21 April 2015

Last weekend saw the British Athletics’ Major Events Unit host three well received and inspirational events across the country; the third Women in World Athletics (WIWA) Seminar, the 13th UKA Officials Conference and the fifth mountain running camp in North Wales

The WIWA seminar is part of British Athletics’ pre-legacy programme for the London 2017 IAAF and IPC World Championships, and was held in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. 40 delegates from 23 countries took part in a series of workshops which involved guest speeches from 11-time Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and London Sport’s Director of Business Development Radha Balani, who spoke about progressing women’s leadership roles towards 2017 and beyond.

Meanwhile, in North Wales, the fifth annual mountain running camp was in full swing as athletes were given the opportunity to experience the Conwy course which will host the 2015 World Mountain Running Championships this September. The camp was designed to give the athletes a positive training environment and with additional talks from Malcolm Brown, the coach of the Brownlee brothers, provided an invaluable experience for the athletes and the support staff.

On a busy weekend, the UKA Official’s Conference with a programme devised by volunteers within the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) gave officials key information provision and an opportunity to input into workshops and influence key decisions going forward. An interactive speech by Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton gave a real insight into an athletes’ journey and their perception of officials and how they interact with them.

Cherry Alexander, British Athletics’ Major Events Director said: “I would like to thank all the attendees who attended the weekends’ events, your input is always appreciated and a perfect way to help shape what we do.  I would also like to thank the Major Events Unit team and of course, our volunteer friends and colleagues for their exceptional input into the delivery. Once again they have raised the bar."

In relation to the WIWA seminar, she commented: “It was great to see so many women from all over the world come together and make progress in developing the roles of women in sport along with looking at their own personal development plans. We believe that WIWA can act as a platform to help women progress into leadership roles towards 2017 and beyond.”

Read the full reports from WIWA and the Mountain Running camp now on the British Athletics website.