Introduction to Airedale Athletics and the Bradford Athletics Network

1. Introduction to Airedale Athleticsand the Bradford Athletics Network The “Airedale Athletics” partnership comprises 5 clubs: Baildon Runners Bradford-Airedale AC Eccleshill Road Runners St Bede’s AC Skyrac AC Bingley Harriers, Ilkley Harriers and Keighley & Craven AC are not members of Airedale Athletics, but work alongside AA within the Bradford Athletics Network

2. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- a short history Established in 2007, after being proposed by a Strategy Group of St Bede’s set up during 2006 first clubs – Bradford-Airedale and St Bede’s, early 2007 Eccleshill Road Runners joined in late 2007 Skyrac joined in early 2009 Baildon Runners joined in summer 2009 It is envisaged that clubs in associated sports (cycling, orienteering, triathlon) might be invited to join later

3. Bradford Athletics Network

4. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- the rationale behind the initiative Individual clubs are too dependent on a small number of trusty volunteers; if they leave, the clubs are very vulnerable The sizes of the clubs are too small to cater for all ages, abilities and disciplines We estimate that a club needs to be 800-1500 in size to be able to do this; and to be 250-strong for a minimum viability in just 1-2 adult disciplines There are 12 clubs within a radius of 2.5 miles of Apperley Bridge, none of which are independently viable and struggle in one way or another We identified models of collaboration and agreed on a “partnership” model

5. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- ground-breaking model Most collaborative models in the UK involve mergers of clubs, or one club being dominant with other smaller satellites or feeders; we rejected this model Each of the clubs in the Partnership is equal, but we are like a Family, having different strengths and weaknesses which we try to respect and work around Each club offers something extra – either an extra discipline (BAAC with T&F), age-group (Skyrac with juniors) or catering for a specific catchment area This “club-cluster” became the model England Athletics adopted in 2008 to revive athletics across the country, through its “athletics network” scheme

6. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- recruiting together as partners attracting new members – through getting details of unattached runners in the Epilepsy Action Bradford 10k and the Bradford City Run/Marathon we now have a database of 800 unattached runners, with details of about 150+ provided to Recruitment Officers of each member club; for them to follow-up offering “year-round” tailored training to beginners or more experience unattached runners, on the basis that many are not ready to make the step directly into clubs producing a pool of over 40 marshals to assist with major city races and with club races the Development & Recruitment Joint Committee brings the Recruitment Officers of each club together to liaise between the clubs, learn lessons of how we can “convert” the unattached runners into members either of Airedale Athletics itself or the member clubs

7. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- raising the sport’s profile producing high-quality Quarterly Newsletters to all of the “semi-attached” 800+ people on the database, and also to club members weekly articles in the Telegraph & Argus promoting the sport, and a portal for the sport on the T&A website, with individual club pages Assisting each other with website development the Communications Committee brings together Membership Secretaries and Communications Officers from each club to share the news-gathering and publicity work between the clubs, getting information disseminated within the clubs, and to raise the profile of the sport in the Bradford, Leeds and Airedale area

8. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- training and coaching providing high-quality training courses for beginners, and off-road and half-marathon/marathon runners, aimed mainly at “semi-attached” runners, but also open to club runners (on top of their club runs) offering specific training support to specialist groups who it is difficult to cater for adequately within a single club (e.g. “82ers”) offering opportunities which not every club can provide (e.g. T&F competition via Bradford-Airedale; junior athletics at Skyrac; a fell-running competition at Skyrac) the Training & Performance Committee organises joint activities (e.g. sessions at Horsfall, July relays in Easholt Woods, monthly handicap races) and brings together the various team captains and coaches from the member clubs

9. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- composite teams providing extra competitive opportunities, on the understanding that clubs compete at local, district and county level, but the partnership at regional and national-level events teams in off-road relays team in Yorkshire Vets GP series team in North of England T&F League (under BAAC colours) managed by Jack Verity, the partnership captain

10. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- what it doesn’t involve itself in Club-based social events or programmes Club teams in local, district or county (i.e. West Yorkshire) competitions Club athletes competing in open individual events Races put on by member clubs (except to help in promotion or provision of marshals) Club committees (except in trying to ensure that clubs identify representatives to serve on partnership joint committees)

11. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership- management structure the Partnership meets on the first Monday of alternate months and is open to anyone to attend – about 15-20 do so a Board of Oversight (with 2 reps per club) has overall responsibility for everything and meets twice a year, and appoints the officers current officers are Simon Forde (chair), Barney Lerner (secretary), Paul Watts (treasurer) and Jack Verity (captain) there are three Joint Committees: Communications (COMCOM), Development & Recruitment (DARCOM) and Training & Performance (TAPCOM) – each joint committee has at least one rep per club. There is a Youth Programmes Committee (YOPCOM) which is being established

12. The “Airedale Athletics” Partnershipand the Bradford Athletics Network the Partnership was a model for the national “athletics network”; but when these were announced in 2008 it was clear that the “Airedale Athletics” partnership was too small on its own to bid for funding. In December 2008 the partnership agreed to approach Bingley Harriers, Ilkley Harriers and Keighley & Craven to put in a joint bid for funding the funding bid was one of the best in the country and will generate £36,750 in 2009-10 and, hopefully, similar amounts for the next two years Airedale Athletics is responsible for 7 of the 15 projects within the funding bid; the other 3 clubs (Bingley, Ilkley, and K&C are each responsible for 1-2 projects)

13. The Bradford Athletics Network as a support to Airedale Athletics clubs the Bradford Athletics Network should be relatively invisible, since it is only there to support clubs and not to reduce their identity the funds raised by the Network will be made available to clubs and to all inhabitants of the area via the 15 projects the committees within Airedale Athletics responsible for the projects, and colleagues from Bingley, Ilkley and K&C responsible for their projects, will be notifying clubs of what projects and what funds they are eligible to apply for

14. The network projects for which Airedale Athletics is responsible Year-round training for new athletes, incl. volunteer training Developing community of 1000+ formerly unattached athletes Outreach training groups After-school clubs and junior XC leagues in East, then South and West Bradford Enhanced experience at club-level (“Club Challenge” funds) Media Communication Database of members and “semi-attached” participants in the area

15. The network projects managed by Bingley, Ilkley and Keighley & Craven Mass-participation events (Bradford City Run/Marathon) – K&C Accessible permanent courses and routes (trial at Cliffe Castle) – K&C Generic skills training for U17s – multisport competitions & school links - IH High-performance coaching teams – based on 6 skills (stamina, strength, suppleness, speed, technical skill, psychology) – BH & K&C High-performance athlete sessions – BH & K&C Benchmarking, and a launch conference - K&C and AA together

16. The network projects for later years ‘Club1625’ for students, youngsters aged 16 to 25, & elite young athletes, based at Bradford College-University ‘Professional’ management via becoming a Social Enterprise The network also has to establish a Business Plan for Year 4 by which time the England Athletics money will have dried up. The network offers us the opportunity to attract money and help-in-kind into the local clubs. But the Airedale Athletics partnership is the way that the ‘smaller’ clubs in the 3-mile radius of Apperley Bridge can work together to make Bradford an “athletics city” and for these clubs to benefit from that.