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

Introduction to Airedale Athletics

and the Bradford Athletics Network

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- a short history

Bradford Athletics Network

Airedale Athletics

partnership, comprising:

Baildon Runners

Bradford-Airedale AC

Eccleshill Road Runners

St Bede’s AC

Skyrac AC

Other clubs (and one association) in the Network, but not in the Airedale Partnership

Bingley Harriers & AC

Ilkley Harriers

Keighley & Craven AC

Bradford Schools Athletics Association

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- the rationale behind the initiative

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- ground-breaking model

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- recruiting together as partners

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- raising the sport’s profile

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- training and coaching

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- composite teams

• 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)

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- what it doesn’t involve itself in

• 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

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

- management structure

• 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)

The “Airedale Athletics” Partnership

and the Bradford Athletics Network

• 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

The Bradford Athletics Network as a support to Airedale

Athletics clubs

• 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

The network projects for which Airedale Athletics is

responsible

• 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

The network projects managed by Bingley, Ilkley and Keighley

& Craven

• ‘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.

The network projects for later years

Lead Club for

cluster of projects

Working GroupBradford Athletic Network

Projects

Keighley & Craven

Infrastructure & Management(AA part-responsible for 1C)

1A – Mass participation events and management1B – Accessible permanent courses and routes1C – Network management (incl. social enterprise)

Airedale Athletics

Development & Recruitment(DARCOM)

2A – Year-round training for new athletes (incl. volunteer training)2B – Developing community of 1000+ formerly unattached athletes2C – Outreach training groups

Ilkley Harriers

Youth Programmes(AA responsible for 3C via YOPCOM)

3A – Club 16253B – Generic skills training for U17s (multi-sport competitions, and school links)3C – After-school clubs and cross-country leagues

Bingley Harriers

Training & Performance(AA responsible for 4C via TAPCOM)

4A – High-performance coaching teams4B – High-performance athlete sessions4C – Club Challenge

Airedale Athletics

Communications(COMCOM)

5A – Media communications5B – Benchmarking, Conferences etc.5C – Database of members