Coe approached over 'catastropic' UK Athletics regime.

[philipo]

whats wrong with a bit of ranting; the measured stuff, so beloved of Brit moderation, doesn't seem to be going anywhere or achieving much right now..Or have i missed the issue. If its patently true that some senior British athletes collared the the great cheese( probably with holes therein) no doubt they had plenty to say.

As for reading widely i spent more than fifty years reading newspapers etc and now i have given up on them.

[trickstat]

But I have always found it strange/annoying the lack of Continental Tour meetings in the UK, not even a bronze! a nice easy way to get our athletes to compete domestically at a slightly higher than national level, little bit of cash and points to be gained.

This is particularly helpful for those athletes who don't get that much good competition at a domestic level but aren't currently quite at the level to get into a Diamond League. They may be able to get into a Continental Tour meeting, but they may not be able do to too many of those for various reasons e.g. travel costs eroding prize money/fees, fitting around a part-time job they may do. This is true of a large number of athletes with the possible exception of those who specialise at 100, 200, 800 and 1500, where domestic competition is relatively strong.

[larkim]

2021 continental tour meetings by country

Country	Count
BEL	2
CAN	1
CRO	1
CZE	2
DEN	1
ESP	2
FIN	2
FRA	4
GER	3
GRE	2
HUN	3
ITA	2
JPN	2
KAZ	1
KEN	1
NED	1
NOR	1
POL	3
SUI	4
SVK	1
SWE	3
USA	8
Grand Total	50

[fchd]

One of the reason for the lack of Continental Tour events compared to our European neighbours is that in many parts of Europe the local football stadium is also an athletics stadium. In the UK that is pretty much anathema to the football side of the fence with the argument (which has some validity to be fair) that that then puts the football fans too far from the action.

In England, after West Ham/London Stadium, the next highest football club to have a track is Gateshead in the sixth tier (National League North) and they seldom attract more than a few hundred fans.

[Stew-Coach]

As I progress my own coaching pathway and my athletes develop and improve, we have to consider where to race not just for quality but also where can points be gained. Can easily put a decent quality race on in the UK anywhere, but without the license level that comes with a CT event they can easily be 70pts down on competitors in Europe and the USA.

Its not a massive thing in the grand scheme of things but it is an issue with unfunded athletes who cant quickly/easily get on the circuit (even the NCAA circuit has better licensing and points than 99% of UK events). and actually due to the timeframe of the points system an athlete who perhaps was decent 2 years ago can still rank higher than an up and coming athlete due to the availability of races and points system.

We do have some good "stadiums" that could be used, Manchester, Gateshead, Crystal palace and even the Birmingham warm up track eventually to name a few with decent stands that IMO could hold domestically orientated CT events to help get our athletes racing each other (good quality) and get the points that keeps them in the mix for ranking derived places.

Does need to be addressed
(i know the article and thread is aimed at the performance structure and coaching but I focus on me and mine)

[LuckySpikes]

We do have some good "stadiums" that could be used, Manchester, Gateshead, Crystal palace and even the Birmingham warm up track eventually to name a few with decent stands that IMO could hold domestically orientated CT events to help get our athletes racing each other (good quality) and get the points that keeps them in the mix for ranking derived places.

Loughborough and Bedford too. What about Cardiff Met (I don't know much about that one) ? I've watched plenty of Bronze CT meetings where there's just one stand along the home straight. WA do specify a minimum capacity of 5000 for Bronze & Silver meetings but I'm sure that's been waived in a few cases (e.g., the Budapest GP meeting last month). Or maybe i'm underestimating how many you can fit in a stadium with a small grandstand and standing 2 or 3 deep all around the other parts?

[trickstat]

The back straight at Bedford is mainly grass banking where you could plausibly have quite a few more than 3 deep standing.

Another plausible venue is Ashford. While it is not exactly central for the rest of the UK it is very accessible for the near parts of the Continent.

[sidelined]

Who organises those Continental Tour meetings? Is it NGBs, or independent operators?

[LuckySpikes]

Who organises those Continental Tour meetings? Is it NGBs, or independent operators?

Sometimes they're the brainchild of independent groups/companies and sometimes they're initiated by the national federation (and then probrably contracted out). Even if they're the former, they probably have to get the go-ahead from the national federation before applying to be a Continental Tour meeting.

For example, the 8 Continental Tour meetings gained by the USA this year were obviously initiated by their national federation, a) to provide more domestic opportunities in the run-up to Tokyo and b) to help promote the sport before the Eugene World Championships next year.

Either way, there's a set of criteria that have to be met for each level of meeting, e.g., regarding facilities and how the meeting is run. I've linked to those regulations in the comments.

[LuckySpikes]

WACT regulations (PDF) - https://www.worldathletics.org/downl...%20Regulations

[carterhatch]

Thought we should discuss this ...

UK Athletics chief Joanna Coates and performance director Sara Symington resign

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/59003613

Seems that ever so blatant pair of 'PC' appointments went well...


Indeed a couple of days ago I read this article, but didnt post any response on the forum, but thought the quotes from Ms. Symington less than encouraging...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...sara-symington

[carterhatch]

another related article to this turn of events...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/oct/21/jo-coates-sara-symington-step-down-uk-athletics-british-cycling

I like the fact that a proper athlete is mentioned as one possible candidate for CEO - Jack Buckner - who has presided over the rise of UK Swimming.

How Ms. Symington can resign her post on Wednesday and 'start imminently' in a new role with British Cycling is a question i would ask ...

[philipo]

Hurrah.. the failures are gone. What other nobodies are we going to see. Could there be some males appointed??

[treadwater1]

It looks more like Symington was poached by BC rather than being pushed out going by the hastily put out press statement from UKA earlier today. Out of the frying pan and into the fire if you ask me, I can’t see how she will avoid the level of scrutiny she got at the helm of UKA, Symington being a cycling person may help with the transition though

[marra]

It looks more like Symington was poached by BC rather than being pushed out going by the hastily put out press statement from UKA earlier today. Out of the frying pan and into the fire if you ask me, I can’t see how she will avoid the level of scrutiny she got at the helm of UKA, Symington being a cycling person may help with the transition though

Time will tell, as with most things, but it is of course entirely plausible that she isn't trying to avoid scrutiny but simply wanted out of a sport that, frankly, to an outsider seems to be in a complete mess all over the show and move to an organisation that - generally speaking - appears well run, high achieving and where people seem to be appreciated more and criticised less...

Clearly the Shane Sutton saga (amongst other things) shows that BC is not without its problems, but if I were in a position to work for one or the other, I know which I would choose right now!

I hope I'm wrong but the idea that everything flawed with British athletics (as in the wider sport) right now will be fixed by the removal of these two people at UKA seems like very wishful thinking.

[philipo]

we all know its the coaches; always was , is and will be. No matter how far back you go, Percy Cerutty, Stampfl and dozens of others in the last 30 years , all over the world,were greatly effective, and until our coaches are respected, given their heads and get the remuneration they deserve, rather than the current mode of penalising coaches who are a bit nasty to their athletes when necessary, we won't improve in any significant way.
That useless woman, Coates is gone; that's a bit of an improvement.!!

[LoveSprints1]

we all know it's the coaches; always was, is and will be. No matter how far back you go, Percy Cerutty, Stampfl and dozens of others in the last 30 years, all over the world, were greatly effective, and until our coaches are respected, given their heads and get the remuneration they deserve, rather than the current mode of penalising coaches who are a bit nasty to their athletes when necessary, we won't improve in any significant way.
That useless woman, Coates is gone; that's a bit of an improvement.!!

Sorry philipo You really think it's acceptable, and that athletics would be better off if coaches are comfortable being "a bit nasty to their athletes when necessary"? It's called emotional and verbal abuse, is against the coaching code of conduct and has undermined and crushed many talented athletes. What planet do you live on?

I don't think Coates was 'useless'. She inherited a poisoned chalice at a very difficult time. She was not supported and yes, made some errors but has also made great strides in terms of safeguarding, showing a level of respect to athletes and coaches and listening to the wider athletics community.

The Olympic results were disappointing because we won no golds, but we had no gold medal hopes bar relays. Even lovely Dina would have been hard-pressed to medal even if fit.