The area governing body in the North of England, Northern Athletics, has released an open letter to clubs outlining proposals for a new £2 affiliation fee after the national governing body refused to commit to future funding.

The letter to clubs opens with: “This plea to you has been caused by the national governing body, England Athletics, not being willing to commit to the long term funding of the area competition providers. We appreciate this approach is not one that the clubs would have initially encouraged us to make but for financial reasons, it has been forced upon us. ”

At present Northern Athletics receives an annual grant of £41,000 from England Athletics however in 2018-19 this is due to be reduced to £32,000. “Without a guarantee for 2019-20 and 2020-21 the possibility of a shortfall of over £30,000 for each of those two years alone would be catastrophic for us,” says Northern Athletics in the open letter titled “Northern Athletics – your support, our survival, your future”.

The letter includes the supportive statements from respected athletes and coaches, including Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jenny Meadows, Ron Hill and Peter Elliott.

“I have always supported the Northern Championships,” says Ennis-Hill. “They have provided an important stepping stone throughout my career and I hope they can continue the brilliant work they do for athletics in general.”

Ennis-Hill’s coach, Toni Minichiello, added: “Northern Athletics and the Northern Championships they provide, are a critical part of the development of all athletes as they move through the competition pathway. The continuation of Northern Athletics is crucial to our sport and I give my full support to them with this current initiative.”

Jenny Meadows, World & European 800m medallist, expressed her sadness at Northern Athletics predicament and said: “I remember competing in my first Northern Athletics Championships as a 13 year old. It was the first time I had competed in such a big event in a big stadium.

“The Northern Athletics Championships became an annual focus and highlight for me and gave me vital competition and the opportunity to progress my Championship preparation skills. Even as an established international athlete, the Northern Championships would remain in my
competition schedule”.

Northern athletics estimates that it has almost 50,000 paying athletes who contributed in 2017 to England Athletics around £700,000. In 2017 Northern Athletics received £41,000 of that total which equates to 82p per athlete out of the £14 paid over or less than 6% of the total income received from Northern athletes.

Next year, despite their fees moving up to £15 per athlete (an extra £50,000) our grant will reduce to £32,000 which represents 64p per athlete out of the £15 paid to them or just over 4% of the total income they receive.

Olympic silver medalist Peter Elliott says: “Northern Athletics and everything the organisation represents is, for me, a very important aspect of the lives of the thousands of athletes who compete at all levels in athletics in the North.

“Northern Athletics’ administration, officials and the volunteers have done a tremendous job over the years and I would like to see this continue so we have the pipeline coming through on the track, the roads, and the country and in the field to continue to win more medals at the major championships.”

Of those who responded to a 2016 survey regarding the future of Northern Athletics, 99% agreed that the area should continue to provide competition beyond 2017. This was up from 97% in a previous 2014 survey. Over 96% supported a proportion of the athlete registration fee, currently £14, being directly routed to grassroots competition & development of the sport. Over 95% supported a proportion of the England Athletics athlete registration fee being directly routed to Northern Athletics.

The proposal
Northern Athletics says that in order for the body to survive it needs to put in place a scheme in readiness for October 2018 involving an annual payment of a £2 fee for each England Athletic registered athlete.

Northern athletics says in the open letter that “The fee would only increase to £3 per year, the figure favoured by the majority in our survey, in 2019 if our financial situation, based on take up by the participating clubs, requires it.”

But they “have calculated” that if the majority of clubs agree to join in the planned proposals, an increase to £3 may not be necessary.

Northern Athletics will now ask each club share their support “before the October 2018 date by registering with us by April 2018 and confirming your commitment to the way forward”.

The full open letter can be found here.

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Elsewhere, Bud’s Run returns for the fourth year in Birmingham and after finishing second at the York Marathon last week, Tom Charles hopes to go one better in Abingdon.

Great South Run – Portsmouth, Sunday, October 22
Chris Thompson aims for a consecutive Great South Run title on Sunday and comes into the race on the back of a superb win at the Great Scottish Run earlier in the month.

Thompson won the race last year in 47:23 beating Andy Vernon in the closing stages of the 10-mile course.

Thompson will not have it all his own way and lines up with tough challengers Ben Connor, Matt Sharp, Andrew Davies and Mick Clohisey.

2017 National Cross Country Champion Connor has had a fantastic season that included a 10,000m personal best of 28:23 at the Golden Spike Meeting in the Netherlands in June.

Matt Sharp was third in last year’s race and will be looking for another good performance on the South coast. The Enfield and Haringey athlete ran a quick 2:16:01 at Berlin Marathon only a couple of weeks ago but if recovery has gone well he will line up as one of the favourites on Sunday.

Other marathon specialists include Wales’ Andrew Davies and Ireland’s Mick Clohisey, who both competed in the World Championships this summer. The ten-mile event always provides top-drawer competition and often sees marathon specialists moving down in distance and middle distance athletes stepping up. An athlete who falls into the latter category is Adam Clarke of Aldershot Farnham & District. He may well be one to watch having massively improved over the shorter distances in the last twelve months.

There is a great line up in the women’s race. Gemma Steel comes into the race in great recent form after finishing 6th at the Great North Run in 71:32, her fastest time over the distance since 2015. Also coming into the race in great form is Charlotte Purdue. The Aldershot Farnham & District runner finished an impressive 13th in the marathon at this summer’s World Championships in 2:29:23, before she recovering well and taking second in the Great Scottish Run with 72:18.

Other leading female entries include Katrina Wootton of Coventry with a 10k best of 31:46 and Tracy Barlow, of Thames Valley, who was also a marathon representative in London.

Northern Athletics Cross Country Relays – Graves Park, Sheffield, Saturday, October 21
Sheffield Running Club hosts the annual Northern Athletics Cross Country Relays on Saturday at Graves Park. Last year’s winners, Lincoln Wellington AC will aim to defend their title and have already won the Northern road relays this autumn, before finishing third at the National road relays.

Clubs hoping to challenge and provide some great grassroots competition over the 4×2 miles course include Sale Harriers Manchester, Vale Royal AC, Trafford AC and Derby AC.

Lincoln Wellington made it a double last year, also taking top honours in the women’s 3×2 miles race. They face a difficult task repeating that feat with Leeds City ones to watch.

Leeds have a strong group to choose from including; last year’s English national cross country silver medalist Claire Duck, GB Mountain runner Emma Clayton, Commonwealth Games steeplechaser Rachael Bamford, who is returning to competition after a long break, as well as Georgia Malir, junior European Mountain Running Champion 2014. With that kind of roll call, Leeds must start as favourites, however recent years have seen some good battles with fellow Yorkshire club Rotherham, who will also be gunning for the top spot on Saturday.

Related: Clubs Disqualified From Northern Road Relay Championships

Bud’s Run – Birmingham, Saturday, October 21
Returning for a fourth year this weekend is the University of Birmingham staged Bud’s Run. The family 5k fun run was started by Bud Baldaro a well-renowned running coach in the UK, who has supported hundreds of middle and long distance runners of all standards.

He has dedicated much of his life to athletics, including training at the university and travelling to events nationwide. Sadly Bud was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2009 but he is determined to use his love of running to help fund research into the long-term condition.

Bud’s run has already raised over £50,000 and the team are hoping that the total will be over £70,000 by race day on Saturday.

Although very much a family fun run, the race does attract some great British distance runners and this year’s favourites include Rob Bough of Edinburgh AC. He is the current men’s captain at Birmingham University and has a 3000m best of 8:23. Tom Dodd of Birchfield Harriers, a fresher at Birmingham, has a 1500m best of 3:47. Former Birmingham student Matt Jackson of Liverpool Harriers will also take to the start line and with a 5k seasons best of 14:19 he could well be the favourite for the win. Frank Tickner of Wells City/Kent who has previously finished tenth at the European Cross Country Championships also makes a return to racing.

The women’s race also has a stellar line up including Julia Cooke of Birchfield Harriers who has a 4:12 1500m best and could be hard to beat, especially if left to a sprint finish. Louise Webb also of Birchfield had a fine 2016 breaking the 10-minute barrier for the steeplechase and placing third overall on the UK rankings. It could be a battle exclusively amongst the Birchfield contingent as Mari Smith also competes. Smith represented Great Britain last year at the European Cross Country Championships finishing 25th in the U23 race and has followed a great winter with a 2:04.19 800m’s this summer. This combination of endurance and speed could prove hard to beat.

Abingdon Marathon – Abingdon, Sunday, October 22
In Oxfordshire, the mainly flat course of Abingdon marathon takes place on Sunday. The race starts and finishes at Tilsley Park athletics track and passes through the town, alongside the River Thames and follows a mostly scenic two-lap route through several nearby villages.

Last year’s event was won by local athlete Paul Fernandez of Abingdon in 2:30:38 and Katherine Matthews of Chepstow Harriers won the women’s race in 2:58:59. Leading entries this year include; Tom Charles who finished second at York Marathon last week in 2:25:52, David Broadley of Poole AC who has a best of 2:31:52 from 2016 and Joel Jameson who has clocked 2:30:40.

Ahead of Sunday, Tom Charles told Fast Running “I have a few lingering injuries and with a windy day expected, my aim is to keep my head down and try to keep the weather from stealing too much time from me.”

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