Moira Gallagher has been elected as Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to replace Linda Turner who served in the role for 2 years. Moira has previously been the Chair of the Track and Field Sub Education Group for 8 years, which is now chaired by Stewart Barnes.

Alongside the role, Gallagher has also played an active role in the Home Countries forum and track & field education subgroup, which she previously chaired for eight years. She also acts as a tutor at level one and level four on officials courses.

At England Athletics, she is the chair of the Yorkshire & Humberside region, member of the national council and is a member of the group investigating how to improve the recruitment and retention of officials in the United Kingdom.

She outlined what she hoped to achieve from the role, adding: “I hope to encourage all those involved to work together for the good of the sport and help to forge fruitful links with all our partners particularly those in the Home Countries. Matters concerning officials are an important part of the work of TAG and it would be good to bring lots of strands together so that we can be as effective as possible.”

Gallagher has earned a wealth of experience during her time as an official, playing her part in a number of European and World Indoor Championships, along with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, where she was the meeting manager.

She has also worked with World Para Athletics and gave her thoughts and advice on why being an official is so rewarding.

“I have been involved for such a long time because I enjoy being an official. It is good to feel that I can continue to contribute to the sport which I enjoyed as an athlete because other people were prepared to volunteer to act as coaches and officials. 

“It is not difficult to get involved and athletic clubs are always delighted to have volunteers who want to officiate. Courses are held at different venues around the UK regularly and you can start gaining experience by helping at local meetings even before attending a course and other officials will be very happy to guide you. Information about courses can be found on your Home Country website,” she added.

If you want to find out more about how to get involved in officiating in athletics, please visit the website: http://www.uka.org.uk/competitions/officials/