CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT
James Williams
Chief Executive Officer
What a difference a year makes. In October 2019, we launched the new strategy for Welsh Athletics at our conference weekend. We set out our ambitions to drive the sport forward over the next 7 years, with some very ambitious targets for growth and support across all aspects of the sport. We remain firmly committed to delivering the objectives set out in our new strategy, to support the sport, and modernising the infrastructure that supports our structures. What none of us could have predicted was the global pandemic, and the impact that this would have on sport in Wales as well as wider society. Despite the many challenges that we face as a sport and as a National Governing Body there is still plenty to celebrate. 2019 marked another year of continued growth, with record club and member affiliation across all age groups. We continued to see record levels of demand for Coach Education, with the Leadership in Running Fitness courses seeing unprecedented growth. Once again, we saw more female leaders trained than male, further supporting the ambitions laid out in 2015 to increase the number of females running across Wales each week.
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From an organisational perspective, we have re-structured our Senior Management Team to support the delivery of the strategy. My appointment as Chief Executive followed the decision by Matt Newman to focus 100% of his time on Run 4 Wales.
“I would like to place on record my thanks to Matt for his service to Welsh Athletics, I have no doubt that Run 4 Wales will continue to deliver World class events and generate additional income to be re-invested back into the sport in Wales in the years ahead.” I am honoured to be leading the sport that I have such passion for and look forward to helping the sport grow in all areas in the years ahead.”
