chair for the past year. The immense amount of time and effort he puts into the sport is often not appreciated, but athletics in Northern Ireland would be far poorer without him and hopefully he can continue in some role in the future.
Director of Business &
Operations Report
Kerry Woods
The overwhelming challenge since the last AGM Coleraine. The availability of suitable venues has undoubtedly been the Covid-19 pandemic, remains an issue, but there are increasing and this has impacted on the sport at every level. numbers at each event, proving how popular In March we saw a complete lockdown, causing cross country has become. We have already had all staff to immediately commence working from to postpone some cross country fixtures for the home, all events to be cancelled, club training 2020/2021 Season, but we are hopeful that we and squads to stop, and facilities to close. Seven can work within the restrictions to deliver some months on and we still face considerable races in the coming months. challenges. The offices remain closed, numbers are still limited at facilities, and the fixture lists are Our outdoor Track & Field Season has been decimated. It has been fantastic to see how our significantly affected by Covid-19. Although the clubs, coaches, officials, staff and event dates were postponed, we managed to deliver organisers have risen to these challenges, and our Age Group, Senior and Combined Events ensured a safe return to athletics while working to Championships. The protocols needed for these an incredible amount of protocols and ever- Championships were extensive, and our thanks changing guidance. We have worked extremely goes to the officials and volunteers who ensured hard to guide the sport through the restrictions they were enforced and that we delivered Covid- and are greatly appreciative of the efforts and safe competition. City of Lisburn AC contributed support that the athletics community has given greatly to the T&F fixtures this year with a through-out this time. successful series of competitions held at the Mary Peters Track. As we approach the winter months Pre-Covid, we had a very successful 2019/2020 we hope to be able to deliver some winter track Cross Country Season, despite atrocious weather meets, but Executive and Sport NI guidance will on occasion. Championship events were held at shape these. Greenmount, Billy Neill Centre of Excellence in Dundonald, Gosford Forest and Ulster University,
The Road Race Calendar was another casualty of We are indebted to the officials and volunteers the pandemic, with almost every race cancelled who work valiantly to ensure we deliver from March. Our own TQ10k was run as a virtual competitions and races safely and to the highest race, and the usual Les Jones 10k fixture in May standard. We were delighted that David Marrs was run as a 5k in October. The current (Photo Finish) was awarded the Sport NI restrictions make planning races a challenge, and SportMaker Technical Official of the Year, and we thank Glenn Grant for his endeavours in Lawson Cochrane the Belfast City Council providing a number of recent race opportunities. Volunteer of the Year.
We continue to work closely with other bodies, Management Board saw a number of changes, particularly Sport NI as we deliver our Sporting with John Allen taking the role of Chair, David Clubs and Sporting Winners programme. The Abrahams the role of Vice Chair, and Tony Wall investment from Sport NI has allowed us to grow the role of Treasurer. We have also recently and develop athletes from grassroots participants appointed three new Board Members, including to Olympic qualifiers. The number of recent Paul Lawther, Valerie McDonough and David records broken is detailed in other reports, but it Marrs. is proof that the investment is paying dividends. On 25th November John Allen will be replaced as Recent months has seen our working relationship Chair by David Abrahams, and Paul Lawther will with UK Athletics and the Home Country Athletic take on the role of Vice Chair. In the coming Federations of England Athletics, Welsh Athletics months we will be reviewing our Memorandum and Scottish Athletes flourish. We are working to and Articles, and look forward to updating you on deliver on outcomes from a Welfare & that in due course. Having been involved in Safeguarding Review, and are excited to be Athletics NI for so many years, John Allen will be working on a UK Wide Strategy for Athletics sorely missed, but we hope that he remains which has been developed collaboratively involved in other aspects and that his advice, following the UK Athletics Review published in skills, knowledge and passion for athletics will May. This joint Strategy will involve staff from the continue for some time yet. I wish to offer him my five organisations working together to ensure the personal thanks for his support and guidance long-term success of the sport. since I started with Athletics NI, and hope that he remains closely involved. Following the last AGM, the Athletics NI
Director of Coaching & Athlete
Development Report
Jackie Newton
2020 has been a challenging year and the impact Consult and communicate on the vision, of the pandemic has been felt across our sport. aims and philosophy more thoroughly and With time lost, during lockdown, for training and broadly for shared understanding and competition many athletes, coaches and club agreement of direction personnel feared the worst but as restrictions Raise the profile of our sport and our were eased the will of the athletics community athletes to attract more interest and more was felt as clubs worked to get back to training, albeit in a socially distanced fashion, and new commercial investment. competitions were instigated that gave athletes Athletics and Running for all the opportunity to perform during the late summer As a sport covering many different events within months. It has been tremendous to see drive and the disciplines of track and field, cross country, passion and a different way of thinking that has road running and mountain running, we need to overcome such difficult circumstances. With the cater for a diverse population. Work is ongoing help of coaches and clubs, we changed threat throughout the Athlete Development Pathway and into opportunity as we saw other ways of working. we have recently launched an exciting new We are now looking at how we take these project, Run NI, to cater for the Road Running learnings into a new era as we work on our next Community. strategy. We were delighted to appoint Paula Wallace and The 2017 – 2021 strategy has been extended for Patricia Campbell, at the end of last year, to join an extra year to 2022 so that it stays in line with our team and to focus on the new road runners the Olympic cycle. As a staff, we have undertaken and their leaders. Along with Allister Woods a review of the strategy and will use this ‘extra’ (Coach & Club Development Officer) and Shauna year to work on projects that will transition us Bratten (Marketing & Communications Manager), through to the next cycle. The review recognised they have been working on the new Run NI that much has been achieved in this cycle but that initiative, that aims to bridge the gap between there are areas to improve and this includes: casual running groups and Athletics NI affiliated Greater support and a joined-up approach clubs, with Paula covering the east of the country with ANI and our clubs to help modernise and Patricia covering the west. Run NI offers the system specific benefits to new running groups, including Embed development programmes within on the ground support from Paula and Patricia; the clubs that will increase numbers, of access to a Run Leaders Toolkit, with helpful athletes, coaches and volunteers and information to support the growth of their running create more depth of talent in all areas groups, and a new Run NI website and Modernise the competition programme associated social media channels. The aim is to transition new runners into members of Athletics with more exciting and appropriate events Clubs or for the Running Group to become an for today’s athlete affiliated club itself. We want to retain these
runners for life, no matter which direction they and leaders about Pelvic Health, and leading take. Some may discover they have a talent for Paralympic Coach, Joe McDonnell to work on running and transition through to clubs and our speed development with Para athletes and their supported programmes and some may stay at a coaches. Tom Reynolds, Laura Kerr and Amy participation level whilst supporting the sport Foster have brought in leading Sport through leading, coaching or volunteering. Psychologist, Jamie Taylor to work with 10 Youth Academy coaches and their athletes for a year on In addition, our Coach and Athlete Development Psychological Characteristics of Developing team strive to bring high levels of expertise in the Excellence and, in addition, ran two Coach form of master classes to our coaches and Development Zoom series through lockdown that athletes. This year, Heather Ardis invited leading brought experts from various domains and from female health physiotherapist Grainne O’Donnell across the world to speak to our coaches in two to talk to 40 female runners and their coaches weekly series.
Club modernisation and good practice at the Fundamental stage of the pathway as well as delivering it through Panthers Throughout the 2017 – 2021 cycle, Allister and Elks. We plan to extend this Woods, our Coach and Club Development Officer programme over the coming months to has been supporting clubs that have been other areas of the country. Athletics 365 working towards Clubmark status. Clubmark is focuses on movement skills including the quality standard for Sports Clubs and helps agility, balance and co-ordination, speed, clubs to drive modernisation by putting in place jumping and landing to support a multi- effective structures and best practice in coaching sport approach and safeguarding thus protecting clubs and their At the Foundation level we support members. It also helps clubs to access funding athletes, coaches, parents and teachers and discounted rates. We have been delighted to through programmes including Flahavan’s see Orangegrove AC, Ward Park Runners, Junior Endurance Squad, Star Track and Belfast Running Club and St. Anne’s AC gain the Rising Stars. These programmes focus on Clubmark accreditation during the last year. running, jumping and throwing skills to support a multi-event approach, Athlete Development Pathway and appreciating the athlete may still be programmes involved in multiple sports. We are pleased that several clubs have recently We have in place several programmes that set up Rising Stars programmes within support coaches and athletes at each stage of the their structure. These include City of Athlete Development Pathway: Lisburn Athletics Club, Orangegrove, We deliver Athletics 365 training for clubs North Down and Ballymena & Antrim. and schools and encourage this approach At the Event Group stage we support
coach-athlete pairs through Event Group Specialist stage where the focus is squads for javelin, shot, hurdles, narrowed again to a specialist event within horizontal jumps and combined events- an event group these have run weekly for the past year. Our Podium Potential programme The Commonwealth Potential and supports coaches and athletes at the Marathon Potential programmes support Performance stage in helping them coaches and athletes at the Event prepare to compete at the highest level.
We have undergone our Pathways ‘health check’ Antrim & Newtownabbey and Newry, Mourne & with Sport NI and have identified several areas of Down. This year, we have had increased funding work for the next year that feed into our overall from Antrim & Newtownabbey and have been strategic aims. These include the development of able to appoint Emma McCay to join Aaron a shared culture that strives for continuous McKendry as a full-time member of staff. Newry, improvement and high standards in everything we Mourne and Down have appointed an outside do; raising the profile of our sport and attracting agency to run their athletics programmes who link partners and sponsors; developing a wider with us for appropriate coaches and to run coaching workforce to support pathways athletes. Athletics NI programmes. Currently, Aaron and Emma, along with Dean Adams our University Everybody Active Athletics Development Officer, are working with The aim of the Everybody Active programme is to and supporting several clubs to embed Rising grow participation across Northern Ireland with Stars and its curriculum within the clubs to ensure specific targets for those aged 14 – 25, females the transition of these athletes into the club and those from areas of high social need. For system. The EBA project will end in April 2021 athletics, the funding supports regular athletics and we are waiting to hear, from Sport NI, about opportunities in the council areas of Belfast, its replacement.
Competition Modernisation Amongst the difficulties created by the pandemic this summer, it has been fabulous to see clubs that have not hosted regular competition before, take on the challenge. I thank those who responded to the request and for trialling some of the different formats that will be a big part of the way we compete as we go forward. Much work is being done with British Athletics and the other HCAFs on the next strategy. The strategic priorities will be: 1. Event Specific Competitions: To strategically and actively promote and encourage an expansion of Event Specific Competitions (local, mid-week, 7-9pm, self-funded or surplus for club and host). 2. Volunteer and official recruitment, support and retention: To strategically and actively promote and encourage a drive for volunteer and official recruitment. Reward, retention and training programmes will be developed.
3. Facilities strategy: We will lobby for a Centre of Excellence, that includes an indoor track where we can hold our own indoor championships in Northern Ireland 4. Event Presentation: To enhance the “customer experience” at all track and field events. Customers include athletes, spectators and officials. Innovation and listening to the customer will be central to this approach, with IT seen as core to the athlete experience. 5. Championships: That the NI & Ulster Championships attracts the best athletes 6. U18 competition: Suitable U18 competition is available in the selection window for European/World U18 events where implement weight / hurdle height differs from UK standards. Such events are seen as vital to enable athletes to prepare and demonstrate necessary form for selection. It is expected such events can be integrated into a variety of competition environments - Event Specific, Championship, Open Graded etc. 7. Under 11/13s competition: Wider physical literacy development at this age requires wider involvement with schools. Collaboration will be a key focus.
Thanks I would like to thank the Pathways team, Laura Kerr, Tom Reynolds, Amy Foster and Heather Ardis for the outstanding contributions they make to the programmes and projects that we deliver. Their vision, commitment and drive for excellence continues to raise our standards. I also want to thank Allister Woods, our Coach and Club Development Officer and Dean Adams our University Development Officer for the fabulous work they do in their respective areas along with Aaron McKendry and Emma McCay, EveryBody Active Coaches, who drive participation in the communities.
Thanks also to Paula Wallace and Patricia Campbell for the innovative work they are carrying out in Running Participation and to Luke Dinsmore who works as our administration assistant. I would also like to thank Shauna Bratten, Marketing and Communications Manager and Catherine Ashford, Events and Commercial Manager for their collaboration on Coaching and Athlete Development projects.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the entire Athletics NI board for their support and guidance. Most importantly, I would like to thank all of the athletes, coaches, officials, tutors and volunteers that make up our Athletics community and are the lifeblood of our sport
Events & Commercial Report
Catherine Ashford
We have had an extremely busy events calendar host events in a safe environment, since the previous AGM, however, there were many events which have been postponed or We have worked extremely hard to host our cancelled due to COVID-19. The events which events and are proud to be the only Home still took place provided us with more challenges Country to host a full Track & Field season this due to the amount of protocols that are now year, while ensuring this was carried out in a safe enforced to keep all our athletes, marshals/ manner. Thank you to everyone involved in officials, volunteers, staff and spectators safe. We helping to manage this, especially with the had drawn up protocols for each discipline to circumstances this year. allow Athletics NI and other event organisers to
Below I will give a brief overview of each of our events:
Flahavan’s Primary School Cross Country NI & Ulster Even & Uneven Age Group League – 2019/20 Championships – 26th October & 9th November With over 4000 children taking part this year, the The NI & Ulster Age Group Cross Country Flahavan’s Cross Country league continues to Championships where held at CAFRE Campus, grow and we have received positive feedback Greenmount and Billy Neill MBE Country Park, from teachers and parents. This year we Dundonald. Billy Neill had terrible weather which introduced chip timing for the first time for all the made the event more challenging on the day in rounds and the final, to ease the organisation of terms of car parking, the course and health and the events with the increasing number of children safety of the athletes, marshals and volunteers. taking part. We also added two brand ambassadors to help with the promotion of the We also incorporated an international element league. into the Bobby Rea race which brought athletes from a number of countries, due to there being no
Northern Ireland International Cross Country this virtual races in the UK and Ireland to take place year. during lockdown. There was a huge uptake of the virtual race having over 800 athletes and families Podium 4 Sport Seeley Cup 10k – 30th complete either the 10k challenge or 1k fun run. November Podium 4 Sport had agreed to continue their Virtual Grant Thornton 5k Run – 25th June sponsorship for the 2019 event. There was a field Usually each year this corporate event takes of 1,000 runners which was organised by place at Belfast City Airport. However, this was Willowfield Harriers and assisted by Athletics NI. another event affected by COVID. The event was held as a virtual race along with the other Grant NI & Ulster Intermediate & Masters Cross Thornton Races which take place throughout Country Championships – 25th January Ireland. We struggled to find a venue for the Intermediate & Masters at first, however, we ended up hosting NI & Ulster Track & Field Championships – it at Gosford Forest Park. This was a great venue 15th & 16th August & 12th & 13th September and this was the first time we have ever hosted Both the age group and senior championships an event here; we were able to get a great 2k had been postponed from June to August and loop and there was an ample amount of parking September. In order to manage the numbers that and changing facilities. We hope to go back here were taking part we had to split each event for future events. across two days. We received positive feedback from these events and having them over two days NI & Ulster Senior Cross-Country is something that may continue in the future. Championships – 22nd February The event was held at Ulster University, NI & Ulster Multi Event Championships – 26th Coleraine which had previously hosted the NI & & 27th September Ulster Intermediate & Masters a number of years This was a great competition over the 2-day ago. There was a lot of work that went into the period at Mary Peters Track. We had a massive course with the help of Springwell RC; Ulster number of U13s and U15s taking part which was University and the Causeway Coast and Glens great to see as well as a record in the U17 boys Council. We are hoping that this venue can be and a very close competition in both the Junior used on an annual basis for our cross-country Men and Senior Men’s competition, with guest season. The event was also sponsored by Phillip athletes from Scotland and England. Tweedie Estate Agents. Les Jones 5k – 3rd October NI & Ulster Indoor Track & Field Normally the Les Jones Memorial race is a 10k Championships – 1st & 2nd February however, this was postponed back in May and we These championships where held at the National decided to run it as a 5k instead this year. The Sports Campus in Abbotstown across two event was capped at 280 participants and they consecutive days. The facilities were exceptional were sent off in waves of 30 around the normal however, they lacked suitable equipment start at the Mary Peters Track before they set off meaning we had to bring most items including onto the towpath. hurdles, shots and a lot of other items from other venues. This will be taken into consideration Virtual Belfast City Marathon Run when planning the next indoors. The Belfast City Marathon was cancelled this year, however we were able to continue working Virtual TQ10k – 29th March in partnership with the Marathon office, to host The TQ10k was the first event to get cancelled the Virtual Belfast Marathon. This was a huge this year due to COVID-19. We decided to try it success and had over 3500 participants taking out as a virtual race as this was one of the first part during lockdown
Below is a list of the events which have had to be cancelled: - Belfast International EAP Meet - Belfast Marathon & Half Marathon - Cash for Kids Santa Dash - SPAR Craic 10K - IAAF Northern Ireland International Cross Country
Commercial Report
I am delighted to say that many of our partners and sponsors are continuing their support of Athletics Northern Ireland. Unfortunately our sponsor of four years, DW Fitness First have been forced into administration and as such, will no longer be continuing their partnership with us.
Athletics NI would like to thank the following partners, funders & sponsors for their support over the past few years, without which many events and programmes could not have taken place:
Aftershokz – Headphones Partner Antrim Hills Water – Official Hydration Partner Championchip Ireland – Chip Timing Provider Crowne Plaza – Official Hotel Partner Dale Farm – Protein Milk provider for Youth Academy Decathlon – Partner for the 5k+ programme, a 5k-10k training programme. Grahams Traffic Management– Traffic Management Partner Kingsbridge Private Hospital – Private Hospital Partner Flahavan’s Porridge Oats – Primary School Cross Country League Sponsor Little Rays Nursery – Official clothing sponsor for the Youth Academy programme Phillip Tweedie Estate Agents – Sponsor of NI & Ulster Senior Cross Country Championship Runderwear – Sports Underwear Partner Skechers – Shoe Partner
Others – Antrim & Newtownabbey Council, Belfast City Council, Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon Council, Lisburn & Castlereagh Council, Sport NI and British Athletics.
Marketing & Communications
Report
Shauna Bratten
The Marketing & Communication campaigns issued regular updates via the ‘Coronavirus continue to enhance the profile of Athletics NI, Advice’ page on the website, along with email and through our events, programmes and raising the social media marketing, to advise the club profile of our athletes. Athletics NI attracts a high committees, coaches and event organisers, on level of press coverage across online, print and the guidance available along with our regular broadcast media, including regular coverage in communications about upcoming events and the News Letter, Irish News, Ulster Herald and courses. Belfast Telegraph. Website The majority of the messages from Athletics NI to Overall visits to the Athletics NI website have our membership have been concerning the unfortunately been impacted by the current Coronavirus pandemic and the various protocols pandemic. The impact on local running and track and guidelines. The situation over the past year & field events have led to the decrease in visits to has highlighted the importance of good, clear and the website from March 2020 onwards, which is timely communication with our members, clubs slowly beginning to increase as events resume as and coaches and making sure that our staff are shown in the table below: informed as to the latest guidance. We have Oct 2019- Jan Jan- April April- July July- Oct 2020 2020 2020 2020 Users 73,386 76,324 36,772 52,673 Sessions 179,550 183,164 77,075 141,684 Page-views 457,810 448,911 184,056 378,304
The table below shows the current figures for 2019/2020 in comparison with previous years: 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 Visitors 232,662 258,614 262,125 287,124 203,994 Sessions 696,135 799,059 811,046 864,146 545,271 Page Views 2,144,638 2,276,310 2,177,577 2,263,898 1,373,474 New Users 30.66% 28.2% 28.2% 27.8% 27,3% Top Referring NI Running NI Running Primo Events Primo Events Championchip Site (16.28%) (10.66%) (6.05%) (8.36%) (6.11%) Highest Views 10th April 14th Jan 8th April 1st Aug 12th Sept (15,623) (10,821) (13,370) (12,346) (10,186) *Figures taken from 1st October.
Social Media accounts, 3 Instagram accounts and 2 Youtube Athletics NI has a significant social media accounts. Our social media presence has recently presence, with 11 Facebook pages, 4 Twitter grown to include the Run NI project.
referrals coming from the network for the period The number of social media followers continues 1st October 2019- 1st October 2020. to grow on the Athletics NI main accounts on The below table shows the followers for each the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. main Athletics NI social media channels from Facebook remains the main social media source January 2020- September 2020: of referrals to the website, with over 82% of social Jan 2020 April July September Facebook 10,746 11,132 11,331 11,574 Twitter 9,407 9,613 9,750 9,934 Instagram 2,400 2,729 3,030 3,229 Youtube 441 453 462 533
The below table shows the current followers for each of the different accounts that Athletics NI controls: Facebook Twitter AthleticsNI 11,835 Athletics NI 9,955 Belfast International 199 EBA2020 158 ANI Primary Schools 576 MP2024 50 Buggy Club NI 1,817 Run NI 136 Athletics NI Coaches 1,916 Instagram StarTrack Athletics 200 Athletics NI 3,240 Les Jones Memorial 551 MP2024 148 Titanic Quarter 10k 4,876 Run NI 330 MPT Panthers 192 Youtube Mary Peters Track 1,415 Athletics NI 533 Run NI 361 NI Futures 64 *Stats as of 20th October 2020
Email Marketing Club Affiliation, Registrations & Permits An important part of the Marketing & As acting Admin & Events Assistant, I also Communication activity is our email marketing oversee the Club Affiliations, Registrations and campaigns. We have a contact database of Permit Applications. Athletics NI currently have 94 49,846, with monthly newsletters sent to a affiliated clubs, with a membership of over 6,414. membership of over 14,800. As lock down was enforced in March and the current registration year started in April, From 1st October 2019- 1st October 2020, we sent registrations and club affiliations were significantly email campaigns to approximately 263,402 impacted by this, with many clubs, recipients, with an average open rate of 33.86%. understandably, not registering their athletes until The standard average open rate for email they were able to return to some form of training. campaigns is between 15-25%, so our open rate We have had 3 new clubs affiliate with Athletics continues to be satisfactory for our size of NI since April 2020. organisation. Below shows details of the Permits issued from 2016- 2021, once again showing the significant impact the pandemic has had: 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 Cross Country 27 19 32 26 3 Road Races 324 258 315 137 82 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Track & Field 14 7 13 15 16
#KeepActiveKeepSafe during Covid. We have been very lucky that our sport has been allowed to continue, even through Athletics NI have had a number of campaigns and the worst of the lock down, with our members programmes to help keep people motivated being able to use their one exercise a day to go
for a run or simply get outdoors. The campaigns and North America. include the following: Virtual C25k & Buggy Club June Challenge Club Heroes campaign In an effort to keep people motivated and to From May onwards we had our Club Heroes support local charities, whose fundraising efforts campaign, where we highlighted the work of club where greatly impacted by the pandemic, we members who were helping to support and hosted 3 Virtual C25k programmes and our motivate their local community through the lock Buggy Club NI, held a Buggy Club June down period. We asked our clubs and members Challenge. The two schemes raised an amazing to nominate individuals, or groups, that they £701.68 for charity. thought deserved recognition for their creative training ideas, motivation to other members, or Video Challenges their charitable giving to their local community. Athletics NI created a number of video challenges This gave us the opportunity to thank our club to help engage our members and to give them members for their hard work and dedication to the some fun challenges to do during lockdown. sport. Throughout May members of our Coaching Department put together weekly video challenges Coaching Webinar series aimed at Foundation level athletes, which were Athletics NI hosted two Coaching Development shared on our Facebook page. We also did some Zoom series- ‘The Art & Science of Coaching other fun challenges for members of all abilities, Running’ and ‘The Development of Speed & such as our Toilet Roll Challenge, the #DontRush Power Athletes’. The webinars were hosted by Challenge and the Hand-Washing Squats our Coaching Department, with a wide range of Challenge. speakers from across the UK, Ireland, Europe
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Report
Athletics Northern Ireland continue to work on improving the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for all who are involved in the sport of athletics, whether they are staff, athletes, coaches, parents, officials or volunteers. I am delighted to say that we achieved the Preliminary Level of the Equality Standard for Sport in July of this year.
We are now only one in seven sports within Northern Ireland to have achieved this level and will continue to work towards an equal and inclusive sport for all. We have worked on a number of Equality projects over the past year, including the Female Athlete Health project with Grainne Donnelly; ensuring our workforce has an awareness of Equality issues by providing training on Mental Health Awareness; Disability Inclusion and Equality & Diversity Inclusion; as well as the Ireland-wide 20x20 Campaign, to increase the media coverage of females in sport by 20% by 2020. Through our media campaigns we have helped increase the awareness of Equality issues, and to raise the profile of athletics as an inclusive sport.
Athletics Northern Ireland have also been working with UK Athletics and the other Home Countries on a variety of Equality initiatives, including the Athletics Pride Network, which will be rolled out to clubs over the next coming months.
Athlete Development Report
Tom Reynolds
in 2021. Four athletes have qualified for the Cross Country and Road Olympic Games in Tokyo (Ciara Mageean 800m / 1500m, Paul Pollock, Kevin Seaward and The 2019 European Cross-Country Stephen Scullion, Marathon) while three athletes Championships saw five Northern Ireland athletes have so far qualified for the Paralympic Games representing Ireland in Lisbon. Ciara Mageean including two defending champions (Jason and Fionnuala Ross in the Senior Women, Roisin Smyth, T13 100m, Michael McKillop & David and Eilish Flanagan in the U23 Women and Leavy, T37/38 1500m). Conor Bradley in the Senior Men. Records Despite the cancelled Major Championships, elite competitions were able to go ahead and in the short season there were eight senior NI records broken this year: Following on from her 2019 Mile and 1500m records Ciara Mageean broke the two-
minute barrier for The Irish Senior and U23 Women’s teams both the first time over picked up Silver Medals in the team competition 800m in Bern, and were in particular helped by Ciara Mageean’s Switzerland 20th place finish and Eilish Flanagan who was 9th (1:59.69). Ciara in the U23 Women’s race. also bettered the
3000m record with Kevin Seaward and Ann Marie McGlynn were 8:48.27 indoors and set an Irish 1000m record of both selected for the rescheduled World Half 2:31.06 at the Diamond League in Monaco. John Marathon Championships in Poland last month. Kelly set new figures in the Shot with 18.62m in Both athletes set personal bests when finishing Sweden, as did Stephen Scullion in September’s 58th and 42nd respectively. Larne Half Marathon in 1:01.08 and Ann Marie McGlynn at the World Half Marathon Track and Field Championships in Poland (1:11.40). The NI Marathon record was broken no less than three Much of the track and field season was times in the past year with Paul Pollock running decimated due to the pandemic with the World 2:10.25 in Valencia in December 2019, Kevin Indoors, European and European Para Seaward bettering this with 2:10.09 in Seville in Championships as well as Olympic and February and finally Stephen Scullion in Paralympic Games all cancelled. All but the October’s London Marathon 2:09.49. European Championships are due to take place
Centralised Training Camps University Athlete Development Dean Adams in his role as Ulster University In line with our Sporting Winners strategy, Athletics Development Officer has continued to centralised staff and service provider supported support and in some cases lead on the Athletics training camps took place pre-World & World- NI programmes based at UU facilities (Youth Para Championships for selected athletes. In Academy Jordanstown & Coleraine, Rising Stars January there were centralised endurance camps Jordanstown) as well as to lead on the in Spain and speed & power camps in Tenerife development of Athletics at UU by attracting for Podium and Commonwealth Potential athletes promising athletes to be based at the university before lockdown stopped any further camps from and supporting their development once there with going ahead. support services, scholarships and competition opportunities. Sport NI Athlete Award Athletics NI had successful applications approved Rising Stars Squads for funding towards living costs of the following A new approach is being taken towards the athletes who are not fully funded by BA / AAI but Foundation programme Rising Stars, with are training towards Tokyo: stronger links being forged between squads and Paul Pollock clubs to ensure that more squad athletes join Stephen Scullion clubs and therefore have a better chance of Eilish Flanagan remaining in the sport after they ‘graduate’ from a Kate O’Connor Rising Stars squad. Links between squads and clubs have been formed, with the hope to having Mary Peter’s Trust squads embedded in the club at a later stage, in the following regions: Antrim (BAAC), Bangor The Trust have supported six Youth Academy (NDAC), Belfast (COLAC, OAC). athletes in 2020: Anna McCauley Lauren Roy Ellie McCartney Grace Carson Fintan Stewart Eve Walsh-Dann
Event Group Squads Weekly Event Group Squads took place at Jordanstown and at Mary Peters with physical and technical preparation aimed at aspiring teenage athletes in the following Event Groups: Thanks
Throws led by Laura Kerr I would like to thank Athletics NI staff members, Jumps & Sprints led by Adam McMullen Youth Academy Coaches and Rising Stars Hurdles led by Tom Reynolds Coaches who have made the Athlete Development Pathway stronger over the past year. I would also like to thank the Clubs and Volunteers who are increasingly engaging with Athletics NI programmes and working hard to develop athletes across our sport.
Coach Development Report
Laura Kerr
Annual Coaching Conference qualification before coach education was suspended. In total since November the following The tenth Annual Coaching Conference took qualifications have been delivered: place this year on December 1st 2019 at Ulster 2 Assistant Coaching Courses (39 University, Jordanstown with 85 attendees. Assistant Coaches qualified.) Jackie Newton, Laura Kerr and Tom Reynolds 7 Leadership in Running and Fitness opened the conference by reviewing highlights (LIRF) Courses (172 Leaders qualified.) from 2019, giving credit to 13 Northern Ireland 2 Coach in Running Fitness (CIRF) Record breaking coach-athlete pairs (Senior & Courses (30 Coaches qualified.) U20) and to the coaches of the 43 athletes who 10 Coaches completed an Event Group were selected for major championships. Specialist Qualification 5 Coaches completed the new British The conference was headlined by British Athletics Athletics Physical Preparation in Athletics Head of Field and Combined Events, Peter Qualification Stanley, alongside Dr Steve Ingham -Author of ‘How to Support a Champion.’ There were event Athletics NI worked closely with British Athletics to develop and pilot a new ‘Physical Preparation for Athletics’ Qualification in January 2020. The majority of qualifications have now been revamped to reduce face to face contact due to Covid-19. LIRF, CIRF and Coaching Assistant now continue in a new blended learning format with online learning replacing classroom delivery. Practical elements continue outdoors.
The tutor workforce consists of 17 tutors with Alan Bogle and Jonathan Bloomfield recently joining specific sessions from Laura Turner-Alleyne the tutor team. I would like to thank Allister (West London Track & Field Club- Speed Woods for his all administrative work and Development), Ryan Spencer-Jones (Welsh managing course bookings. Athletics-Shot Put), Peter Stanley (Horizontal Jumps) and Colin Griffin (Sports Surgery Clinic, Coaching Awards Athletics Northern Ireland presented their annual Dublin-Strength and Conditioning for Endurance). coaching awards in conjunction with the Coaching Conference on 1st December. Coaches play a Coaching Qualifications valuable role in supporting and mentoring athletes Northern Ireland currently has 1015 qualified at all levels as they strive towards fulfilling their coaches with an active license. During November athletic potential and preparing for the future. The 19-March 2020, 240 people gained a formal following awards were presented to coaches
based on the performances of their athletes in the Elite Coach Development Programme 2018-2019 season: Senior Coach of the Year- Awarded to Launched in 2018 the Elite Coach Development Programme facilitated by Laura Kerr & Tom Steve Vernon, coach of Ciara Mageean Reynolds supported 14 of Northern Ireland’s Performance Coaches with a bespoke curriculum who achieved a top 10 Finish at the World delivered over 8 modules and 12 months. Championships in Doha Content was delivered in various formats and contributors included Tom Crick (Aspire, Qatar), Junior Performance Coach of the Year- Jonas Dodoo (Speedworks), Goldie Sayers Awarded to the Coaching Team of Kate (Olympic Bronze Medallist), Simon Harland (Commonwealth Games Lead Physiotherapist), O’Connor -European Junior Silver Paul Carragher (Sport Ireland Physiotherapist), Sharon Madigan (Sport Ireland Performance Medallist-Heptathlon Nutritionist) and David Lasini (Sport NI Sports Junior Para Coach of the Year- Institute Head of Strength and Conditioning.) The programme concluded in December 2019 when Awarded to Roger Sexton for his work Peter Stanley and Steve Ingham addressed the with Eve Walsh Dann the highest ranked group prior to the annual conference. The programme aimed to equip coaches of elite NI Junior Para Athlete in the world. athletes with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to evolve their coaching philosophy, integrate The award winners below were determined by a performance services into their programmes and cope with the pressures of major championships panel after review of all nominations from to deliver excellent athlete support. athletes, parents and clubs: Zoom Coach Development Series
Community Coach of the Year-Jointly During the Covid-19 lockdown of summer 2020 Awarded to Alistair Bratten and Trevor Athletics NI very successfully ran two Zoom series for coaches with 8 live online instalments. McGlynn for work in their local Taking place on week night evenings over the communities in the Causeway & Omagh course of 2 months the series hosted by Laura Kerr, Tom Reynolds & Jackie Newton featured areas multiple international coaches and attracted 2800 registrations from around the world. Development Coach of the Year- Awarded to Paul Kirkpatrick, North Both series were free of charge with every registered coach receiving a follow up video. We Down AC Throws Coach very much appreciate the time of the expert coaches who delivered and hope our local Young Coach of the Year- Awarded to coaches will continue to benefit from the learning Ashlene MacAnulty for her work with opportunity provided. Feedback received was extremely positive and we hope to build upon schools and junior groups in Newry these series in future years.
Talent Development Report
Youth Academy 2020-21 development programmes running at the same Led by Laura Kerr, Tom Reynolds & Amy Foster, time. This funding will support the travel of a the Youth Academy relaunched in October 2020 further 24 athletes and 16 coaches during 2021 & with 13 new athletes selected and 25 returning. 2022. This is in addition to funding already Athletes aged 15-21 received a physiotherapy received for spend in 2021. screening, training diary and strength diagnostics assessment at the launch day and undertook an British Athletics Talent Framework annual review and goal setting session with their Athletics NI now deliver a Talent Hub on behalf of British Athletics and therefore are responsible for aligning our talent work with the BA Framework and with the other home countries. Staff are in regular contact with British Athletics Pathways Managers and are developing templates for individual athlete plans, musculoskeletal screenings and athlete profiling tools to meet requirements of the framework which has been designed by UK Sport. Enhanced collaboration with the other home countries talent hub leads coaches. During 2020-21 the Academy will benefit from investment from British Athletics to support the Core Academy; a kit sponsorship from Little Rays Nursey & a nutrition sponsorship from Dale Farm who will provide a weekly supply of protein milk. Physiotherapy will be provided twice monthly by Evan Burke at Jordanstown and Stephen Haslam at Coleraine. An investment from UK Sport & Sport NI allows the delivery of a Psychological Skills programme for 9 Academy Coaches over a duration of 12 months. should provide smother transitions for NI athletes
who wish to pursue university in the UK. After a Speed- Power Academy review of year 1 Athletics NI were rated as The Speed-Power Academy, delivered weekly at ‘established’ against the Framework and working Ulster University, has capacity for an additional towards ‘excellent’. 24 athletes from NI & Ulster aged 15-19. Athletes are selected on performance & potential. The Speed- Power Academy aims to assist athletes Thanks and their coaches with improving physical Thanks to those who have overseen bookings for preparation & performance behaviours. Athletes courses, co-hosted Zoom Series’ & delivered get the opportunity to sample aspects of the coach education but most of all thanks to the Youth Academy curriculum and access strength hard-working coaches in Northern Ireland who and conditioning, speed development, electronic provide year round expertise and guidance to timing and movement screening. A new athletes. partnership with Ulster University Sport will see dual branding for the programme in 2021 and I would like to thank all of those already provision of facilities for weekly delivery. mentioned who provide weekly support to athletes in our academies. Special thanks to Amy Erasmus+ Funding Foster who has just completed her first year in the Notification was received in February 2020 of a role of Pathways Coach & Administrator and to further successful funding bid to the EU’s Dean Adams and Aaron McKendry who travel to Erasmus+ programme for the development of Coleraine weekly to ensure the smooth running of youth sport via international travel and the Academy there. We will continue to support collaboration. The Youth Academy received a coaches and athletes across Northern Ireland in further £78,653 for the delivery of Warm Weather every way we can and thank them for their Training camps in Portugal with parallel coach continued efforts.
Para Athletics Report
Heather Ardis
2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. Not being able to take any practical para sessions for a long period has not been great for the sport. However, it has given us more time to focus on planning a para strategy and redesigning our para page to provide more up to date information. We also realised we had no Official Athletics NI Para Record Statistics so these have now been compiled and are available on the website.
Para Pathway
We provide a pathway for para athletes from beginners through to high performance and competition for various levels of para athletics, which are integrated with mainstream competitions through the following opportunities: We run taster sessions for children aged 8 – 17 at different times during the year including Easter and Summer. We run six para sessions between September – April for athletes 12 years through to seniors, and these sessions are suitable for beginners to developmental athletes. We want as many athletes to join local athletics clubs as possible. Athletes also have the opportunity to join the Youth Academy sessions once they reach this standard. When athletes reach the Event Specific or Performance Levels of the Athlete Development Pathway they work with Jackie Newton, Director of Coaching and Athlete Development, Tom Reynolds Athlete Development Lead and Laura Kerr Coach Development & Physical Prep Lead. We run regular workshops for coaches including an Athletics Disability Inclusion Workshop and Basics of Wheelchair Racing & Chair Maintenance as well as master classes for further development. Last year, we were delighted to host Joe McDonnell, to lead a two-day athletics session for our ambulant athletes & coaches and give a talk on Athletes with CP. Joe is one of British Athletics top sprints coaches who has many years’ experience working with top level Para Athletes. Joe has a great rapport with our athletes and coaches.
Due to the ongoing pandemic we were unable to hold any other Para Master Classes but we are planning to have Joe back this year along with Jenni Banks, one of British Athletics top wheelchair coaches and Alison O’Riordan, British Athletics top throws coach and newly appointed Paralympics Ireland Throws Coach.
Website
This year we have updated the web page with more information of our aims & objectives, what we offer including, our Para Coaching sessions through winter and the workshops we offer coaches. We have
added more information about classification including a list of events for different classification at top level competitions such as Commonwealth Games and Paralympics and have designed a specific Para Athletics logo, seen above.
Strategy
With our aim of discovering more para athletes that could train to be competitive at Commonwealth and Paralympic level, we have been asking ourselves where we should look for athletes. Are there athletes already in clubs that can be classified? Can we find new athletes who are already involved in our sport and perhaps haven’t considered the para pathway? Can we find athletes from different sports and facilitate a transfer to Athletics? We hope to work more closely with other organisations such as Disability Sport Northern Ireland (DSNI), Angle Eyes (children with a visual impairment), Musgrave hospital (rehabilitation for amputees, strokes etc.) to reach athletes across a range of sports in Northern Ireland. We have tried to work with some in the past with mixed results and we are considering how we may gain greater engagement with them. In addition, we would love to hear from coaches and teachers who are aware of athletes in their squads or classes that could be our future Para stars.
Raising the profile of para athletes
We have started promoting our high-level para athletes through videos on social media where they tell their story of how they got into athletics and what the benefits the sport provides. We have a mix of athletes from those that were involved in athletics before moving to the para pathway such as Jason Smyth, Michael McKillop and Eve Walsh Dann and those that have come from another sport including James Hamilton (swimming), David Leavy (football) and Jack Agnew (basketball).
Events not covered in NI yet
We currently do not have a programme in place for athletes that could compete in Race Running. Equipment and event knowledge is a factor in why this has not happened yet. We will work with British Athletics to organise a workshop to be held here in Northern Ireland.
Track & Field Committee
Report
The Track and Field Competitions Committee is composed of three sub groups: strategy, facilities and technical. Each group meets on a regular basis to deal with their areas of responsibility and from this a report is presented to the main committee for information and discussion.
The year started with the Indoor Meets at Ulster University, Jordanstown, followed by the usual busy, NI & Ulster Indoor Championships at Abbotstown.
Unfortunately soon after this the COVID restrictions became the norm and the future of the season’s competition was going to be very different. A challenging year was ahead.
Strategy
Once it was realised lockdown and post-lockdown was going to restrict travel and numbers being able to attend competition, a survey was sent to athletes to determine the appetite for competition and type of meet, in what would be a very short season. The result indicated that competition on all levels would be very welcome. With the Championships still on the calendar in some form, planning started to enable practice opportunities in the lead up to them.
With the ANI office proposing dates and formats, a few clubs rose to the challenge and were able to provide smaller scale, intra-club and inter-club competition experiences.
It is hoped these types of competition have proved the concepts and benefits of the short-format and event-specific competitions that are to be part of the longer term strategy that the group are now working on.
Following on from these competitions the entries for the NI & Ulster Age Group Outdoor Championships was high, with more than half the entries being NI athletes. NI & Ulster Senior Championships were again well supported by NI athletes, but in both competitions the number of athletes (especially from NI) competing in field events was poor (throwing events had particularly low entries). This is an issue to be addressed by the group for the future.
There were high entry numbers for the NI & Ulster Combined Events Championships, but last minute lockdown meant CE Ulster athletes were not able to attend, so numbers were much depleted. However there was good competition from local athletes for those who had travelled from the mainland to compete.
NI & Ulster were the only region in the UK to hold their CE Championships this year and everyone is to be commended for their efforts to ensure it all happened.
Facilties
The responsibility of the group is to provide high quality competition facilities and equipment and make Northern Ireland an example of best practice.
The Mary Peters Track Manager, Wendy Phillips, provides advice and recommendations to all track managers and liaises with them on the process of attaining Track Mark accreditation, without which a venue cannot be awarded permits to hold events. The Mary Peters Track was the 5th track in the UK to be awarded Track Mark. Other tracks have been slow applying for the accreditation, some due to delayed repair/ maintenance work.
Although the MPT was closed for a period of time due to restrictions, essential maintenance work continued to be carried out, including the professional cleaning of the track surface. When the facility reopened staff had put in place a strict booking system following the guidelines and protocols for use of the track and equipment. The track staff ensured excellent standards of health and safety were adhered to at all times despite blatant flouting of the rules and much abuse from persons wanting to get on the track.
Technical
The technical group is made up of licensed officials from the committee and the Officials Coordinator. Their aim is to deliver high quality competition for all levels of athletes in NI.
Despite the COVID restrictions the group met to: Deploy officials to local competition and appointing referee and chief roles Manage UK selections Communicate rules changes from UKA, AAI and IAAF Provide advice and help on planning timetables and formats for competition Monitor officials’ development Approve progression of officials through the pathway Monitor feedback from officials and athletes following competition
It has not been the usual busy season for officials; however officials were provided for all competitions that were held and it was encouraging to see the trainees turn out to gain their experiences.
Congratulations to all officials who have completed the required experiences to become Level 1 licensed and to those who have moved up a grade.
Unfortunately the officials selected to officiate at major outdoor UK meets didn’t get to travel as none of the competitions took place. Six officials did get to officiate at Indoor Grand Prix and British Championships.
Congratulations to David Marrs who was awarded the Sport NI Technical Official of the Year. The award recognises the hard work and dedication David makes to the sport of athletics through his duties in the photo finish room.
The officials’ education programme has been badly affected by restrictions with courses having to be postponed on more than one occasion. With continuing restrictions being placed on sporting events, the challenge for the coming year is definitely going to be a 10k and not a sprint.
Written by Barbara Scott
Cross Country & Road Running
Committee Report
Cross Country
All of the NI & Ulster Cross Country Championships for the 2019-2020 season were held successfully as follows:
October 2019 Even Age Groups & Novice at Greenmount CAFRE Campus November 2019 Uneven Age Groups at Billy Neill MBE Country Park January 2020 Intermediate and Masters at Gosford Forest Park February 2020 Senior at Ulster University Coleraine
The Uneven Age Groups at the Billy Neill MBE Country Park also included the Bobby Rea Memorial races which were enhanced by some invited international athletes.
The Athletics NI Cross Country League again proved to be very successful with significant extra numbers of competitors taking part over the nine rounds. The league was won by Armagh A.C. (Women) and North Belfast Harriers (Men). The league has been very successful and has increased the participation numbers, particularly among women, taking part in Cross Country and this has resulted at times, to it being a little difficult to manage the large numbers competing.
With the advent of the Covid-19 restrictions in March we were, with hindsight, very lucky to have been able to get our 2019-2020 Cross Country season completed. This is more that can be said for our present 2020- 2021 season. To date it has not been possible to hold any Cross Country events, though at the time of writing, we are hoping to get some events promoted probably after Christmas.
Road Races
Road racing has been significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 restrictions with all our traditional mass participation events being either cancelled or postponed from mid-March onwards. These included the Belfast Marathon, Larne, Omagh, Belfast & Waterside Half Marathons, Titanic, Craic, Jimmy’s and Laganside 10ks and the Queens and Grant Thornton 5ks to name a few.
The Armagh International Road Races did manage to get in before the restrictions and once again showed their quality with very impressive international fields in both Men’s and Women’s elite races. The number of top quality times was breath-taking and full marks go as ever to the Armagh A.C. organising committee.
It has not been possible to hold any of our planned road championship events for 2020. Those events awarded championship status for 2020 will have the championship status rolled forward to 2021.
Special mention should be made for the Antrim Coast Half Marathon which was postponed from its usual March date but was able to go ahead as an “elite” only event to comply with the Covid restrictions. The Larne A.C. organising committee led by Billy Thompson and James McIlroy did a brilliant job and it was a superbly high quality event won by Sir Mo Farah and included a Northern Ireland record set by Stephen Scullion.
Some restricted road events have been possible with organisers working within the restrictions. Thanks must go to Glenn Grant of Championchip Ireland who has promoted a number of road events at enclosed venues including Down Royal Racecourse and the Eikon Centre in Lisburn. Ann Marie McGlynn set a new NI best 10k time and Tommy Hughes set a World Age Group marathon best at some of these events.
We were also able to promote our annual Les Jones Memorial race in October. The event was reduced from 10k to 5k and the competitors were sent off in waves of no more than 30 to comply with Covid restrictions.
Road Closure Legislation
Over the past year we have been engaged in an ongoing lobbying campaign to have amendments made to the newly introduced road closure legislation which is having a significantly detrimental effect on the promotion of races on public roads. Following various meetings, including with the Infrastructure Minister Nicola Mallon, a special consultation exercise was launched. Interested parties were encouraged to feed their views into the Department of Infrastructure via an online survey. The consultation is now closed and we are awaiting the feedback. It is hoped that some amendments can be made to the legislation to make it easier for road races, particularly the smaller ones, to be organised.
Looking to the Future
It is very pleasing to see such high quality performances (reported elsewhere) by our elite endurance athletes. We are looking forward to being well represented at the Olympic Marathon in (hopefully) July 2021 and at other high profile races in the future.
Finally we are all hoping that our competitive programme can get back to something approaching normal in the near future and we can all get out to enjoy our sport once again.
Written by John Allen
NI Masters Athletics
Association Report
Introduction Masters athletes are active athletes from aged 35 upwards. NIMAA seeks to encourage and support competitors in 5-year age groups across the whole spectrum of the sport - jumps, throws, or any distance from the 60m indoor right up to the marathon, cross country, or race walking.
The later part of the 2019-2020 season was disrupted due to COVID-19, which saw the cancellation of many events, local and international for NIMAA members.
NIMAA Cross County Trials – October 2019 These were held at QUB playing fields 12 October, followed by our Annual dinner and presentations. As in the previous year Mark McKinstry was runaway winner of the Men’s 35-60 event and Gemma McDonald won the Women’s race.
British and Irish Masters Cross Country International – November 2019 The 32nd British and Irish Masters Cross Country International was held at Aintree Racecourse with accommodation and the evening awards dinner in Southport. Mark McKinstry took gold in the M35 with the team securing bronze. The M50 team took gold with Eamon White getting silver ahead of Steve Cairns who was in the bronze medal position. Dave Clarke was an individual bronze in M60 and the evergreen Terry Eakin struck gold in the M70. There was bronze for the W35 team and a gold for Brigid Quinn in the W75 being contested for the first time in the history of the event.
In the Masters Championship event held by Athletics NI at Gosford on 25th January 2020, Mark McKinstry retained his title. The Armagh International Road Races in February saw a number of our athletes shining in their age groups. M40 1st Neil Weir, M60 1st Norman Mawhinney and 2nd Gerry O’Doherty, M70 1st Terry Eakin and 2nd Mike Smith.
Interarea Challenge Matches – February 2020 No teams this year were to be sent to the challenge match, as the indoor athletics season had a packed local fixture list with the lead up to World Masters Indoor Championships in Braga. The challenge was then cancelled because of Covid-19.
Irish Masters Championships & World Masters Indoor championships in Braga Portugal 2019 NIMAA athletes competed in the Irish Masters Indoor Championships under new Covid restrictions, with some great results. However there was disappointment for those athletes planning to travel to the World Indoor Championships which were cancelled due to Covid.
NIMAA & Irish Masters Track and Field Championships NIMAA’s championships initially scheduled for June were postponed until September and then unfortunately had to be cancelled. Athletics Ireland organised the Irish Masters Championships and NIMAA athletes performed successfully in a severely restricted programme: M40 Trevor McGlynn 1st 110m Hurdles W45 Joanne McCauley 2nd 400m W45 Roberta Dornan 3rd 800m M50 David Stewart 1st High Jump W55 Joy McAleer 1st 800m M55 Patrick Crossan 1st 200m
M60 Dave Clarke 1st 1500m M60 Joe Frey 1st Long Jump M70 Jim Harris 1st 800m
Following on from 1500 M60 title, Dave Clarke set a M60 World record over 3k at the Mary Peters Track on 17th September.
Athletes of the Year It is fitting therefore to report that Mark McKinstry was the unanimous choice of our committee for the 2019/20 Male Athlete of the Year award. The Female Athlete of the year is the tireless Heather Kelly who as a W50 recently lowered her 10K time to a very impressive 40 minutes running in Comber 10k. She also distinguished herself by winning the W50 race in the BMAF Cross Country Championship in Wales in March 2020.
AGM Our AGM was held virtually via ZOOM, the following office bearers were elected: Nigel Quinn Chairman, Jim Newberry President, Joy McAleer Secretary & Michael Roberts Treasurer. Standing down was NIMAA’s serving Chairman Earl Taylor, we would like to extend our thanks and acknowledge Earl’s contribution to NIMAA.
In addition to the various annual one off events already mentioned our Winter League series ran through to conclusion just before the lockdown in the spring. Since then all those involved in sports of all types have faced many challenges. The sport of athletics has been no exception and it can only be hoped that one day soon we can look forward to a return to normality. Plans for the incoming season have proven hard to make with the 2020 British & Irish Cross Country International already being postponed until November 2021. Let us hope by then that the memories of the pandemic will be fading.
Our thanks to thanks to John Allen, Kerry Woods and the ANI staff for their continued support throughout the year.
Written by Joy McAleer
NI Mountain Running
Association Report
The season began with the popular Slieve Gullion race on 7th March. First man home was Andrew Tees and the 1st female Esther Dickson. The Male category winners were M40 Lorcan Vallely, M45 Maurice Hart, M50 Warren Cartmill, M55 Deon McNeilly, M60 Hugh Suffern, M70 Ricky Cowan, M75 John Adgey and in the Female categories the first junior was Rebecca Magee, F40 Donna Daly, F45 Nicola McIntyre, F50 Shirley Farnan and F60 Mary Mackin.
The first and sadly only NIMRA Championship race to happen was Glenariff on 14th March, a cold but bright day greeting the runners. 1st man home was Seamus Lynch, 2nd Jonny Scott and 3rd Adam Cunningham. Esther Dickson followed on from her winning ways last year to win the ladies and come in 14th overall with Karalee McBride 2nd and Alison Stocks in 3rd place.
Mourne Mountain Marathon 19/20 September 2020
This very popular event went ahead with strict Covid-19 restrictions in place and was received thankfully by many athletes who were so pleased the event happened at all. Great results were helped by a clear sunny, dry weekend, a far cry from the wash out and howling winds of last year. Winners in the Elite Class were Paul Pruzina/ Philip Vokes in 7hr 07mins, with category prizes 1st Female Heather Corden / Helen Ockenden 11:45:58, 1st Mixed Shane Lynch / Karalee McBride 08:43:04, 1st Vet Deon McNeilly / Eamon McCrickard 09:10:42. In B Class the leading pair were Jonny Lynn / Allan Bogle 08:05:38 and in the C Class first home was Chris Perry / Tom Perry 05:57:04.
75th Slieve Donard Race 26th September
This race usually takes place in May but due to current situation was only just able to run in September, with race organiser Deon McNeilly pulling out all the stops to make it happen, setting the runners of in small batches of 15 to comply with regulations. There was an exciting and very closely fought race in the men’s category between Seamus Lynch and Tim Johnston being neck and neck for most of the way on the descent but Tim just got the edge coming into the home straight and was a worthy winner. Jonny Steede followed in 3rd place. In the ladies categories Esther Dickson lead from start to finish and with Sarah Quinn in 2nd and Karen Wilton in 3rd.
The Denis Rankin Round
The Denis Rankin Round is a circuit of all the peaks in the Mourne Mountains over 400m in height, covering 90km and 6500m in ascent. The challenge is to complete this within a 24 hour period. Many people took on this Challenge as so few races were taking place, with at least 19 completions this year. Most notable was Steven Shields from Mourne Runners who took the record for the fastest clockwise round in 13 hours 37 minutes, Aaron Simmons from BARF holds the record for anti-clockwise direction in 19 hours 22 mins. The fastest female round was set this year by Aoife Mundow of Co Louth in 19:12.
Cassie’s Challenge
In Cassie’s Challenge athletes have to cover 50 mountains, 58 miles and 6193m within 24 hours. The record was broken by both Dale Mathers and Billy Reed who ran together in July 2020 in 17 hours 42 mins. The following month Helen Cassidy also broke the ladies record in 23 hours 9 minutes.
Zak Hanna a member of NIMRA has not let the lack of races here stop him for competing and took several trips to Italy to race against the best in the world and came back with exceptionally impressive results, some of which are detailed below:
Lugnaquilla mountain race, Wicklow-1st PizTri Vertikal Kilometre, Malonno, Italy-3rd Fletta Trail 21km mountain race, Malonno, Italy-5th Challenge Stellina/Italian Mountain Running Champs 14km uphill, Susa, Italy-8th Vertical Nasego Vertical Kilometre, Casto, Italy-2nd Trofeo Nasego 23km mountain race, Casto, Italy, 14th Chiavenna-Lagunc VK/Italian Vertical Kilometre Champs, Chiavenna, Italy-6th
Written by Anne Sanford
NI Ultra Running Association
Report
2020 has presented many challenges and restrictions to our everyday lives including sport. Despite this, I look back with pride at the foundations the Northern Ireland Ultra Running Association has laid towards the further development of Ultra Running in Northern Ireland and Ulster.
Committee In October 2019 Athletics NI approved the establishment of a committee with a focus on Ultra Running development: Ed Smith (Chair), Cara Jeffrey (Secretary), Ian Taylor, Louise Smart, Adrian Daye, Sammy Daye, Gary Connolly, Justin Maxwell, Ian Cumming and Sean Nickell.
The committee put forward a proposal to Athletics Northern Ireland to see Ultra Running recognised as a ‘discipline of athletics’, this was approved at the ANI AGM 2019.
Anglo Celt 100k This year the committee selected two strong men’s and two women’s National Teams to represent NI and Ulster at the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k Championship in Boddington, Gloucester, in May (subsequently moved to September because of the pandemic). The men’s and women’s teams were hoping to at least match the bronze medals they had achieved in Perth, Scotland in 2019 but sadly Covid-19 restrictions led to the cancellation of the Championship.
Funding Ed Smith (Chair) secured a three year sponsorship deal with Hornbill Consulting to assist with costs for the National Teams' 100k event and Adrian Daye agreed a deal with Revvies to supply energy strips.
Development Squad The creation of an Ulster Development Squad was among the year’s priorities. The committee identified 28 athletes with proven standard in Ultra Running to commit to offering training and development opportunities. Ed Smith arranged and financed the first Development Squad Training Day in February 2020 with guest speakers Ryan Maxwell (coach - track session), Cameron Steele (physio), Sharon Madigan (nutritionist) and Science of Ultra’s Shawn Bearden who had flown in from the USA.
Anti-Doping Workshop Ed Smith, committee member Sean Nickell and members of the NI Squad attended an Anti-Doping Workshop run by Sport NI in the Malone Lodge Hotel on Feb 26.
Championship 50k & 100k The NIURA has agreed to provide home competition in 2021 by organising the first NI and Ulster Championship 50k & 100k.
Athletics NI Permits The NIURA actively encouraged Race Organisers to apply for permits through the ANI route to allow for all local race times to be considered in Team Selection and will continue to work towards this.
Facebook NIURA Secretary Cara Jeffrey set up and administered a Facebook group to collate and provide information in the form of a race calendar and local ultra-running updates to our community. This is also a forum for runners to ask for advice.
Acknowledgments In 2020 Ed Smith was appointed Hon President of the newly formed ACP Ultra Distance Association for the British Isles.
Dave Andrews represented UK in the IAU 6 Hour World Challenge 2020.
Louise Smart and Gillian Connolly acting as a guide for blind team member Sinead Kane, represented Ireland in the IAU 24 hour World Championship 2019 in Albi, France.
Louise Smith picked up a bronze medal at the Irish 50K Championships in Donadea.
I would also like to acknowledge the work of Atlas Running, We Run Wild, Gaithouse Events, EAMS and 26 Extreme in continuing to provide a platform for ultra- runners and to help identify upcoming talent despite the strict limitations imposed by the pandemic.
I would like to thank the Committee for all their valued contribution and efforts over the past year. I thank them for entrusting the Secretary role to me and trust the Association will continue to provide development and training opportunities for the future.
Written by Cara Jeffrey
Athletics Northern Ireland
Staff
Director of Business & Operations Kerry Woods
Director of Coaching & Athlete Development Jackie Newton
Athlete Development Lead Tom Reynolds
Coach Development Lead & Pathways Manager Laura Kerr
Events & Commercial Manager Catherine Ashford
Marketing & Communication Manager/ Equality Officer Shauna Bratten
Club & Coach Development & Welfare Officer Allister Woods
Pathways Coach & Administrator Amy Foster
Officials Coordinator Liz Glover
Para Athletics Development Officer Heather Ardis
Ulster University Athletics Development Officer Dean Adams
Running Participation Coach- East Paula Wallace
Running Participation Coach- West Patricia Campbell
Athletics Development Admin Assistant Luke Dinsmore
Every Body Active Coach (Belfast) Aaron McKendry
Every Body Active Coach (Antrim & Newtownabbey) Emma McCay
Mary Peters Track Manager Wendy Phillips
Official Athletics NI
Committees
Patron of Athletics NI: Lady Mary Peters
Main Officer Bearers President Dr Ian Taylor Honorary Chair John Allen Honorary Vice Chair David Abrahams Honorary Treasurer Tony Wall
Vice Presidents T. Alderdice, & J. Glover
Life Members Mr. D McKibbin, Mr. R Stevenson, Mr. T J Welsh, Mrs. M Kyle, Mrs. A Smyth, Mrs. D Hamill, Mr. A O’Neill, Mr. B Hill, Mr. J Glover, Mr. G Keenan, Mr. M Moffitt, Mrs. P Moffitt, Mr. B Smith, Mr. J McLaughlin, Mr. S Hall, Mrs. P Brown, Mr. D Seaton, Mr R Corry, Mr J Quinn.
Management Board Mr J Allen, Mr M Cooke, Mr D Abrahams, Mr B O'Callaghan, Mrs B Scott, Dr I Taylor, Ms K Walls, Mr T Wall, Mr D. Seaton, Ms V McDonough, Mr P Lawther, Mr D Marrs.
Cross Country & Road Running Committee J. McGarvey, J. Quinn, T. Wall, R. Black, P. Magee, M. Mathieson, L. Cochrane, A. Daye, R. Fullerton, R. Montgomery, D. Seaton, R. Corry.
Track & Field Committee L. Glover, R. Mack, B. Scott, K. Scott, J. Glover, W. Davis, W. Phillips, R. Fullerton, F. Marsh, S. Nixon