Chief Executive’s Report
Financial Statement
Governance Statement
People & Culture
General Council Report
Equality Statement
Sustainability Statement
Safeguarding & Duty of Care
Performance & Performance Development
Coach Education
Development & Participation
Run Wales Competition Marketing & Communications
Partnerships & Commercial
Steve Perks | Chair of Welsh Athletics
This year has proven to be a successful year for our athletes, with numerous impressive performances right across the board in all the spheres of our sport. Well done to our two Olympic representatives namely, Jeremiah Azu achieving a Bronze medal in the relay, and to Clara Evans after an extremely late call up running marvellously in taxing conditions. The sport is moving in the right direction and with many junior athletes making timely progress the future could well be particularly good.
However, my words of last year still hold true. Even though there are many positives, we are facing a few uncertainties. As you can appreciate, the financial pressures within society also affect our sport and the budget requirements for us to maintain our standards and to give our athletes opportunities are just as taxing. As a Board, we endeavour to ensure that we use our finances to the best of our abilities, but it may mean that in the coming years, we will have to make decisions that may impact how we run the sport and how it is developed and continued.
Our sport is dependent on the host of Officials, Club Volunteers, Coaches and Parents, who voluntarily give their own time in order for our athletes and our competitions to prosper. A huge thank you for your unstinting efforts.
Mae wedi bod yn flwyddyn lwydiannus i’n athletwyr eleni, gyda nifer o berfformiadau gwych ar draws y gamp ac ym mhob adran. Rhaid estyn clôd mawr i ddau o’n athletwyr Olympaidd sef Jeremiah Azu a gafodd fedal efydd fel rhan o’r tim cyfnewid ym Mharis, ac hefyd Clara Evans ar ôl
cael lle yn hwyr iawn ac yna rhedeg yn wych, ac hynny o dan amodau anodd. Mae’r gamp yn symud yn ei blaen yn y cyfeiriad cywir gyda llawer o’r athletwyr ifanc yn gwneud cynnydd rhagorol sy’n argoeli’n dda ar gyfer dyfodol athletau Cymru.
Serch hynny rhaid imi ategu yr hyn a ddywedais y llynedd, sef, er bod llawer o bethau cadarnhaol, rydym hefyd yn wynebu ychydig o ansicrwydd. Fel y gallwch werthfawrogi mae’r pwysau ariannol o fewn cymdeithas hefyd yn effeithio ar ein chwaraeon, ac mae’r gofynion cyllidebol i ni gynnal ein safonau a rhoi cyfleoedd i’n hathletwyr yn anodd. Fel Bwrdd rydym yn ymdrechu i sicrhau ein bod yn defnyddio ein harian hyd eithaf ein gallu, ond gall olygu y bydd yn rhaid i ni yn y blynyddoedd i ddod wneud penderfyniadau a all effeithio ar sut rydym yn rhedeg yy gamp a sut y caiff ei datblygu.
Mae’n athletau yn ddibynnol ar y llu o swyddogion, gwirfoddolwyr o’r Clybiau, hyfforddwyr a rhieni sy’n rhoi o’u hamser fel bod yr athletwyr a’r cystadleuthau yn medru ffynnu. Diolch o waelod calon am eich hymdrechion di-ildio.
As you are aware eight Welsh athletes represented Team GB at the recent Paralympic Games in Paris. This is an excellent achievement and their overall performances were incredible. Out of the eight, Sabrina Fortune took Gold in the F20 Shot Put, Hollie Arnold took Bronze in the F46 Javelin and Aled Davies collected a Silver in the F42 Shot Put.
Fel y gwyddoch roedd wyth o athletwyr Cymru yn cynrychioli TimGB yn y Gemau Paralympaidd diweddar ym Mharis. Mae hwn yn lwyddiant anhygoel ac roeddd eu perfformiad yn wych. O’r wyth, cafodd Sabrina Fortune Aur yn yr F20 Taflu’r Pwysau. Cafodd Hollie Arnold fedal Efydd yn y Wywffon F46 a medal Arian i Aled Davies yn yr F42 Taflu’r Pwysau.
James Williams | Chief Executive of Welsh Athletics
The sport across the UK continues to evolve, and the last 12 months saw a significant shift in the way Coach & Officials Education is delivered, with responsibility shifting from UK Athletics to the Home Countries. The other significant change saw confirmation that the junior age groups in the sport will change in April 2026.
Welsh Athletics is at the forefront in both of these areas.
Both Liz Taylor (Coach Education lead) and Zoe Holloway (Officials and Volunteer Coordinator) have taken the changes in their stride, and both are driving forward with changes that they feel will benefit volunteers across Wales.
It has been an incredibly busy year for the sport in Wales, from seeing young people starting the Daily Mile all the way through to Welsh Athletes competing on the global stage, the sport continues to thrive in all parts of Wales.
Building on what was reported in last years annual report, we have followed through with the commitment to remove the perceived admin burden for new officials. New Level 1 officials will no longer have to complete the record of experience, enabling them to focus on learning the skills required to be a new official. The hope is that this will lead to more level 1 officials being retained in the sport.
Safety will continue to be a focus for officials education, and with colleagues from the other Home Countries, we will update the health and safety module and increase training in this area. We will work with the Officials committees to ensure the education process meets the needs of the sport in Wales.
We continue to remove barriers for participation in our sport, whilst also increasing opportunities across many of our competitions. All of our track and field Championships are now fully inclusive, and we were delighted to host our first wheelchair championship races this year.
Work is underway to develop a pathway for new disciplines, including seated throws and frame running, and we continue to support coaches in all parts of the pathway to build confidence and capacity. The work to fully integrate para athletics into our programmes will be a long-term process, and we aim to build the club programme in a methodical way – early successes with the likes of Newport Harriers and Carmarthen Harriers will provide some great learning as we aim to further roll out the work across all of Wales in the years ahead.
The success of our para athletes will no doubt inspire many others to engage with our sport – this summer’s World Para Championships proved incredibly successful – with Welsh athletes winning 4 medals (3 gold and 1 bronze). This Summers Paralympics will see 6 Welsh athletes compete, with 2 coaches (Ryan Spencer-Jones & Josh Clarke) being part of the Team GB Coaching setup. From an officials perspective, Dave Jessett and Sue Maughan will play key roles in leading the athletics programmes in Paris, further proof of the success of Welsh Athletics on the global stage.
Our progress in this area has been recognised with the achievement of securing the insport Silver standard. Through our Inclusion and Engagement Coordinator Libby Steele we are progressing work towards the insport Gold Standard with the aim of submitting by 2026.
Welsh Athletics is also a pilot sport for the new Moving to Inclusion framework. This key piece of work will lead to the creation of an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy for the sport, whilst also identifying our focus areas for the coming period.
Our work on safeguarding continues at a relentless pace. We continue to be overwhelmed by the way our clubs have embraced the training requirements, and continue to lead the sector with the number of club welfare officers that have received training.
Following feedback from Club Welfare Officers, we will update the training opportunities, offering more Adult at Risk, specific training for clubs who do not cater for junior athletes.
We will continue to engage the views of the athlete in this area, in particular young people – we want to raise awareness of the process of raising a concern, and explore the most appropriate ways to communicate with young people about safeguarding and welfare.
Initially, this will occur via consultation with our Young Athletics Ambassador programme, but we would actively encourage clubs to engage their members to capture their views around how we can further develop our practices. We all have a collective duty to ensure that our sport continues to be safe and accessible for everyone.
The success of our para athletes will no doubt inspire many others to engage with our sport.
We have undertaken 2 reviews this year from Sport Wales and the CPSU, and we are delighted to confirm that we have retained the level 3 status – the highest standard available for the sector. We have also started the process of going through the Ann Craft Trust Assurance Framework, this will provide some valuable learning for how we further support our adult only clubs in developing policy and practices going forward.
We continue to work closely with colleagues at Sport Wales, and we thank them for their continued support of Welsh Athletics.
The financial climate that the sector operates in is very challenging. Sport Wales, and in turn, Welsh Athletics have been directly impacted by The Welsh Government’s budget challenges. The sector received a 10.5% funding cut as part of the Autumn budget review, a 3.5% cut was passed on to all National Governing Bodies. This equated to £48,595 in funding reduction for the 2024/25 financial year.
To ensure that the organisation can manage the funding cut, we moved to re-structure our communication team, resulting in a reduction of capacity in the team.
We remain cautious regarding the funding situation, and are actively looking to mitigate the risk of any future cuts by diversifying our income streams as best we can, albeit we are likely to see the benefits of this in the longer term.
I, along with colleagues from across the sector are playing an active role in exploring how NGBs in Wales can work closer around shared services and resources and potentially pooling our assets in areas of commercial and income generation. It is clear that as a sector we must minimise the reliance on Sport Wales as our primary funder and must evolve our thinking to enable increased commercial success.
From a facilities perspective, we have been successful in securing grant funding of £225,000 to re-surface the facility in Neath, and have secured a grant of £58,000 to update the performance gym in NIAC. We will continue to review how we best support all facilities across Wales, and will stick to our aim of re-surfacing all facilities in Wales on a rolling basis.
As we look ahead, the sport continues to grow in all areas. Our challenge as an organisation is to ensure that it can grow in a sustainable way. We want to work with our clubs and wider community to foster innovation and to empower the sport to lead.
No doubt the wonderful performance at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris have inspired many young people to take up the sport. I hope that as a sport, we can
We have been delighted to see the Welsh Junior League start in North Wales – this has been a long time coming, and hopefully will lay the foundations for more opportunities to develop athletes and officials in the region. This has been balanced by the launch of a number of event specific competitions – we hope these fixtures will continue to grow and clubs will begin to take the lead in the delivery in the years ahead.
We hope to replicate the model of the Welsh Junior league in the West and South/East, where the league is now wholly run and delivered by the clubs. This enables the clubs to be empowered to deliver a competition format that meets their members needs.
It has been clear for some time that a delivery model that is mainly reliant on the staff of Welsh Athletics is not sustainable, and we are keen to support clubs and other competition providers to take a lead on Track and Field competition. This transition will take some time, and we are keen to explore any ways of supporting clubs and providers to fulfill this ambition.
The hope is that this will lead to more innovation in competition structure, and be a conduit for clubs to attract new volunteers and officials into the sport. This new approach will also help Welsh Athletics focus on creating an enhanced experience for athletes and officials in its Championship events.
As we look ahead to the introduction of the new age groups for the sport in 2026, this will give us a new opportunity to create a competition offering for U10 and U12 athletes. This will enable the opportunity for a localised offer and engage a younger audience into the sport and the club and school structures across Wales.
continue to evolve our offering and help develop more volunteers to enable those inspired to enjoy our sport for many years to come.
James Williams Chief Executive
Chris Gough | Chair of Finance Sub-Group James Williams | Chief Executive of Welsh Athletics
Welsh Athletics continues to navigate its way through an incredibly challenging financial climate. The perfect storm of funding cuts, inflation challenges and increasing demands to support wider remits within the sport has put huge pressures on the organisation to deliver its activities.
Despite this challenging climate, the organisation has worked hard to ensure it has returned to a stable year end position. The past few years has seen the impact on COVID contributing to a fluctuating year end position. The final position of a deficit position of just £963 demonstrates the management commitment internally to ensuring a sound financial base for the sport to build on.
As referenced in last year’s annual report, the organisation is adapting to the new funding model from Sport Wales, and although it has not had a significant impact on the Sport Wales funding for this accounting period, the organisation has started to address how it will absorb the funding cuts that will be fully felt by the end of the 25/26 financial year.
The major impact from a funding perspective this year was the reduction in support from UK Athletics. Albeit the funding stopped in the 2022/23 financial year, deferred income accumulated from previous years was drawn down to manage the challenge during that financial year, this has meant a year-to-year reduction of investment of £126,000. Despite strong growth in self-generated income, Licencing, Coach Education and income from domestic competitions, the overall income for the year was down to £1,791,311, a reduction of £105,588 on the previous financial year.
Responding to the financial pressures forecast, restructuring of the performance and development teams over the past 12 months were completed in the early part of the financial year – helping drive an overall reduction in staffing costs of just under £41,000. A review and restructure of the administration and corporate services teams is expected to make further savings in staffing costs.
Motivating and retaining staff through salary reviews was particularly challenging given the current and forecast financial pressures. The board considered affordability and a priority to support staff through the cost-of-living challenges when awarding a non-consolidated payment in three bands that maximised support to the lowest paid, as an alternative to salary increases.
There was a reduction in expenditure within International preparation and training (£65,212) due to the exceptional amounts spent the year before, supporting athletes in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. This was also part of the longer term strategic decision to re-position how we best support our athletes via an updated performance programme.
The factors above contributed to a reduction in overall expenditure of £148,840 compared to 2022/23 and an overall expenditure of £1,792,274
A review and restructure of the administration and corporate services teams is expected to make further savings in staffing costs.
As has been stressed in previous years, the sector in Wales is facing an uncertain period. In January 2024, Sport Wales initiated a further cut in investment following a midyear budget review by Welsh Government – this meant an additional 3.5% cut in investment from April 2024 onwards.
With the financial challenges being experienced across all departments of Government, we are bracing ourselves, and scenario planning for additional funding cuts in the years ahead.
As stated in last year’s AGM, Welsh Athletics is now required to support the safeguarding team at UK Athletics, this means an annual cost of £10.5k. A similar amount is now paid to England Athletics to support administration of Coach Education on behalf of the Home Countries as delivery of this function moved away from UK Athletics in Autumn 2023.
These challenges are focusing our thoughts on diversifying our income streams.
The current financial year has seen partnerships being established with Polytan, Spar UK and HCC, as well as further embedding our long standing partnerships with Joma, Physique and Ace Orthotix. We have also established strong working relationships with the likes
of Cardiff & Vale College, Merthyr College and Cardiff Metropolitan University to help deliver several of our programmes, and in doing so reducing some of the cost of delivery.
In an effort to increase funds and support our wider initiatives, we secured funding of £10k from The Daily Mile Foundation, £36k from the Run 4 Wales Charitable Foundation and are grateful to the Welsh Schools Athletics Association who contributed £10k towards the overall running costs of the Welsh Schools National and International competition programme. All except the WSAA investment will be received in the 24/25 financial year, but it enables Welsh Athletics to plan with greater certainty.
Our focus in 2024/25 will be to continue driving efficiencies across the organisation in purchasing and staffing while also continuing to explore new areas of income generation. As ever, we will ensure that the sport remains as accessible as possible, and we will endeavour to engage our clubs and members to ensure that no one is priced out of enjoying our sport.
We will continue to identify and engage new commercial entities in profitable partnerships that will enable us to invest further to develop the sport across all parts of Wales.
Andrew Thomas | Head of People & Finance
The Board of Welsh Athletics continues to progress, as our sport does. The past 12 months have seen member changes as well as a shift of focus for subgroups such as the People and Culture committee (previous Governance).
The Articles of Association, specifying the purpose of Welsh Athletics and how the company operates, have been reviewed for the upcoming AGM. This year has also seen the creation of a Board decision making framework and succession planning strategy to ensure the meeting of governing standards.
The Board undertook CPSU & Ann Craft Trust safeguarding training to achieve the highest safeguarding standards as well as undertaking a skills matrix to identify gaps in knowledge and areas for development. This skills gap analysis led to a Board recruitment drive which saw the appointment of three new members, Phil Draper, Dr Laura Mason and Catherine Lewis.
Phil, who previously worked at the Football Association of Wales and now works for the Mercedes Formula 1 team as their Governance, Ethics and Legal Counsel
will support the governance and legal aspects of Welsh Athletics – a key component of the Board’s work.
Laura, who is a Swansea University Sports and Exercise department lead and associate professor, will support the Development and Participation departments.
Catherine brings a wealth of experience to the Board having previously held the role of Chair of Welsh Netball and looks to use her experience in the sector to roll out the updated strategic plan.
A Board appraisal and Chair appraisal were also carried out to identify strengths as well as proceed with development opportunities. Welsh Athletics continues to encourage the Board to develop their skills with opportunities highlighted across the sector.
Welsh Athletics thanks Nick Everitt and Helen Adams who have stepped down from their positions on the Board, for all their support over the years and their contributions to the development of our sport.
Eleanor Cartlidge | People & Business Assistant
The staffing structure changes that have been implemented over the past 12 months are continuing to fall into place, with projects being developed daily by the team to ensure alignment with the new strategy.
Over the past 12 months, there has been a focus placed on the development of staff. As a small team of 30 employees, the growth of skills within the team is crucial, as well as the empowerment of those looking to stretch their experiences. All staff are encouraged to undertake CPD as and when they wish and have core mandatory training modules to complete. Carl Williams continues to oversee the Fulfilment of Safeguarding training for all staff. This year also saw the completion of ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ training, provided by the leading antiracism education charity in the UK.
Alongside the partnership with Mind, staff at Welsh Athletics are being offered more mental health training and support than ever – not only to help those in their communities but also to recognise a need for support in their own lives in and outside of work.
This year, the opportunity presented itself to develop the internal skills of staff, which has been seen through the offer of secondment between departments to some members of the team to broaden the knowledge across some key departments.
Welsh Athletics undertakes an employee engagement survey annually to track the opinions of staff; from the clarity of aims and objectives to the level of recognition and support they feel. The results saw a positive trend since the previous survey went out.
Key positives emerged through comparing the results of the engagement survey with the previous year. The engagement index of the survey had increased, meaning a growth in the number of positive answers to questions. There was a clear universal sense of pride in working for Welsh Athletics as well as a positive attitude to the levels of trust between management and their departments. The People and Culture Sub-Group, chaired by Lorna Kerr, reviewed the results of the survey and the need for a more formal performance management and check-in process with staff. The monthly all-staff call alongside a quarterly push for regular team check ins encourages and supports communication around the company to collectively push towards the strategic aim.
The people team are constantly looking for ways to streamline performance management processes. The team consistently seek to celebrate staff with monthly ‘staff recognition’ awards as well as recognising key anniversaries - 2024 seeing the 25-year anniversary of Jacquline Brace who is a pillar of our community and who represents everything Welsh Athletics stands for.
While the company is only small the effort and support from those within and surrounding the athletics community is unmatched and Welsh Athletics thanks each and every person who contributes to our community.
Lynne Brier | Chair of General Council
Since last year, General Council has welcomed several new members. A new chairperson and secretary were appointed, and they have been well-supported throughout the year by longstanding members. The committee has continued to meet remotely on a bi-monthly basis, with the opportunity to meet in person at Sport Wales for the joint meeting with the Board in July. Meetings have been generally well-attended, with representation from all regions and all aspects of the sport. During the year, we have received productive reports from track and field, road, crosscountry, mountain, trail and fell.
Presentations were received from several members of Welsh Athletics staff regarding changes that have taken place throughout the year, both within Welsh Athletics and UKA. For example, Zoe Holloway was invited to attend one of our meetings to discuss current plans to attract and retain officials. This was an extremely productive presentation that included an explanation of some of the positive changes that were to take place to simplify the developmental pathway for officials as they move through the levels. We are hopeful that this new model will lead to an increase in the attainment and long-term retention of officials across Wales.
James Williams, CEO for Welsh Athletics also attended a General Council meeting this year to discuss regional funding and grants. The General Council plays a key role in supporting the regions and agree unanimously
that regional championships remain as a vital date on the athletics calendar in Wales. As such, members of General Council have continued to work alongside Welsh Athletics to ensure this. General Council also fully appreciate the financial challenges that Welsh Athletics are faced with, bearing in mind that Welsh Government, UKA and Sport Wales have all reduced their grants.
As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, the next Commonwealth Games is less than two years away and we also need to prepare ourselves for the new age group changes that are to be implemented in 2026. We sincerely hope that the work that takes place between the clubs, regions and General Council becomes more seamless, so that we can all play our part in further developing the sport and improving opportunities for all athletes in Wales.
Libby Steele | Inclusion and Engagement Coordinator
We will aim to be the number one sport for inclusivity. This will involve removing barriers and working with partners to target under-represented groups. We will measure our impact and progress through data and insight, and directly engage the views of those involved, and not involved in the sport as part of the decision-making process.
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of Welsh Athletics. The strategy refresh exemplifies this with ED&I being a ‘golden thread’ throughout the entire strategy in addition to the separate inclusion specific strategic pillar. The ED&I subgroup have met multiple times over the last year and have been an integral part of empowering the ED&I work within Welsh Athletics.
It has been a busy period in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion space across Welsh Athletics. Notably, Welsh Athletics achieved insport Silver in November 2023 and submitted around 80 pieces of supporting evidence as part of this and has now started the process to work towards insport Gold with Disability Sport Wales. Welsh Athletics has also been engaged with the Moving to Inclusion Framework (replacing the Equality Standard: A Framework for Sport) and is making excellent progress, supported by our 1-1 mentor.
The Young Athletics Ambassador programme (formerly Junior Athlete Voice) has been re-launched with 15 Young Ambassadors aged 14-20 with a wide range of athletic disciplines, regional variation and diversity across the group. The Young Athletics Ambassadors will come together to share their voice, be the representation of Young People and be involved with decision-making and initiative development across Welsh Athletics. Internally, all staff completed 18 hours of anti-racism training with Show Racism the Red Card which was insightful and a great learning experience.
A focus for the last year has been to better understand how we benchmark, and capture data and several pieces of work are ongoing. Ahead of the new membership portal launch, the ED&I information collection has been reviewed and with individual affiliation process – as opposed to whole club – now in place, it is hoped that we will have a truer understanding of the Welsh Athletics member’s landscape. Multiple staff members across ED&I, officials and volunteers, and clubs have initiated training to develop data analysis and insight skills to continue understanding and disseminating data.
Looking ahead to the next year, some key priorities in the ED&I space are:
• To work towards Welsh Athletics achieving Disability Sport Wales insport Gold with an aim to go to panel in November 2026.
• Work with Welsh Athletics affiliated clubs through the Disability Sport Wales insport Club pathway to increase engagement and growth across six focus clubs, already engaged insport Clubs and non-engaged clubs.
• To develop the North Wales para-athletics offer across clubs, coaches, officials and facilities.
• Continue to understand and develop insight regarding our membership data with specific focus on disabled, global majority and junior members.
There is a significant amount of excellent inclusive work across all aspects of the organisation from performance to coach education, to clubs which should all be highlighted and celebrated. This work will continue to develop and thrive into the coming year and beyond.
Rob Sage | Consultant
Welsh Athletics continues to look at ways in which the delivery of the sport and the organisations own business activities can be adapted to minimise any negative environmental impacts. The organisation is working to establish an internal working group reporting into a nominated Environmental lead with oversight from a designated member of the Board.
There has been further progress this year in reducing single occupancy car journeys to events by staff and officials, but more can be done on this and on participant travel options.
New Welsh Government legislation on recycling of waste by businesses came into force this year and Welsh Athletics has worked with its host landlords – Cardiff Metropolitan University and Cardiff and Vale College – to ensure its offices and shared spaces have the appropriate bins in place to be compliant. Promotion of recycling at competitions takes place and continues to be a consideration when planning events.
We will be focusing on further embedding consideration and action of environmental and ecological impacts into all aspects of our work this year, in a similar way to which Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has become integrated into our work.
Carl Williams | Safeguarding & Compliance Officer Lynne Brier | Chair of Clubs and Safeguarding
Another year has passed, and Welsh Athletics have again met the CPSU (Child Protection in Sport Unit) Level 3, the highest level, following our annual review in May 2024.
Without our members who give up their valuable time to ensure our athletes are safe in the sport, this would not have been possible.
Our coaches and officials complete their safeguarding training, and our Club Welfare officers continue to develop their safeguarding skills and knowledge by completing the safeguarding in Athletics course & Time to Listen course.
Welsh Athletics are working closely with the Ann Craft Trust to develop training for Adults at Risk, and there will be changes in training for our Adult clubs in 2025, for a specific Adults at Risk course. This will provide opportunities for all to increase their skills in this area.
Welsh Athletics have been praised by Sport Wales this year, who highlighted our safeguarding training and zero tolerance approach as good practice. This is down to the hard work and commitment of our volunteers.
Since January 2024, there have been significant changes in the discipline procedures for coaches and officials. Previously, UKA dealt with these matters, whereas Welsh Athletics are now responsible for discipline cases and DBS applications for coaches and officials for investigation and disposal.
The Welsh Athletics board are committed to developing training for all, and the board have completed the CPSU / NSPCC accredited Board Safeguarding training.
Since January 2024... 34
cases have been passed to Welsh Athletics regarding Safeguarding, Codes of conduct and discipline matters.
Welsh Athletics continue to work closely with the UKA Safeguarding team & the Home Countries, HCAF’s, to ensure all matters are dealt with professionally and recorded on the National system.
The Welsh Athletics Safeguarding lead has completed further Lead Officer training in relation to Adults at Risk.
Welsh Athletics staff have completed an accredited NSPCC Safe recruitment in the workplace course, a crucial area of importance for recruitment of volunteers and staff.
In 2024, we have a new Club Modernisation Officer Emyr Jones, who has worked hard to ensure all clubs are compliant in their safeguarding, working closely with clubs and the safeguarding lead to have the Club Welfare Officers in place and facilitating the required training.
Since 2022, Welsh Athletics have continued in the zerotolerance approach for safeguarding and compliance.
By working closely with the UKA Safeguarding team and the other Home Nations Safeguarding lead officers’ best practice is followed and any issues or concerns raised are dealt with following the correct procedures.
The Welsh Athletics web page has been reviewed this year and has a detailed Safeguarding page which has all the relevant Child and Adult Safeguarding policies. You will find a Safeguarding Tool kit and a specific page for our Club Welfare Officers. All information is up to date and relevant.
Safeguarding and compliance is a priority, and in 2024, despite additional responsibilities devolved from UKA, Welsh Athletics have continued to adapt and ensured all
reported incidents have been dealt with promptly by both Welsh Athletics and UKA.
This is an area where we cannot stand still, there will be further training opportunities which we must embrace, to ensure all our members are safe in the sport.
Welsh Athletics would like to thank all volunteers and staff for your commitment to safeguarding. And to all our members for accepting the Code of Conduct as part of affiliation, this is so important for everyone to enjoy the sport.
Welsh Athletics will continue to work closely with all our partners, statutory agencies, NSPCC, Ann Craft Trust and UKA to keep everyone safe.
Welsh Athletics would like to thank all volunteers and staff for your commitment to safeguarding. And to all our members for accepting the Code of Conduct as part of affiliation, this is so important for everyone to enjoy the sport.
Chris Type | Head of Performance
Around 80 athletes were selected to become members of the performance pathway
2024 saw a shift in performance strategy with subsequent evidence based performance metrics and monitoring processes introduced to the performance pathway. January was marked as a line in the sand between all previous performance programmes and a new way of working. Around 80 athletes were selected to become members of the performance pathway with a broadened age range of 14 to 33 years of age. With a programme aligned Commonwealth Games medal winning performance and UKA World Class Programme standards, the measured pathway will act as guidance to all performance athletes in Wales.
A unique partnership with Merthyr College has been established to create a regional endurance programme for student athletes in South Wales, with the ambition to replicate the project further within multiple areas of Wales.
The National Development Programme (NDP) continues to serve as the foundational entry point for talented athletes across all event groups. This year, the programme will include 60 athletes, alongside their coaches, with up to 12 contact days available annually. These contact days will focus on education, performance behaviours, and event-specific
physical, technical, and tactical development, which form the core of the performance curriculum.
This year’s programme brings several key changes. An increased number of contact days, enabling deeper integration of the performance curriculum. A lowering of the entry age requirement and removal of the upper age limit, as to allow athletes who mature later, to benefit from participation. Training and competition plans will be collaboratively developed between athletes and their coaches through the Individual Athlete Planning (IAP) process, aligning with the pathways of athletes at more advanced stages of their development.
To further enhance communication, we have introduced the use of the mobile application Spond that contains safeguarding features as to ensure a secure environment when communicating. Communication moving forward will be more accessible and convenient for athletes, parents and coaches alike. Additionally, we have implemented the athlete management system, ‘Smartabase,’ to improve data collection and visualisation, supporting more informed decision-making.
Jeramiah Azu overcame disappointment in the 100m heats to become Welsh Athletics first Olympic medallist since 1996 with his Bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay.
The NDP is committed to inclusivity, integrating by supporting both para-athletes and non-para athletes. Programme activities will resume in October, with athlete selection for the upcoming year taking place in November.
NDP athletes showed great performance progression in 2024 with Nell Desir, Aaron Tugwel, Owen Garret, Harry Bradley, Iwan Thomas and Lewie Jones selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the European U18 Championships. This strong cohort of selected athletes were followed up by Eden Robinson’s Selection for the Junior World Championships where she finished fifth in the Heptathlon.
At the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester, Wales’ fastest man Jeremiah Azu claimed an individual spot at the Paris Olympics by finishing second in the 100m. Race walker Gracie Griffiths provided one of the most dominant performances of the entire weekend taking home the gold medal and becoming British Champion. The new javelin Welsh record holder Freya Jones claimed silver with a best throw of 51.97m. There was more throws success in the men’s shot put. Patrick Swan who last year won a bronze medal, traded up to a silver medal this year, with an excellent performance in the circle.
The years international activity culminated in Paris for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Clara Evans received a late selection for the marathon and produced a very strong performance on just seven days-notice to
be the first team GB Athlete home, while Jeramiah Azu overcame disappointment in the 100m heats to become Welsh Athletics first Olympic medallist since 1996 with his Bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay. The Paralympics again proved to be a huge success with Aled Davies, Sabrina Fortune and Hollie Arnold bringing home medals and with a World record from Sabrina. In addition, there were strong performances that were agonisingly close to the medal podium from Olivia Breen, Harrison Walsh and Funmi Oduwaiye providing the final results for a very strong Welsh contingent.
Off-track highlights included a ninth place at the European Championships in Rome for Clara Evans with a new lifetime best of 70:06 in the Half Marathon and a fourthplace finish at the IAU 50km World Championships for Anna Bracegirdle in Hyderabad. Andrew Davies finished in a respectable 13th position in the men’s race.
In Mountain Running, Kris Jones finished in an impressive 10th place in the Uphill Only Race at the European OffRoad Running Championships and stood aloft the podium with a team gold medal.
There was also a first Great Britain & Northern Ireland selection for Moli Lyons, finishing 31st at the Spar European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.
Finally, Les Croupiers RC’s women finished as the 17th team at the European Clubs Cross Country Cup in Albufeira, representing Wales with Swansea Harriers finishing 20th in the men’s race.
Liz Taylor | Education Administration Officer
Welsh Athletics is dedicated to supporting and developing all our Leaders and Coaches, ensuring high-quality coaching across all levels. Over the past year, our team of Coach Developers have supported new and existing coaches who were looking to upskill and position themselves as a trusted and competent coach, capable of making a meaningful impact to our sport.
We are thrilled to celebrate an incredible surge in participation across all our courses! Our Fell (FHMT)
Our coaching pathway is regularly reviewed in collaboration with the Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAF) to provide structured courses, workshops, and continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities. This helps our Leaders and Coaches stay current with the latest practices and maintain high standards, contributing to the success of our clubs and run groups. We are currently undertaking a consultation of our Coach Education courses and have recently sent out a questionnaire to all our licenced Coaches and Leaders to support us with this process as our volunteers are instrumental in everything that we hope to achieve.
course has skyrocketed with an astonishing 300% increase, while our Leader in Running Fitness course has seen an impressive 20% growth. The Coach in Running Fitness course has soared by 275%, and our Coaching Assistant program by 14.86%. Most exciting of all, the Athletics Coach qualification has experienced a remarkable 200% rise! This represents over 55 clubs and an amazing 255 leaders from the running community. We are now proudly supporting more than 2,000 Leaders and Coaches across Wales, driving the future of athletics forward!
Since October 2023, when each HCAF resumed responsibility for licensing, we’ve been committed to keeping our Leaders and Coaches informed, qualified and insured through regular updates and CPD activities. This ensures that our coaches are always equipped to excel in their roles. Welsh Athletics has recently introduced a ‘Licence Status’ feature on their portal so that all our Leaders and Coaches are able to ascertain the status of their licence and provide them with the support should they need to renew with ease.
Recognising the vital role our Leaders and Coaches have within Wales, we strive to offer a variety of training programs, workshops, and resources to equip them with the skills needed to support events, manage clubs, and assist in coaching. Ensuring that our coaches have access to performance data, training programs, and top facilities across Wales, is vital for delivering quality sessions.
This year, we’ve placed a strong emphasis on the well-being of both our Leaders/Coaches and athletes, reflecting our deep commitment to creating safe and supportive environments. We’re excited to have offered a range of CPD opportunities, including safeguarding training, mental health support, and free EDI courses to help combat discrimination. Our sport plays a vital role in bringing communities across Wales together, and we’re proud to offer opportunities for everyone to enjoy the many benefits that athletics and social running brings.
We’re excited to celebrate the incredible growth of our programs and services, which have been at the heart of this year’s success stories! From the launch of new clubs like Welshpool AC to the development of Frame Running initiatives within existing clubs, we’re proud to be making a real difference. We’ve also reached out to underrepresented groups, creating tailored programs that meet their needs—particularly within our social running groups. These initiatives are helping to build a more inclusive and thriving athletics community across Wales!
By collaborating across sectors and with our amazing partners, we’ve also introduced bespoke Guided Running Courses, delivered training to our Armed Forces and Local Authorities, and supported new workplace running initiatives for remote workers alongside commercial companies.
These achievements reflect our commitment to growing our sport and supporting every runner, thrower, jumper, leader and coach on their journey.
We’re incredibly proud of the growing number of licensed Leaders and Coaches here in Wales and celebrate their ongoing commitment and hard work in our sport, both past and present, our family thank you!
Scan here to see more thank you quotes and images of our incredible coaches and leaders accross Wales.
My health was deteriorating fast, and I started running because it would help me. With Robs support and belief in me, it’s helped me to improve my health and wellbeing and now I’m so passionate about
Running Coach Rob Campion
You taught me to be strong, humble, calm, and you’ve taught me to focus on myself only, to not worry about what the others are doing, you’ve taught me to be smart with what I do, and what I don’t do.
Anonymous
Your Guidance has allowed me to grow and develop as an athlete but also as a person, you’ve instilled a huge amount of confidence in me and I’m so very grateful.
Coach RSJ
Never forget the time I represented my school and saw my club coaches at the event, still giving me encouragement that they always do.
Coach Luke, AJ and Dom from Cardiff Athletics
Without my coaches support I could not have returned to competitive athletics as a Masters athlete and be selected to represent the South Wales region and Welsh Masters.
Coach Rob Hooper
Thank you very much for getting me where I am today. I really could not have done it without you.
Coach Carol Jones
Your Guidance has helped me to helped me develop as an athlete and allowed me to experience the sport to the fullest. I also have dreams of coaching in the future now due to their guidance.
Coach Steve Knight and Sean Price
Your guidance has led me to be a respectful athlete who officiates as often as possible to help my event live on through athletics.
Coach Martin Bell
Without my coaches support, I could not have continued in my sport at uni as his support and guidance has kept me on track with training when I felt lost at uni.
Coach David Lease
I cannot thank my coach enough for motivating, encouraging and supporting me every single day on and off the track. You believe in me more than anyone and I wouldn’t still be in this sport without you !!
Coach Darell Maynard
I cannot thank my coach enough. I would never have returned to running after my first run if it wasn’t for the enthusiasm and support of Kay. She is so inclusive and stays with the slowest of runners. She is a total chatterbox, which makes running much easier. She has so much passion for running and the connection with mental health. I can not thank her enough for helping during my low times.
Coach Kay Rodgers
Chris Moss | Head of Development, Participation and Inclusion
Club membership and the number of registered athletes has continued to recover since the pandemic and has reached 12,699 at the end of the 2023-24 affiliation year. This represents an 8.7% increase on the previous year, of which 28.2% are junior members, the highest we have seen in the sport post pandemic.
The number of affiliated clubs has remained at 100 with clubs increasing their membership offering. What has been refreshing to see over recent months is the increased number of social running groups that are continuing with their development and transitioning towards full affiliation and membership of the sport.
Related to club affiliation, we have continued to invest and upgrade the Club Secretaries Portal; enhancing the systems and processes, streamlining both the administration and payment processes to reduce the burden on the valued volunteers administering the sport within clubs across Wales. In line with these improvements, we have also integrated revised ‘Club Standards’ as part of the affiliation processes,
albeit increasing the demands of the club but as a result, improving the environments and operating standards across key areas of delivery at club level.
In order to support clubs, we will continue to develop the membership portal and platforms as well as our communication with clubs and key club officers. Communications is naturally an area we are always seeking to improve on and over the next year we will re-establish more open forums and webinars to engage with and receive feedback directly from the membership. Furthermore, a bespoke Club Leadership programme will be developed in order to best support both existing and future club leaders as well as those looking to broaden and extend their skills in this space.
We have also seen a significant increase in the number of clubs accessing and applying for funding through both the Sport Wales: Be Active Wales fund as well as our own Club Modernisation and Innovation funding. Both opportunities provide timely and accessible funding to the areas of the sport that make the biggest difference locally.
Our offering to young people through the Starting Blocs programme has also developed with more providers delivering activities under licence. As we know, partnerships are key to both the delivery and development of this initiative. Our partnerships with the Urdd, Cardiff & Vale College, Merthyr College as well as a number of local authorities continue to go from strength to strength. In addition to our
standard offering, through a collaboration with SPAR we were able to deliver an additional 8 holiday camps which saw close to 500 attendees across 4 different local authorities. This partnership deliberately targeted areas of multiple deprivation and underserved communities, providing food throughout the camp as well as delivering over 130 hours of physical activity to the young people engaged.
Over the last 12 months, there have been a number of facilities developments across Wales, including both new high-quality athletics track installations as well as refurbishments to existing facilities. Recently completed developments include; Eirias Park (Conwy), Penlan Athletics Track (Brecon) as well as the facilities at both Ysgol Dyffryn Aman and Brynmawr Foundation
School. Over the next year we will also see upgrades and developments at Cwrt Herbert Athletics Track (Neath) as well as other key facilities across Wales. We would like to thank all operators, partners (in particular Sport Wales) as well as clubs that have worked with us to support the facility developments over the last year.
|
| F64 Shot Put
Sabrina Fortune (F20) F20 Shot Put
Harrison Walsh (F44) F64 Discus
Hollie Arnold (F46) F46 Javelin
Aled Davies (F42) F63 Shot Put
Cath Bingham | Young Persons Physical Activity Officer
Josie Rhisiart | Adult Running and Engagement Officer
Through the Run Wales programme, Welsh Athletics is committed to developing wider engagement and the adult running ‘offer’ across Wales. Through the various different partnerships and initiatives we have established we continue to encourage wholesale participation in jogging and running activities across the country, positively impacting on the health and well being of tens of thousands of people across Wales. Our bespoke support of social running groups as well as the relationships we have formed with others offering free, social running opportunities has been hugely successful.
As we know, the power of social running is such that it has the potential to change lives on multiple levels. One of the partners we are particularly proud to have formed a positive relationship with over the last 12 months is SoleMate - through which we have brought a collection of Run Wales kit to the social running community and collectively we will continue to champion the benefits of social connection through running activities.
The running opportunities landscape has also seen a positive uplift over the last year with more people accessing more local opportunities. More people, more active, more often has always been an approach we have adopted when trying to link the opportunities in Wales.
As part of the 2023 Run Wales Awards Programme we received a record number of nominations emphasising the huge impact many groups and run leaders are having on the more social elements of our sport. Our congratulations must go to all those nominated in each of the categories, but especially to Albany Road Run Club on winning the Run Wales Social Running Group of the Year Award, as well as to Kay Rogers from Beyond Running Fitness, on her recognition as our Run Wales Leader of the Year for 2023.
Our positive relationship with parkrun continues to thrive with the expansion of both 5k and junior parkrun events across Wales. This offering is essential in providing free and accessible opportunities to improve health and wellbeing through walking, running and volunteering. There are now a total of 81 parkrun opportunities across Wales; 57 5K (including custodial) & 24 junior/2K events. We will continue to work closely with parkrun towards the vision of establishing 100 events by 2027 with these events functioning as ‘Community Assets’ under the Welsh Government’s National Framework for Social Prescribing.
Another hugely successful element of these opportunities has been the marked increase in the number of ‘5k Your Way’ events launching at 5k parkrun events in Wales, promoting the benefits of physical activity and connection for those affected by cancer. Run Wales is proud to support and promote these monthly group meetings which are hugely beneficial.
In February of this year, we launched a new two-year partnership with Mind Cymru aimed at improving mental health through the power of running. As part of the partnership, Mind are training Mental Health Champions in each of our 100 affiliated running clubs and 60 Run Wales social running groups across Wales. Following training each champion will be equipped to:
• Confidently start conversations to support or improve the wellbeing of those experiencing mental health problems
• Challenge stigma and signpost to mental health services
• Help spread the benefits of movement for mental health within communities
• Support people to start, continue or return to running
This is the first partnership of its kind in Wales - improving mental health within running communities and using the sport to promote the wider benefits of physical activity. It will also increase awareness of the help Mind offers through its services, including its Infoline and network of local Minds in Wales, and boost much needed support to keep these services running.
Clwb Run Wales has enjoyed steady membership figures during 23/24 and has proven to be a valuable stepping stone for the development of new running clubs moving to formal affiliation. With a geographically distributed membership with mixed levels of experience; some of whom run and train alone, whilst others are members of our social running groups, we are extremely proud of our members achievements. This year, Clwb Run Wales members have not only competed on the international stage but have also participated in a wide range of running events including; the TCS London Marathon, many regional events and the Running Out of Time Climate Relay in July as it passed through Wales.
Moving forward, we will continue to build on the positive relationships we have already established and build and develop new relationships in order to help drive participation and opportunities across all parts of Wales in order to positively impact on the health and well being of the nation.
Over the last 12 months, we are proud to have developed and extended our relationship with The Daily Mile, which has resulted in the recruitment of a full-time Young Persons Physical Activity Officer. Through this partnership, Welsh Athletics and Run Wales are on a mission to increase participation in The Daily Mile.
As a result, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of schools engaging with The Daily Mile, which now has over 600 primary, SEN and early years settings signed up, with 48% of primary schools across Wales now delivering regular activity to all pupils.
Throughout the year, we have been fortunate enough to visit many of the inspiring Daily Mile schools across Wales. Hearing directly from staff and pupils about their Daily Mile experiences has been incredibly insightful.. Below are some examples of quotes from pupils taking part in the programme;
If you feel like you can’t do it, don’t worry. If you can’t run you can walk!
Just try it ‘cause it might make you feel better!
I like it when I have a stitch and I keep going and don’t give up it goes! It makes me happy and ready to go for learning!
In addition, the teaching staff involved have also expressed their appreciation for the social benefit they have experienced, having seen that children are encouraging each other to keep going, and through a growth mindset approach, they openly say they will not give up even if they are feeling tired.
At 2.15pm every day we get outside and do the Daily Mile. All children take part and they take part at their own level and their own fitness ability. We have children that whizz their way round the 20 laps, we have children that do a walk and talk and if you’re like me, we jump the footsteps! But we all get our hearts going and the heart rates pumping in our own little way.
Mrs. Griffiths (Sketty Primary School, Swansea)
It is incredible to be part of a global movement which has reached 5 million children worldwide! The Daily Mile are committing to a world where every child benefits from physical activity and we are pleased to be playing our part in Wales. The Daily Mile promotes improved health and wellbeing of our young learners, helping to shape a healthier future. We celebrate and thank our educators who champion The Daily Mile and encourage others to follow their lead!
There are now over 600 schools and early years settings taking part in The Daily Mile across Wales and we strive for continued growth. I invite you to join this wonderful community! Together we can enable more children to incorporate daily physical activity into their school day enhancing fitness, heightening alertness, boosting concentration and helping children feel happier!
Cath Bingham, Young Persons Physical Activity Officer at Run Wales
Moving forward, Welsh Athletics has been fortunate to secure support and funding from the Run4Wales Charitable Foundation to continue to develop both the Daily Mile as well as other activities to support young people in Wales and their journey into and through the sport. This investment will only serve to further support the growth, development and participation of athletics in Wales.
It’s a good start to the rest of the day!
Alex Donald | Competitions Team
The Competition year began with The Welsh Road Relay Championships in Pembrey, which had far greater numbers than at the 2022 edition, and a competitive inter-club battle with the inclusion of a trial race for Welsh club teams to qualify for the National Road Relay Championships.
Next came the Cardiff Cross Challenge, which is the most prestigious athletics event held in Wales annually, holding a Gold Label in the World Cross Country Tour and welcoming international athletes from countries across Europe and Africa. The event also draws many of the top British athletes looking to test their fitness ahead of the Trials for the Spar European Cross Country Championships two weeks later.
The Welsh Inter-Regional Cross Country Championships moved Northwards to Dolerw Park in Newtown and in turn saw far greater entries from the North Region.
Next came the start of the Indoor season and a more collaborative approach between ourselves and Cardiff Metropolitan University.
The Christmas Classic (inc. Welsh 3,000m Champs) saw a convincing victory and Welsh all-comers record for Laura Muir AC in 8:34.39, followed by Olympic Bronze Medallist Georgia Bell and European U20 Cross Country Champion Innes Fitzgerald. The men’s race was also highly competitive with Benjamin Reynolds winning in 8:04.50.
The Christmas break brings a certain level of anticipation for the re-start of the indoor season that includes the second instalment of the hugely popular Indoor Junior Open Meetings.
Later in January comes the Senior & U15 Indoor Championships, which were hugely competitive and saw the usual spattering of Welsh Records and Championship best performances.
Both the Welsh Cross Country Championships and Welsh Schools National Cross Country Championships took place at the Penlan Arena in Brecon on spectator-friendly multi-lap courses, but with the National Championships set to move venues for 2025 as we look to re-invigorate and future-proof the event.
The outdoor season began with our level two licensed Run with the Wind competitions that sit on the world athletics calendar and always draw a high level of competition.
This was a precursor for a season that saw more level two licensed competitions in Wales than we have seen in many years.
The Welsh Senior and U15 Championships were praised for the attention to detail demonstrated in delivery, with a specialist production team and top level commentary and sound provision as part of our focus towards improving the athlete experience at our showpiece summer event.
The inaugural Shawn Pickering Memorial Trophy was awarded to Patrick Swan, the winner of the Men’s Shot Put. The first seated Shot Put events also took place at the Championships.
Introduction of the Welsh Wheelchair Championships (on track) offered 100m & 400m races as part of our growing offering of para events, embedded into our competitions in Wales.
Our Junior Championships moved to the University Track at Swansea Bay Sports Park in early August, where the new venue was well received.
British Milers Club events returned to Wales, with three meetings held, one at the NIAC Facility in Cardiff, one at Newport City Stadium, and one in Aberdare. This brought a higher level of competition than is usually achieved at our stand-alone open meetings and marked a welcome return to Wales for the BMC, which, prior to this, had only visited Wales once in a decade.
The Welsh Junior League continued to grow after being re-formed in 2023, and with clubs taking ownership of the leagues in the West of Wales and in the combined South / East League. Welsh Athletics continued to deliver the North Wales offering, which successfully hosted three fixtures in 2024.
Two newly added Endurance specific open meetings in North Wales proved popular and were an addition to the existing sprint meeting held at Menai.
The Adidas Home Nations Podium 5k saw a hugely competitive and high-quality field with an Icelandic winner on the men’s side and a New Zealander victorious on the women’s side. Six men finished in under 14 minutes, and five women finished in under 16 minutes.
Finally, the Welsh 10k Series returned during the 2024 calendar year and will continue at the Welsh 10km Championships within the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k in mid-September before culminating at the Richard Burton 10k in November.
446
Entries for the Welsh Road Relay Championships grew from... in 2022 to... in 2023 643 867
Entries for the Welsh Cross Country Championships in Brecon grew from... in 2023 to... in 2024 810
1009
642
676
Entries for the Welsh Senior & U15 Championships increased from... in 2023 to... in 2024
Athletes entered the Welsh U13, U17, U20 Championships in Swansea.
We would like to thank all the primary and secondary teachers, school district officers, pupils, and clubs who have contributed and supported all our events and initiatives again this last academic year, it is gratefully received.
2023/24 saw almost a full school district competition program for cross country and track & field in our eight districts with competitors progressing to the respective WSAA finals.
The formal competition pathway was underpinned by numerous primary school events organised by clubs, local authority sports development departments and key volunteers from schools.
We have successfully delivered several Primary & Secondary teacher education workshops albeit with not quite as many attendees as in 2022/23 across this academic year from existing staff, newly qualified teachers and PGCE students. We continue to aim to have in excess of 100 people attend teacher training every year.
New schools continue to sign up to and utilise the excellent Daily Mile, Quadkids and Sportshall Athletics initiatives and resources available to them. A free
‘Summer Of Fun Sports Day’ resource was updated and made available to all schools themed around the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.
All these events and initiatives give pupils invaluable experience of athletics in a school environment with a key to attract those unattached to clubs to progress into their local clubs.
On the 5th November 2023 the Joint Welsh Schools & Welsh Athletics Combined Events Championships saw 109 pupils participate with 16 progressing to the Combined Events International hosted at home in Cardiff on 2nd December 2023.
The joint Welsh Inter Schools & Welsh Colleges Cross Country and Welsh Inter Regional Championships at Newtown on 18th November 2023 had close to 400 (279 in 2022) pupils finishing the races.
The 28th February 2024 saw 768 (738 in 2023) pupils entered in the 60th Welsh Schools National Cross Country Championships at Brecon, with 40 pupils then selected for Welsh Schools in the SIAB Schools International on 23rd March 2024 at Abbottstown, Ireland.
On the 12th March 2024, The Welsh Sportshall Final also saw an increase in districts fielding teams, the winning U13 & U15 teams from Powys, Afan Nedd Tawe and Cardiff & the Vale progressing to the UK National Finals on 1st April 2024 at Stoke. We aim for and hope to have a full set of eight districts competing in March 2025.
511 pupils represented their school districts in the Welsh Schools Track & Field Championships on 6th July 2024 in Cardiff. Over 60 pupils mainly from the Middle age group were then selected for Welsh Schools in one of our most successful ever SIAB International at home in Carmarthen on Saturday 20th July 2024 taking home over 20 medals.
The 10th July 2024 saw close to 600 pupils participating in the NASUWT Cup & Plate Finals at Brecon, our most popular fixture of the schools events pathway.
It was our turn to host The Schools International which visits Wales on a rota basis and was successfully held in collaboration with the Welsh Schools Athletics Association and Carmarthenshire Council on the 20th July.
From a governance perspective, the WSAA Officers continually engage with Welsh Athletics colleagues finally completing and refining the Service Level Agreement which secures WSAA domestic and international operations, and updating the WSAA Constitution to reflect and cement the content of the SLA.
511 pupils represented their school districts in the Welsh Schools Track & Field Championships on 6th July 2024 in Cardiff.
Over 60 pupils mainly from the Middle age group were then selected for Welsh Schools in one of our most successful ever SIAB International at home in Carmarthen on Saturday 20th July 2024 taking home over 20 medals.
Jozie Postles | Head of Marketing & Communications
It has been fantastic to see growth in both our social media following and website page views this year. Over 440,000 users are visiting our website annually with half of those
440,000
being new users. TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube continue to see the biggest percentage growth year on year, and this correlates with the increase in junior membership.
users are visiting our website annually with half of those being new users
TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube continue to see the biggest percentage growth year on year
To help inspire the next generation of athletes, this year we have teamed up with two athlete ambassadors to share engaging and inspiring video content.
Endurance athlete and mum of four, Lizzie Dimond has created some fantastic videos, sharing her running journey, what it’s like to prepare for a marathon, overcoming injury and how she juggles training with raising four children. To date, we have collaborated with Lizzie on 9 Instagram posts and they have received 83,000 video views, 5,563 likes and 377 comments.
Our second ambassador is James Ledger, a T11 100m sprinter who competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Competing in the T11 classification requires James to compete with a blind fold on and with a guide runner. Our collaborations with James unveil what it is like to be a T11 sprinter, insights into guide running and his athletics journey. We have collaborated with James on 3 Instagram reels to date and they have been viewed 15,000 times, had 411 likes and 25 comments.
Both of these collaborations have been a huge success, and we will continue to work with athlete ambassadors in the future.
Following last year’s success, this year we recruited a summer placement student from Cardiff Metropolitan University to help us showcase our summer competitions and provide invaluable work experience in a fast-moving environment. Cameron Wright joined us for 5 events across the summer and helped deliver some fantastic videos across our Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Channels.
This year we have worked with freelance journalist Owen Morgan to help increase the amount and quality of our communications around competition times. Owen has supported us with the weekend round-up, competition previews and round-ups and Olympic and Paralympic content. With Owen’s support we have been able to cover Welsh athletes’ performances in more depth and detail than ever before and he has been an invaluable support to the comms team.
Total followers = 37,665 (+11.2%)
Toal impressions = 9.14m (+4%)
Total posts = 3.16k
Total video views = 85.6k
Total engagements = 422k Post link clicks = 64.3k
Total number of page views = 1,528,713 (+20.3%)
Total number of users = 441,000 (+97.6%)
Total number of new users = 226,000
Number of email campaigns sent = 111 (+42.34%)
Top 3 visited pages 1. Competitions
Blogs
Senior Champs Competition
Total emails delivered = 176,591 (+10.0%) Average email open rate = 53.9% (-4.0%) Average click rate = 6.2% (-0.9%)
Our social media following for Welsh Athletics has continued to increase consistently year on year and we are expected to surpass our 2026 target of 40,000 followers.
TikTikTok continues to see the biggest overall percentage growth in followers with an increase of... 174%
Date and time: February 19 at 10:19am Type of post: Team Announcement Engagement rate: 14%
Date and time: April 23 at 4:15pm
Date and time: November 28 at 3:00pm
Jozie Postles | Head of Marketing & Communications
Over the last 12 months, we have continued to focus on developing additional commercial opportunities and onboarding new partners.
This summer we partnered with A.F. Blakemore and the SPAR brand in the name of inspiring the future generation of Welsh sporting champions.
This partnership saw the launch of eight Starting Blocs summer camps in South Wales. Each camp was located in areas of deprivation including Aberdare, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfill, and South Cardiff.
To help support families with the current cost of living challenges, SPAR provided each participant with a free packed lunch for each session.
In total, 465 children attended the eight summer camps and 132 hours of physical activity was delivered with many children trying out athletics for the first time.
In January, Welsh Athletics announced a three-year partnership with Polytan, a global leader in sports surfacing. This collaboration marks a significant step forward in advancing the quality and accessibility of athletic facilities across Wales.
We seek to harness this partnership to further its mission of nurturing world-class athletes and increasing participation at all levels of the sport. Through initiatives aimed at improving facilities and athlete support, Welsh Athletics is committed to making athletics a cornerstone of community sport across the region.
Last November, we were delighted to have the UK’s no. 1 online retailer for run, gym and hike, Sportsshoes.com sponsor the prestigious Cardiff Cross Challenge.
As part of the sponsorship agreement, Sportsshoes provided prize money for the top three winners in the men’s and women’s Elite Mile.
In addition to the Welsh Athletics online shop which launched at the end of March 2023, this summer we also launched a Run Wales online shop to offer a range of fun and colourway merchandise to the social running community.
Zoe Holloway Officials & Volunteer Coordinator
Since September 2023
61
13 51% 64 newly trained officials upgraded to level 2 / 3 / 4 level 1 completion rate 2022-2023 qualified as level 1 (compared with 38% 2021-2022)
Gender split...
43%
318 115
number of licensed primary officials
number of licensed secondary officials
57% 31% 21% 27% 21%
(women 51-60 being the largest proportion)
(breakdown 236 T&F only / 65 Endurance only / 36 qualified both off & on track disciplines) (this number grows year on year!)
Earlier this year, the four Home Countries Athletics Federations (HCAFs) confirmed the Officials Pathways for levels 1 to 3 of the track/field and endurance disciplines. This has been based on feedback from the official’s community and multiple stakeholders, throughout the previous 12 months and is part of a continuance to enhance the pathway. The four HCAFs are committed
Regional split... South East West North
to reducing any perceived barriers for new and current officials developing and progressing within their chosen discipline(s).
Following the launch, we held two evening webinars highlighting the changes to the pathways and the rationale(s) for these changes.
The graphics below, outline the pathways for both track/field and endurance disciplines.
As part of our continued recognition of the official’s community, supporting numerous events throughout the year, we refreshed the Welsh Athletics Officials Reward Scheme following the Officials Pathway changes for Level 1-3. The scheme continues to acknowledge both the commitment and progression that is shown by our volunteer officials each year.
In March, we hosted back-to-back weekends of virtual officials’ conferences to cater for all levels of officials across Wales. The first solo virtual Endurance Officials Conference was followed by the first solo virtual Track & Field Officials Conference, with over 60 officials registered for both conferences. The conferences provided the opportunity for our Officials to be informed and learn through a series of presentations covering a range of different topics. A key central theme throughout both conferences was inclusion.
In both conferences, the morning was opened by James Williams (CEO of Welsh Athletics), giving a number of organisational updates, which included the new strategy and new official’s pathway moving forward. At the Endurance Conference, Euan Coney (role at the time WA Competitions Coordinator) delivered a concise update from the competitions team. This was followed by Libby Steele (WA Inclusion & Engagement Coordinator) who delivered ‘Inclusive Endurance Competition Environments’ this included positive ways to support wheelchair road racing athletes and VI runners.
After lunch, two sessions were hosted by Nigel Jones the first of the afternoon sessions was ‘Who’s Who at an Endurance event?’ this covered the various officiating roles required within an endurance event. Followed by the last session of the day ‘Competition Scenarios’ focusing on nine scenarios across road and cross-country events this was a valuable opportunity for attendees to discuss ways of overcoming competition issues by listening to each other’s officiating experiences.
In the Track & Field Conference, the competitions team update was delivered by Alex Donald (role at the time Head of Competitions) which included structure of the competition team, analysis of entry numbers at our key events and looking ahead at competitions for 2024. This was followed by
Heather Nelson, delivering an informative presentation on the 2023 World Athletics Rule Amendments.
After the lunch break Libby Steele delivered ‘Creating an Inclusive Competition Environment’ which included an overview of para classifications, an explanation of Raza points system and providing our officials with information on how to support inclusion within the competition environment. The next session was ‘Deaf Athletics Awareness with BSL’ Libby outlined her PhD research within the Deaf Athletics starts system technology. Then Libby demonstrated useful BSL phrases for officials to learn to help support and communicate with deaf athletes in an athletics competition setting. This engaging session was useful for our Welsh officials helping broaden their knowledge and the opportunity to practise BSL with guidance from Libby.
Sue Maughan delivered two sessions. The first was ‘Who’s Who at an Athletics Event?’ this outlined the various roles within a T&F competition and how different disciplines work together. Aimed at helping our officials widen their understanding of the different management roles involved within competition. The third part of the day featured an insightful presentation from Sue about what is involved for Level 5 and beyond by listening to Sue’s inspiring and dedicated journey of how she has become a World Para ITO and World Athletics Referee.
The final session of the day covered scenarios in different disciplines, with Amy Price facilitating discussions for field scenarios. In contrast, Rob Hooper & Geoff Wickens covered the track disciplines, which included video content of best practice examples. These scenarios brought about lots of discussion about different rules, how they should be actioned, and by whom amongst various situations sharing best practice. Amy Edwards (WA North Wales Competition Officer) finished the day with a fun officiating quiz testing general disciplines knowledge and more challenging questions related to world para-athletics.
This practical session was held in November and it was a great success with 13 participants, athletes Ellie Bowen F56 and Kieran Jones F34 as well as guest Welsh Paralympic Athlete John Harris.
The workshop was delivered by officials Ros Alterman and John Tanner. The workshop covered the many areas of seated throws and wheelchair racing rules and regulation with practical demonstrations for which the officials participating had the opportunity to question and get hands on using the equipment. The aim of the session was to increase officials understanding and confidence to officiate with seated throws and wheelchair racing.
The purpose of this workshop was to offer the opportunity to learn about para-athletics events.
The practical training included live demonstrations of setting up and securing the throwing equipment and applying the rules which is important with the embedding of para events within our competitions.
The session attracted both new and experienced officials. This session was a success with officials attending gaining confidence for future events when officiating on a seated throw event or a wheelchair racing event.
Para-athlete workshop in November
Sue
This year we have had 9 Welsh officials selected for major events.
UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham 17-18 Feb
Sue Maughan | Competition Director
Dave Jessett | Field Judge
Sue Alvey | Field Judge
World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 1-3 March
Sue Maughan | Competition Director
Dave Jessett | Field Event Referee
Becky Bell | Field Judge
Amy Price | Field Judge
Sue Hooper | Starter Assistant
UK Championships in Manchester 29-30 June
Sue Alvey | Field Judge
Rob Hooper | Starter
Rory McKerlich | Track Umpire
Sue Hooper | Call Room
Diamond League in London 20 July
Amy Price | Field Judge
Becky Bell | Field Judge
UKSG Loughborough 30-31 Aug
Chris Price | Field Judge
Sue Alvey | Field Judge
In October, Sue Maughan received recognition at the European Athletics Golden Track Awards. The Member Federation award is given on an annual basis to individuals who have dedicated a number of years of service to their national federation and the sport. Sue Maughan received the Women’s Leadership award which recognises and celebrates female leaders in the sport of athletics.
UKA nominated Maughan – one of the highest-ranked officials in world athletics – for the award due to her many
accomplishments as a Technical Official in the UK and internationally. In 2023, Maughan was confirmed as a World Para Athletics International Technical Official (WPA ITO) for the next four-year cycle (2023-2026), a highly prestigious role in the sport.
Dave Jessett and Sue Maughan were both selected for the Paralympics Games this summer in Paris. Dave Jessett as a Technical Delegate – one of three at the games. Sue Maughan as a International Technical Official (ITO) acting as a Referee on Events.
Zoe Holloway | Officials & Volunteer Coordinator
Since September 2023
volunteers have engaged with our road, cross country and track & field events
new volunteers have engaged
We continue to work towards attracting more new individuals outside of Athletics to get involved with our key events throughout the year. Next year I hope to expand our reach with attracting corporate companies volunteering.
In the last 12 months, we had two Sport Management students from Cardiff Metropolitan University who successfully completed 80 hour volunteer placements. Their main role was supporting the competition’s team with key events throughout the season. We are pleased to see one student has returned numerous times to volunteer since graduating. We are working closely with
Cardiff Metropolitan University to expand the number of sport management students gaining opportunities via Cardiff Met Open campus partnership. A short-term volunteering project between November and February will offer micro-volunteering opportunities at our upcoming events in Cardiff, such as the Cardiff Cross Challenge and all Welsh Athletics indoor events held at NIAC.
The role of an event adjudicator is to ensure that race organisers are compliant of licencing conditions and that races are upheld to high standards of health and safety practices. We have identified a shortage of this role; this summer, we have focused on targeted recruitment of the current endurance official’s workforce into this role opportunity by upskilling to become event adjudicators for Road Running and Multi-Terrain events. Over the next 12 months, we will raise the profile of this volunteer role and develop / recruit more new event adjudicators across all parts of Wales. Once qualified, new event adjudicators will
receive a ‘Welcome Pack’ with useful items for this role including - WA Event Adjudicator high vis, WA pen, WA notebook & WA black Joma coat.
In July, we held a face-to-face announcer workshop delivered by James Thie (the first since 2021). This was well delivered and received well by participants, later that month two of the attendees put there learning in practise sharing announcing duties at the Aberdare Endurance Open & BMC event held in Aberdare. Paul Davies from Aberdare Valley AAC commented...
Probably my most enjoyable WA course to date and the right man for the job!
January 2024 University of Gloucestershire findings of UK Athletics Volunteer project in partnership with the Home Country Athletics Federations (Athletics Northern Ireland, England Athletics, Scottish Athletics and Welsh Athletics). This report was designed to better understand the volunteer workforce at the heart of the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom.
93%
According to the data if they started volunteering in late 40s they continue into... The responses
66% 1/3 70s of respondents defined themselves as white of volunteers between 48-72 years of age had volunteered for more than 20 years
Summary of why did they start volunteering?
Personal Fulfilment, Giving back, Family involvement, help the sport.
Why continue to volunteer?
Love of athletics, support next generation, to stay involved, personal development, needed by the sport.
What would make people volunteer more?
Having more volunteers, being valued, better governance.
What would make people volunteer less?
Cost, lack of respect, age and health.
How has covid 19 affected volunteering?
Fewer volunteers, greater commitment, increased pressure.
Many start volunteering because they are / were already involved in athletics and want to give back to the sport, or they have family who are involved. However, there are clear issues over the cost and increased demands on volunteers, as well as a perception that they are taken for granted. Covid has had mixed effects with some volunteering more and some volunteering less but there is a perception that there are fewer volunteers who are being asked to do more. There is also a tension between
Our Time Tempo credits offer is successfully continuing and growing each year we have this year we have given out over 130 Time Tempo Credits to volunteers supporting our events with 36 volunteers registered.
those who are long established volunteers and those who want to modernise, as well as wider political and cultural differences.
Working collaboratively, we anticipate that this survey will help lead us to a greater understanding of the challenges faced by volunteers within the sport and allow us (as a collective) to look to enhance and develop the support we provide at all levels.
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