Former chair of the governing body breaks silence and slates poor decision making and lack of ambition shown by his successors

Ed Warner, chair of UK Athletics from 2007 to 2017, says the governing bodys current financial problems are due to unnecessary politicking, pursuit of vanity projects, timidity and simple sloppiness.

Exasperated by the decline in UKAs reserves and amid reports that the organisation is close to bankruptcy, Warner has written a fiercely critical article at City AM and his own Sport inc. newsletter and insists the present issues were all entirely avoidable.

He writes: In my time, our financial model revolved around the delivery of profitable, high profile athletics competitions, broadcast on terrestrial television, that were of sufficient quality to generate rights fees from TV and to pull in event sponsors. We even built an in house team to do this, replacing an expensive outside agency whose hefty fees leaked money from the sport.

I spearheaded a bitter battle to secure a 50 year rent-free deal to use the London (Olympic) Stadium, providing the venue for those events and major global championships. The result? A clear profit of comfortably over 2 million a year from events, with sponsor income a bonus on top. All to reinvest in athletics.

Warner claims that both himself and former UKA chief executive Niels de Vos recommended to their successors that the renewal of the long-standing BBC deal with UKA should be a priority.

Yet the existing contract for whatever reason was allowed to run down and expire, he says, adding: At a stroke, the model was destroyed.

Warner also says he was dismayed by the lack of ambition when one of his successors as chair during the pre-pandemic period suggested UKA should abandon holding athletics at the London Stadium and instead focus on making Alexander Stadium in Birmingham the epicentre of the sport.

It is hard to work out which chair Warner is referring to. As Warner himself says in his article, there have been so many, with five chairs and six CEOs some permanent, others interim over the last five years.

Richard Bowker was the immediate successor to Warner as UKA chair and had an ignominious one-year reign during 2018 before being forced out. Sarah Rowell was then interim chair for a spell before Chris Clark, another businessman from outside of athletics, took over as chair, but Clarks spell lasted only seven months before he decided the role wasnt for him.

When it comes to chief executives, Zara Hyde Peters was due to take over as chief executive from De Vos but was forced out of the position before she event started in autumn 2019 after it emerged her husband was involved in a safeguarding issue.

Jo Coates was another controversial CEO appointment and had the bad luck to take over just when the pandemic was breaking out in 2020. She later left under a cloud in autumn 2021.

Warner stresses that many of the current staff at UKA are not culpable and he is not critical of current CEO Jack Buckner. However, he predicts that Buckner could end up presiding over a governing body that is increasingly detached from grassroots and instead focuses on the elite athlete programme with UK Sport likely to be its white knight when it comes to financial problems.

Those responsible for this scandalous situation are not those currently in charge, he says. And there remains a core of dedicated, long-standing staff at UKA a number of them my friends who have deserved better.

You can read Warners full column here

World 1500m champion to return to open TCS Mini London Marathon, 14 years after he took part in the race

Jake Wightman will experience a full-circle moment when he starts off the 2023 TCS Mini London Marathon on Saturday (April 22).

The world 1500m champion will return to an event he once competed in back in 2008 and 2009. He finished 45th and 21st in those respective races and has certainly come a long way since.

The 7,000 kids who will take part will also get the opportunity to ask questions to Wightman the previous night in a Q&A with the current world champion.

Wightman became the first Brit since Steve Cram in 1983 to win a world 1500m title, when he claimed a stunning gold in Oregon last summer.

Jake [Wightman] winning the world championships and his dad [Geoff Wightman] commentating on that race was an amazing British story, says London Marathon Event Director Hugh Brasher. Weve got an incredible history in the 1500m and mile.

The inspirational story of Jake being a world champion and his journey in the sport is so incredible and relatable. Building this mini marathon is about kids enjoying running.

The Mini London Marathon has a rich history. It started in 1986 and involved children from 33 London boroughs. Since then a plethora of Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth medallists have emerged from the event.

Apart from Wightman, other Mini London Marathon winners and participants include Sir Mo Farah, David Weir, Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan, Hannah Cockroft and Keely Hodgkinson, to name just a few.

This year, the start line has been widened, with London Marathon organisers aiming to get 50,000 kids taking part in the event by 2030.

There were days when running was seen as a punishment, Brasher adds. We have 40% of kids coming out of primary school obese. 20% are going in obese. Thats a pretty poor indictment so the more kids we can get doing things like the Daily Mile, Junior Park Run and the Mini Marathon, the better it is for the future for all of us.

Every single child taking part in that event will be rewarded by TCS for completing the event. They will be raising money for their school either for sports of computer equipment. We expect round about 7,000 school kids to be taking part and finishing under the incredible gantry that for the last 42 years has been historic.

2023 Mini London Marathon schedule:

9.00am U17 men and U14 boys wheelchair
9.02am U17 women and U14 girls wheelchair
9.04am U17 and U14 ambulant
9.10am U17 men
9.15am U15 boys
9.20am U13 boys
9.25am U17 women
9.30am U15 girls
9.35am U13 girls

All championship races are 2.6km. This will be followed by a number of waves of non-championship races with 2.6km for Years 5 to 12 and one mile for pupils in reception to Year 7.

After an impressive series of recent results the Yorkshireman makes exciting marathon debut in London on Sunday

Emile Cairess is quietly spoken and unlike many of todays runners he is not particularly busy on social media either. In recent months, though, his performances speak for themselves.

Last year he equalled Mo Farahs British 10km record with 27:44. The 25-year-old then brought his 10,000m best on the track down to 27:34.08 and half-marathon to 60:32. In December he led the European Cross-Country Championships in Italy before succumbing to Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Still, he took a brilliant silver there and followed it up with a British 10 miles record in March.

So what else do we know about the rising star of British distance running?

London Marathon Event Director Hugh Brasher has chatted with Extinction Rebellion and plans to speak to Just Stop Oil

Efforts are being made by organisers of the TCS London Marathon to stop protestors from disrupting the event which will take place on Sunday (April 23).

The race, regarded as a crown jewel in the British sporting calendar, is held in the same esteem as the FA Cup, Wimbledon and the Grand National.

This years event will be the first in four years to return to its traditional April slot due to Covid-19 and marks 204 days since its last instalment.

The 43rd edition of the event will occur just a week after both the Grand National and World Snooker Championships were disrupted by Animal Rebellion and Just Stop Oil respectively.

Over 100 animal rights activists were arrested at Aintree, with the famous race delayed by a quarter of an hour on April 15. Dozens of protestors tried to use ladders to jump over the fences and stop the Grand National from taking place.

There was a delay to play at the snooker after protests.

This is the moment play was stopped at the World Snooker Championship.#BBCSnooker pic.twitter.com/tfhEa6uogV

BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 17, 2023

Then, just two days ago, play was disrupted at The Crucible in Sheffield when a protestor climbed on to a table and covered it in orange powder. A second protestor tried to glue herself to the table but was swiftly led away by the referee and security staff. Both were arrested by South Yorkshire Police and have since been released on bail.

Its no surprise then that London Marathon organisers are on high alert at the possibility of potential disruption, especially given that Extinction Rebellion are planning four days of action outside of Parliament between April 21 and 24.

Dubbed The Big One, over 28,000 people have already signed up for the online event but members of the group have stated that the protests are not intended for public disruption.

Talks have already taken place over a number of months between Event Director Hugh Brasher and Extinction Rebellion. He also plans to speak to Just Stop Oil over the coming days.

We have had a meeting with Extinction Rebellion, Brasher says. They have been clear in all the conversations with us that they do not want to disrupt the London Marathon. I have not yet had conversations with Just Stop Oil but Im reaching out to them. It goes back to working together and I will be asking them to help and protect the marathon because of the good it does in society.

They [Extinction Rebellion] will be uniquely asking all their participants to help guard the London Marathon. To do something that is quite unique in their history to protect what is one of the crown jewels of British sport.

Ill be very clear what Extinction Rebellion are doing [when speaking to Just Stop Oil]. I hope in those conversations with Just Stop Oil, Ill be given the same assurances.

Tamil Tigers, in 2009, Extinction Rebellion in 2019 and Just Stop Oil last year have all previously held protests on or around marathon day.

Brasher hopes that the nature of the London Marathon and what it stands for can deter protestors from disrupting the event itself. However, he is aware that protecting 26.2 miles is virtually impossible.

We do mitigate for disruption and have done for years, he adds. The London Marathon is unique and the founding principles of a sense of happiness of achievement in a troubled world continue to ring true. Activity and getting more people active is brilliant for your physical and mental health and we were the mental health marathon back in 2017. 

Our campaign is that we run together. The environment is enormously important. Its been important and is part of our DNA. We really hope for a great weekend where the true goodness of humanity shines through.

It is the over 60m we raise for good causes. We have not traded anything off. All we are doing is having conversations and asking if we can work together and  so far everyone has been incredibly positive in that.

READ MORE: London Marathon preview

This year will be the largest London Marathon in history. Over 45,000 people are expected to take part in running from Greenwich to Westminster and over a quarter of a million people will be along the route.