Athletics Weekly

It's ridiculous that people are comparing the A standard with A standars for other champs, they aren't the same thing and they don't equate. The recent Mike Rowbottom article stated that men needed to run 20.30 to make the team at 200m, total bunkum, they need to run 20.55. It's not 13.03 for 5k it'...

You needcto live in the real world. If you think that our democratically elected government are about to cut mod funding to fund sport then you are living on a fantasy.

The idea of a central repair fund is ridiculous. What council is going to spend their budget on maintaining their track if there is a central pot to pay for it? So basically what is being suggested is that all tracks be fully funded from a centrall pot. If this were to happen then you would need a c...

In his interviews TM talks solely about one thing. How well he has done with Jess. Nobody disputes that, he has done fantastically with her. Which is why I wanted clarification earlier that I wasn't missing anything. Because he seems to have still been offered the money he was paid as her personal c...

Ok, can somebody just clarify some things for me. TM seems to have had two parts to his salary. He has been paid for coaching Jess Ennis and as a national coach. nobody is disputing that he has done an amazing job coaching Jess Ennis and the consultancy payment that was for this element of the work ...

The afro carribean population of the UK is less than 3%, so if there were no more engagement than other ethnic groups you would expect 1 athlete ranked in the 100-400m top 10 per gender. There are clearly more than that so engagement is not the issue, or at least not along racial lines. On the migra...

I am not surprised. Those of us at clubs, rather than teams, would recognise that volunteers largely co.e from two groups, parents and ex athletes. When you have no young athletes team and your senior team has a large number of athletes who live nowhere near to your club what do you expect? There is...

Clubs that dont support their coaches need their arses kicking. Where they are coaching for the club it is wrong not to support them by at the very least covering all education costs. Unfortunately if your club DOES cover these costs it makes them more expensive than the local jogging club which has...

Bev, It's not spin it's fact. I am not talking about the results of those who switched, the issue brought up was people being forced to move to Loughborough and being forced to move coach. There just isn't a mass of athletes or coaches where this is occurring. Do people think Lynsey Sharp has been f...

I think the issues are being over stated here. People keep talking about athletes being forced to move coaches, as if there is some malevolent masterplan and all moves are being forced on unwitting athletes and coaches. Idowu wasn't forced to move coach, Rutherford wasn't forced to move coach, seemi...

I think this issue of conversion from junior to senior is often over egged. There are certainly examples of UK juniors who have not progressed to senior medals because others have cheated as adults, but for me the issue is that we should not expect that people will go on to be medallists as seniors ...

when will peel learn that being consulted doesn't mean that the people consulting then have to do what you say. Loads of unrealistic idea get put forward in consultations every year, I'm not talking about athletics here, and all you ever hear is "They consulted us but we were ignored". the...

Leaving aside the whole drug issue with Myerscough I don't hink it's right to call him a failure on the world stage. In some instances he has fouled out in finals and people often consider this to be a sign of failure. I don't entirely agree. I would rather see a thrower or jumper who is not expecte...

TRS10, I guess for road runners the benefits of membership includes the £2 reduction bin entry fees for all races under the EA license. The types of runner you are referring to would probably more than get their tender back over the year simply through not paying unattached levy. i also don't really...

Steve the waters are not murky. They are more complex than some people seem to be able to understand but they are not murky. Selecting Miss Sharpe over two funded 800m runners would seem to make a mockery of any suggestion that being on funding means you are preferred in selection discussions. I thi...

The performance funnel information is out there. It is very clear that AGE by itself is not a factor. Profile of progression is a factor and somebody who is to progressing despite years of funding will be at risk of losing funding. The level A and B funding is given through set criteria, maybe if yo...

Eldanielfire,

I am merely pointing out the criteria for funding and that the decision IS NOT between Aldama and Twell. Nor is it between Sharp and Twell. It is between Dobriskey, England, Weightman and Twell.

Which of Weightman, England and Dobriskey do you think Twell should replace on funding?

Isn't there a rule that only 3 athletes may be funded at podium leel in any event. Which of Dobriskey, England and Weightman are all on funding so it seems that they are preferred to Twell. Tough call, but given their champs performances in the recent past you probably have to give England and Dobri...

Really can you just stop this ridiculous obsession. Greg IS in the right hands, he's just been Olympic champion and world number one. For goodness sakes you keep arguing that coach athlete partnerships shouldn't be split up if they are getting success and now you are arguing that Greg isn't with the...

I think it's a bit of a non sequitor to say that Netball participation in schools is higher than athletics because Sport England Money filters to the grass roots. Surely it's more to do with the fact that netball is the simplest sport for schools to organise a competitive fixture for, since they hav...

The reasons for the decline in numbers at grass roots level is virtually nothing to do with UKA. there are many many reasons outside of their control which will have had an effect on athletics participation and to simply blame UKA is to completely miss the point does not help to actually address the...

We already do have a small panel of experts who decide who gets what, you just don't like what they decide.

All you would do is politicise the entire process. It would definately result in bias against foreign candidates, even if they are the best candidates it will be down to a popularity contest.

Bev, I am putting forward my ideal method which is open advert and interview. Forget what has been happening, I am not saying UKA are this that or the other I am putting forward what I think the best system is, regardless of what UKA have or have not done and completely irrespective of who is runnin...

Great selection through popularity contest. Don't agree with it, never will it should be based upon open application and interview.

the only flaws I have seen people talk about are flaws with the application of the system not with the system itself. Funding people who might be able to make it to the top rather than those who haven't despite receiving several years funding is entirely sensible and nobody has given a reason why it...

Jeremy, Our parliamentary democracy has labour in charge sometimes, conservative at others. Just because the colour of the party running the country doesn't agree with you or because there are things that the government does that are wrong it doesn't mean that parliamentary democracy is a bad system...

Kermit, I am not saying the decision is right or wrong, I am saying that there is certainly enough there to be able to justify the decision. On the other stuff it's personal and nothing whatever to do with whether the system is right. We will never know what would have happened IF she had done that ...

Kermit, Take the names and personalities out of it. You have an athlete who made a world final in 2009 but whose PB was set in 2008 and an athlete only 0.04 behind her who has improved her PB every year since 2008. Dispassionately if the first performer has been receiving funding for 4 years and has...