Winter athletics meets throw up considerable challenges that aren’t normally seen during the summer. The temperature begins to drop, daylight becomes scarcer, and wet weather ends up being increasingly common. For the parents of young athletes attending these events, this creates several key problems that are difficult to prepare for. Many parents are worried about getting their children ready for meets, but there is also a safety element involved when the weather conditions get worse. 

Speaking to several parents at different meets, most agree on what some of the biggest challenges are during the winter athletics season. 

Awful Conditions and More Injury Risks

During the winter, lots of parents always complain about the terrible conditions and how this impacts their child’s safety during athletics events. Those of you who grew up doing athletics yourself - or maybe still attend adult meets - will know how slippery tracks can get when it rains, and that’s not to mention the additional risk of icy conditions. 

Things aren’t any better for cross-country running either; kids have to deal with boggy fields, or the complete opposite: rock-hard ground that iced over in the morning. It means the risk of injury while running is a lot higher, leaving some parents to debate whether it’s even worth taking their kids to meets in the winter. 

There’s a fear that, especially with very young children who may still be in primary school, one bad experience in the wet - or one injury - can be enough to dampen their enthusiasm for athletics. With Sport England already reporting a drop in young people taking up athletics, this is the last thing anyone wants. 

Keeping Kids Warm and Dry Before Events Start

Running in all formats is one of those things that always feels better when you’re doing it. Again, think back to your school days turning up in the morning for an athletics meet in the winter, and it was hell waiting for the race to start. The actually doing part was fine; you get into the groove when running, and you almost don’t feel the cold or the rain until it’s over. 

But what some parents find is that it is getting harder and harder to motivate kids or to prevent tantrums in the build-up to events when it’s cold and wet. Keeping your kids dry and warm is always a challenge because you want them to still be able to move around and warm up, which rules out hiding in the car. 

It’s become commonplace now to see a proper puddle suit or two among the very young athletes out there. Older ones have massive anoraks or full-body puffer coats keeping them warm, but it’s still hard for parents to motivate their children to actually turn up to these events. All the kids are thinking about is how wet and cold they are before they race, and this can create a mental block as well as a very negative association with the sport itself. 

Last-Minute Meet Cancellations

Another challenge for some parents is the growing number of athletics meet cancellations that happen during the winter. Organisers want to cling to the hope of an event happening for as long as possible, which can mean that cancellations don’t happen until an hour or so before the meet starts. By that point you’ve already got the kids out and ready to go, only to turn around and drive back home. 

Athletics, particularly track athletics, isn’t one of those sports that you can push through in the rain. There will come a point when you simply cannot do it because it’s too wet - unlike football or rugby. It makes some parents question whether they want to bother taking their kids to things if they just get cancelled last minute. For the passionate kids out there, it always gets in the way of their progress. They can’t get the reps in that they need to chase a PB or reach a level where they get selected for county athletics - and possibly even the national setup someday. 

Once again, this contributes to a lot of children either being unable to fulfil their potential, or simply not getting the chance because they get fed up with all the cancellations. Think about how many future teenage stars we’ve missed out on because of this over the years. 

Longer and Harder Recovery Times

It’s quite clear that there’s a split between the winter conditions being an annoying inconvenience and a genuine safety hazard. Bad weather not only increases the possibility of injuries in young children, but it also leads to much longer and harder recovery times. Some parents find that their kids run a race on the weekend, but then take almost the entire week to fully recover because it’s that much colder - and they’ve had to work twice as hard to battle through horrible conditions. 

A 10km can feel like a half marathon when you’re running against gale-force winds and trudging through boggy fields. 

Kids' bodies are still developing, and they’re not always equipped to recover as quickly as adults. A lot of parents have expressed fears that their children are pushing themselves too hard over the winter, leading to a higher risk of long-term injuries or chronic running conditions. 

What Can Be Done To Solve These Problems?

Realistically, you can’t do much to solve the challenges parents and young athletes face during the winter. As the weather conditions seem to get worse and more extreme every year, the problems will undoubtedly get worse. The only advice a parent can really get is to look around for any indoor athletics clubs in your area. They’re great for winter because your child can enjoy their sport in an enclosed area, which makes it more enjoyable, less risky, and gets rid of the cancellation problem. 

At the end of the day, we all want to see more kids following athletics with the same vigour and passion that millions do for football or rugby. Winter can make this difficult, and more and more parents are finding it hard to maintain that passion.