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British Athletics Championships

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The British Athletics Championships is the premier national championship in track and field held in the United Kingdom, and are organised by British Athletics . The event has doubled as the main trials meet for international team selection for major events in which Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete, including the Olympic Games , the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the European Athletics Championships . Only British athletes may formally compete, though in some circumstances British club-affiliated foreign athletes may take part as guests. Since 2023 the Championships have been promoted as the UK Athletics Championships , but are fully a continuation of the British Athletics championships, and separate from the same-named championships held between 1977 and 1997 . Since the collapse of the British Athletics Federation , UK Athletics and British Athletics have been brands owned and used by the same organisation.

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26-722: The event was established in 2007, replacing the AAA Championships as the principal event on the domestic athletics calendar in the United Kingdom. The previous event named the UK Athletics Championships had nominally been the national championship, but in effect took second billing to the "triple A's". The creation of the British Athletics Championships as the main national championship and selection event, brought

52-481: A 7 miles walk . On 4 April 1880 a meeting of representatives of the chief athletic clubs in the country was held at Oxford for the purpose of forming a governing body possessing the power of framing the laws and regulations of (track and field) athletics. The Amateur Athletic Association was the result. At that meeting the representatives of the Amateur Athletic Club handed over to the new association

78-645: A book on Foreign Secretaries of the Nineteenth Century. 1 mile - Challenge Cup presented by Charles Bennett Lawes Esq. From Teignmouth, Devon, Lawes, went to Eton, and Trinity College, Cambridge University. He won the AAC 1 mile championship in 1866. 1st President Incorporated Society of British Sculptors. 4 miles - Challenge Cup presented by the Early of Jersey, 60 guineas. At the Oxford vs Cambridge match in 1865 he

104-519: A five-year contract before resigning for personal reasons. UKA Performance Director Neil Black was appointed temporary replacement. A restructuring announced in December 2013 saw the single role of head coach replaced by three heads of department (endurance, sprints and field events). The athletes compete in Olympic competition under the brand name of Team GB . The current CEO is Jack Buckner and

130-537: A stand-alone event in its own right from that point onwards, though it re-emerged in 2016 in being co-held with the English Athletics Championships organised by England Athletics (a body for developing the grassroots level beneath UK Athletics). The long-distance track events , marathon , racewalking events and combined track and field events were regularly held outside of the main track and field championship competition. Although

156-691: The Amateur Athletic Club (AAC) Championships , which had been held since 1866. Initially a men-only competition, a Women's AAA Championships was introduced in 1922 with the first proper WAAA Championships in 1923 and organised by the Women's Amateur Athletics Association until 1992, at which point it was folded into the Amateur Athletics Association. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the AAA Championships

182-512: The 100 m relay) were below expectations and failed to meet the target for improving British athletics in preparation for the upcoming 2012 London Olympics . Moorcroft's departure triggered a restructuring of the organisation and the creation of the role of chairman, to which businessman Ed Warner was appointed. Charles van Commenee was made national head coach, a newly created role, in September 2008. Shortly afterwards Peter Eriksson

208-671: The 440 yards in 1881. the first winner from Africa was Arthur Wharton from Ghana who won the 100 yards in 1886 and 1887. Foreign champions out-numbered those from the United Kingdom for the first time in 1904 when the United States team on their way to Paris for the Olympic Games stopped off in London and won eight of the fourteen events then on the programme. It served as the de facto British Championships, given

234-670: The AAA Championships programme (the event was added a year later). A number of events are not included, or included only sporadically, at the championships. The combined events of decathlon and heptathlon are usually, but not always, held separately, while the elite races at the Night of 10,000 metre PBs meet in Highgate has included the British championships in that event since 2016. The championships often feature shorter track based racewalking events as exhibition championships, but not

260-544: The AAC, 35 guineas. List of British athletics champions British Athletics Federation UK Athletics ( UKA ) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom . It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials . The organisation outwardly rebranded itself as British Athletics in 2013, although it remains legally known as UK Athletics, and continues to use

286-569: The British Amateur Athletic Board (later British Athletics Federation ) marked a challenge to the event's domestic supremacy, though the quality of that rival event declined after it hosted the 1980 Olympic trials and it ceased as an annual championships after 1993, closing completely after 1997. The AAA Championships incorporated the UK Olympic trials every four years from 1988 to 2004. The women's WAAA Championships

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312-708: The UK Athletics name in internal governance. Among other duties, the organisation selects athletes to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland in international competitions outside the Commonwealth Games, and organises the major national championships in Great Britain for the sport indoors and out . in 2023 the organisation began once more to brand its national championships under the UK Athletics Championships title, but

338-483: The absence of such a competition for most of its history. It was typically held over two or three days over a weekend in July or August. Foreign athletes were no longer allowed to compete from 1998 onwards (with the change first being trialled in 1996), though they were still allowed to participate (but not formally placed) in the 10,000 m and marathon events. The creation of the UK Athletics Championships in 1977 under

364-658: The challenge cups that had been competed for since the championship meeting was instituted in 1866. There were initially just nine cups, shown with their notional insurance value, as follows: 100 yards - Challenge Cup presented by Prince Hassan, 60 guineas. Prince Hassan was the brother of Tewfik Pasha the Khedive of Egypt, and was educated in England. 440 yards - Challenge Cup presented by Kenelm Thomas Digby , Esq., MP, 45 guineas, an Irish politician. 880 yards - Challenge Cup presented by Percy Melville Thornton, 45 guineas. Thornton

390-505: The competition venue varied over the years, there were several locations that served as regular hosts over its history: Stamford Bridge (1886 to 1931), White City Stadium (1932 to 1970), Crystal Palace National Sports Centre (1971 to 1987) and Alexander Stadium (1984 to 2003). In 1880 the programme consisted of fourteen events; 100 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1 mile , 4 miles, 10 miles , steeplechase , 120 yards hurdles, high jump , pole vault , long jump , shot put , hammer and

416-625: The existence of the official UK Athletics Championships organised by the then governing body for British athletics, the British Athletics Federation between 1977 and 1993, and again in 1997. It was succeeded by the British Athletics Championships , organised by the BEF's replacement (successor), UK Athletics under its brand name British Athletics . The competition was founded in 1880, replacing

442-412: The feat at Beaufort House. In 1868 and 1869 he won both the 1 mile and 4 miles events at the AAC championship, and he again won the 1 mile in 1871. High jump - Challenge Cup presented by Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 3rd Baronet , 35 guineas. 120 yards hurdles - Challenge Cup presented by Lord Southwell , 45 guineas. 7 miles walk - Challenge Cup presented by John Chambers , founder and secretary of

468-493: The governance of the elite level of the sport and team selection firmly under the new national body for the sport, moving away from the Amateur Athletic Association of England , which had served that role since 1880. A 2001 British Championship in women's 3000 metres steeplechase was held as a one-off at Scotstoun Stadium , due to the growing popularity of the event among women and its absence from

494-425: The longer road based distances run at major championships. finally, relays tend not to held at the championships. Women's competitions Women's competitions AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England . It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite

520-677: The reasons was the cost of the legal bills in the Diane Modahl contract dispute case. Former long-distance runner David Moorcroft , previously Chief Executive of the British Athletics Federation, continued in the same role at the newly formed UKA. He headed the organisation until 2006 when he stepped down after Great Britain 's worst performance at a European Athletics Championships for twenty years. The results in Gothenburg (their sole gold medal coming in

546-459: The remain one and the same championships. UK Athletics is structured as a non-profit company limited by guarantee . It has four member organisations from each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom : England Athletics , Scottish Athletics , Welsh Athletics , and Athletics Northern Ireland. UK Athletics was founded in 1999 as a successor to the British Athletics Federation , which had collapsed for financial reasons. Prominent among

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572-554: Was Europe's most prestigious athletics event until the European Athletics Championships were inaugurated in 1934. Events were contested and measured in imperial units until metrification in 1969, in line with international standards. Though organised by the English governing body, it was open to athletes from all over the world. The first overseas champion was Lon Myers of the United States who won

598-535: Was appointed head coach of the Paralympic Programme. Van Commenee stepped down after the London 2012 Olympics due to the team's failure to meet the medal target he had set. This was despite a reasonably favourable reaction to Britain's achievement of six medals and the desire of UK Athletics that he should remain in the post. Van Commenee was succeeded by Peter Eriksson, who served only seven months of

624-422: Was folded into the AAA Championships in 1988. The establishment of UK Athletics in 1999 to serve as the national governing body for professional, elite athletics ultimately started the decline of the AAA Championships. UK Athletics took over the role of both national championships and international team selection with its own British Athletics Championships from 2007 onwards. The AAA Championships ceased to be

650-562: Was fourth in the 2 miles, in a blinding snowstorm. The following year he was third in a 1-mile race won by Arthur Kemble in a howling gale. He was first President of the AAA. 10 miles - Challenge Cup presented by Walter Moresby Chinnery of the London Athletic Club, 50 guineas. Chinnery was the first amateur to run 1 mile in less than four and a half minutes, which he did at Cambridge on 10 March 1868, and on 30 May that year he repeated

676-644: Was the son of Rear-Admiral Samuel Thornton. Educated at Harrow, an Oxford graduate, he won the AAC 880 yards in 1866, was the first Secretary of the Inter-University sports, inspired the boat race near Ghent in 1911 between 8 Jesus college oarsmen and a Belgian crew. Was Honorary Secretary Middlesex County Cricket Club for many years, an MP for the Clapham division of Battersea from 1892 to 1910. Married his cousin Florence Emily Sykes and wrote

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