17 December 2009

UKA’s appeal to the readers of AW to nominate a People’s Power list is dominated by coaching with 13 coaches in the top 20 nominations (see below).

UKA CEO Niels de Vos, commented on the results:

“The idea behind this exercise was to give AW readers the chance to put their peers forward for recognition.

“At number one is Joss Naylor – a fell running legend – which should remind us all that the sport extends well beyond the traditional areas of track and field and road running. Second was Alan Wales, who runs a popular web forum aimed primarily at the endurance community. These forums are extremely popular and are an essential giver of oxygen to debate with any sport – the best and most popular are always unofficial and irreverent and eightlane.com certainly matches that description.

“In third place, making it a clean sweep for  endurance is Mick Woods, recognising his phenomenal record in recent years in helping to establish AFD as one of the country’s leading endurance clubs.

“The other week we celebrated the coaches, clubs, officials and volunteers nominated by the Home Countries for the UK Awards and it was a privilege to meet and thank some truly inspirational people.

“In the end, lists such as this or the original AW list are essentially a bit of fun. But they do raise the important issue of how athletics at all levels can recognise and acknowledge the fantastic work of the thousands of volunteers up and down the country without whom our sport simply couldn’t exist. So on behalf of us all, thank you!”

The top 20 UKA nominees:

1.       Joss Naylor – Fell Running legend

2.       Alan Wales – Founder and webmaster of www.eightlane.com

3.       Mick Woods – Aldershot, Farnham & District coach to Steph Twell

4.       Bud Baldaro – Coach and England athletics National Coach mentor

5.       Andy Hughes – Coach

6.       Alan Young – Ultra distance running coach

7.       Tom Crick – UKA Coach qualifications manager and sprints coach

8.       Keith Davies – Official

9.       John Graves – Chair of England Athletics

10.   Susan Goode – Coach

11.   Don Lennon – Endurance coach

12.   Gill Freeman – South of England Official

13.   Julie Hollman – Lee Valley Centre coordinator and coach

14.   Kate Haines – Coach at AFD

15.   Michelle Nicholas – Birchfield Harriers Coach

16.   Ray Barrow – Sprints coach

17.   Andy Paul – Birchfield Harriers coach

18.   Matthew Fraser Moat – Publisher of athletics Weekly magazine

19.   Sharon Morris – Coach

20.   Dr John Thing – Doctor used by the UKA events team to cover Major Events e.g. Aviva London Grand Prix