Newyddion

17/02/2020 00:00, I Mewn Blog / Club Notice Board / Track & Field /

Good quality, safe and accessible facilities are key to helping athletes, coaches and clubs develop and achieve their goals. Although much athletics training can be done anywhere, when people come together to train and be coached in groups the added benefits socially, health-wise and performance are clear.

For the last 3 years, Welsh Athletics has set aside £20,000 of income generated from affiliation fees to invest back into facilities and equipment for the sport. The only Athletics National Governing Body in the UK to do so and one of only 4 Welsh Sports NGBs with a facilities grant scheme in place.  This investment pulls in match funding and support from our partners, such as Local Authorities, Facility Operators, and the clubs themselves, resulting in an overall investment of around £80,000 per year.

“As part of our new seven-year strategy, we are committed to helping ‘Create Excellent training and performance environments’ for our athletes, coaches and clubs. To do this requires all key stakeholders to work together to get the most out of everyone’s limited budgets, and we’re grateful that the good relationships we’ve built up are allowing this to have a real impact on the availability of athletics facilities across Wales.” Chris Moss, Head of Development

In 2019 Bridgend AC, Rhymney Valley AC, and Newport Harriers AC have all secured additional project investment through Sport Wales’ ‘Places for Sport’ fund and benefitted just such partnership working, with all the following contributing:

• Newport Live, Newport City Council and Newport Harriers, Bridgend County Borough Council, Bridgend Town Council and Bridgend AC, Caerphilly County Borough Council and RVAC.

Thanks to the hard work of the club, Welsh Athletics and Caerphilly CBC Sports Development team, Rhymney Valley AC will soon benefit from a new dedicated athletics facility to be built in Caerphilly Borough and shared some of their thoughts at the recent Indoor Junior Champs on where their club has come from and what the new investment will mean for the club and its young athletes:

Throws cages

Following the release of New Throws Safety Guidance from UKA in June 2018, we have been working with our clubs to ensure all cages across Wales meet these new standards, and as a result of the hard work of our staff and clubs, all cages in Wales are now compliant. Facilities managers who would like to discuss potential projects, should contact chris.moss@welshathletics.org in the first instance.

In 2019 nine clubs across Wales saw investment in their cages or new equipment: