Son has numerous GB vests, which is how I got sucked in (suckered in?) to athletics management, so I know a lot of what goes on , and how the sport works up to senior levels, and it really is chalk and cheese with fell running: the entire philosophy is different.Originally Posted by IainR
I supported wheeze in saying that I do not think Minimal races are either a bad thing or impossible to find legal formulas that allow them to run without exposing organisers, but it will be increasingly hard to do that with the UKA tie up, because of how they view the role of event organiser, so difficult to do with their insurance.
For all that the image of UK Athletics and the experience of it are two different things. The sad reality is that the essential prime mover that gets kids through the ranks to international level, is a lot of people who quietly devote all their time to coaching and competition management, and yet they barely have a voice in how the sport is run, and continuously fight for the things they need. They are not the kind of people that get invited to the kind of do you went, it is the blazer brigade, well known athletes and upper echelons that tend to get invited instead. Or that was true when I was involved.
Some of the silly catch 22 s still annoy me. Take you cannot get funding (or even selected for international competitions) unless you are a prospective/finalist/ medal hope , and you likely cannot become a prospective finalist/ medal hope unless you are able to get funding, and experience of international competition, because of the need to train full time to stand a chance of being good enough. It is those lower down, not those already earning that need the funding!
I am an athletics fan that attends meetings, yet I despair of how badly the events are marketed, even to people like me. It is luck that I discover they are either on, or on TV. All is not as rosy as seems.
