This Sunday (7^th April) will see the 16^th annual British Athletics Officials Conference held in Hinckley, centring around being ‘Here for the Sport’.

Officials from all areas of athletics will head to the Jury’s Inn for a range of talks, workshops and networking sessions over the course of the one-day event, all linking into bettering their performances and relating to the main theme of the conference.

This year, the conference has added a flexible drop-in drop-out session in the form of market stalls, alongside a networking section for all in attendance.

This year’s event will feature a question and answer session between officials and an esteemed five-member panel, including national level and World Para Athletics International technical official, Shona Malcolm, and Technical Advisory Group and international photo finish judge, Alison Jordan.

Officials will take part in practical workshops that allow them to best hone their skills around their chosen topics, including officials mentoring, decision making in high pressure situations and disability track and field modules.

There will also be a talk from UK Athletics’ Equality, Diversity & Inclusion lead, Donna Fraser, alongside the managing director of management consultancy Sequoia Blue, Valerie Kohler.

UK Athletics’ interim CEO, Nigel Holl, provide the opening address to the audience, with Andy Kay the Master of Ceremonies.

There will also be a series of awards presented to recognise officials. They include Long Service awards for those who have made a contribution to athletics for more than 40 years, and the David Littlewood award, presented in memory of former official David Littlewood MBE, recognising an official under the age of 35 who has shown great promise in the sport.

You can share your tweets from the conference by tagging @BritAthletics and by using the hashtag #OffConf19

To find out more about the work of our officials or if you’re interested in finding out more information about becoming an official, please click here.