£100k of funding needed to save English Schools Track and Field Champs
The English Schools Athletic Association (ESAA) is coming up to its centenary year in 2025 yet they need £100,000 of funding to make sure that the 2022 ESAA Track and Field Championships can go ahead this summer.
As of February 8, ESAA has raised £13,000 from more than 450 donations.
This was after New Balance chose not to renew their sponsorship agreement which funded both the track and field and cross country championships.
That decision and the subsequent SOS piece from Chris Cohen – vice-president of the English Schools Athletic Association – for AW last month, has resulted in a number of athletes, broadcasters and fans rallying in the support of ESAA.
Daley Thompson, an English Schools 200m champion in 1975 who went on to become double Olympic, world, double European and three-time Commonwealth decathlon champion, tweeted: "Save the ESAA Track & Field Championships. This is the greatest athletics championship in the world.
"Sorry Olympics but you are a close second. They [ESAA] are only three years off being 100! They are also the first port of call for aspiring Olympians. Your tenner will help."
Save the 2022 ESAA Track & Field Championships https://t.co/ThWasUx8S0 This is the greatest athletics championship in the world,sorry Olympics but you are a close2nd.They are only3years off being100! They are also the 1st port of call for aspiring Olympians.Your tenner will help
— Daley Thompson (@Daley_thompson) February 3, 2022
Denise Lewis, English Schools long jump winner in the 1980s who subsequently became Olympic, European and two-time Commonwealth heptathlon champion, tweeted: "The vital grassroots organisation needs a little help. Please donate if you can."
This vital grassroots organisation needs a little help. Please donate if you can 🙏🏾 https://t.co/nn8l1KoYvf
— Dame Denise Lewis (@RealDeniseLewis) February 3, 2022
Katharine Merry, a former English Schools champion in sprints and combined events who went on to win bronze in the Sydney Olympics 400m final, tweeted: "Again. The thought of losing the invaluable Schools Athletics Championships is heartbreaking. It's the launch pad for so many successful athletes. I wouldn't have achieved what I did without proudly wearing my Warks [Warwickshire] vest from the age of 12. It can't be lost."
Again: The thought of losing the invaluable @SchoolAthletics Championships is heartbreaking. It’s the launch pad for so many successful athletes.I wouldn’t have achieved what I did without proudly wearing my Warks vest from the age of 12. It can’t be lost https://t.co/JoR1AiGrfE
— Katharine Merry (@KatharineMerry) February 3, 2022
In total, 135 ESAA athletes have won European Championship medals, 35 of them gold while 278 have collected medals at British Empire or Commonwealth Games, of which 81 have claimed gold.
ESAA has produced 14 Olympic champions and 77 medallists, with Sir Mo Farah the most recent, as well as 71 World Championship medals, of which 13 were gold, the most recent including Dina Asher-Smith & Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 2019.
Long before the wider media took an interest in world champions KJT and Dina Asher-Smith, they were AW cover stars as teenage English Schools winners. pic.twitter.com/eDcFx4CpYA
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 4, 2019
The heritage of ESAA goes back to when The Duke of York, later to become King George VI, was the first President of the organisation and took an active part in its founding, with Lords Desborough, Lonsdale, Castlerosse and Percy as Vice Presidents.
Although ESAA no longer has royal patronage, the Association is still entirely volunteer-led with nobody in the organisation taking any salary from its activities, but a large group of teachers and retired teachers still working for the benefit of young athletes and their love of the sport.
The first Olympic champions from the English Schools Championships were Mary Bignal (later Rand) and Ann Packer, who each won gold in Tokyo in 1964.
As the organisation approaches its centenary year in 2025 the race is on to find a sponsor and keep the next generation of athletes not just inspired in athletics but a chance to find global success in the future.
In the meantime, the fundraising offers a glimmer of hope in the short-term.
You can donate to help save ESAA Track and Field Championships here.
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