• Athletics Ireland Celebrates Record Membership Milestone of Over 70,000 – closing the year with a record 70,320 members. This represents a 9% increase on 2023 figures
• Development Club of the Year: Glenmore AC
• Thanks to the hard work of our Coaching & Development team and tutors we have broken the 1300 mark for coaches through formal coach education courses this year. As of the beginning of December we have held over 70 coaching courses from our introductory Level 0 courses through to Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

Event Workshops

Speed & Sprints Workshop with Stuart McMillan from ALTIS

In August we held a specialised Speed and Sprint development workshop for coaches. Stuart McMillan, co-owner and CEO of ALTIS with over 25 years of professional coaching, having worked with professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports – gave an insightful talk to a group of 50 coaches.   It was a superb opportunity for our coaches, who travelled from all over Ireland, to learn from such an experienced international coach s.  Special thanks go to DCU Athletics and Colm Bourke for their help in organising this hugely successful and informative event.

John Coghlan & Derval O’Rourke Sprints & Hurdles Symposium

At the beginning of October, we held a Sprints & Hurdles Symposium with John Coghlan and Derval O’Rourke in Cork which sold out quickly with over 100 attending. Derval O Rourke opened the evening sharing all her experience as an athlete and what it took in terms of work ethic, decision making, training plans and wellness to make it as a world champion in sprints hurdles. Her experience as an elite sprint hurdler was immensely beneficial for all coaches and athletes. Her enthusiasm to share her experience with the sprint’s hurdles community was palpable and led well into John Coghlan’s presentation on his own coaching pathway, his coaching philosophy and how he manages and coaches two of the world leading female hurdlers. The open and communicative atmosphere created by Derval and John lent itself to more free-flowing communication within the group where everyone also gained from the experience of Sonia O Sullivan taking time to speak on her own experience as a coach and athlete to the group. The symposium concluded with a practical session on the track at MTU focusing on key critical movement patterns in terms of hurdles.

Coaching Resources

October saw the launch of past favourite in a new edition of our AAi Coach manuals with the AAi Coach Sprints Manual being released. AAi Coach is an interactive e-coaching manual and is aimed at developing coaching resources across a range of event groups. This manual is focused on sprints and examines the various elements involved in the event. The event rules and guidelines are outlined with video links providing footage of training tips, drills and coaching points. This particular manual includes links to twenty videos which complement the images and text.

You can download the free manual from our website linked below, and make sure to check out our AAi Coach YouTube channel aswell.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               AAi Coach – https://www.athleticsireland.ie/coaches-officials/aai-coach/

This Sprints manual adds to our collection of already available manuals for Hurdles, Relays and Injury Prevention. Watch the AAi Coach space for manuals coming soon covering different Track & Field events.

For Coaching queries contact your local RDO (Meet the Team) or Coach Education Manager Conor Wilson at conorwilson@athleticsireland.ie

Erasmus+ Sport Mobility Programme – Coach Shadowing – Stuttgart, Germany

The Coaching & Development team were awarded an Erasmus+ Sports Mobility grant via Léargas for Coach Shadowing. RDO’s Barry Pender and Olivia Scully Hahne brought Irish High Jump Coaches to Stuttgart in Germany on a coach shadowing programme. Watching and learning from German Athletics Elite High Jump Coaches at their national squad session. They saw firsthand how all German Coaches work and collaborate to share their knowledge, expertise, and passion for developing High Jump both for coaches and athletes. Staff and coaches who travelled plan to share the knowledge they gained from this trip with other coaches via Coach Collaboration Hubs.

Two weeks later 8 Horizontal Jumps coaches travelled to Malmo, Sweden to learn from the best in Long and Triple Jump. RDO Colin Byrne lead the group in Sweden.  We look forward to sharing all knowledge gained through upcoming Jumps collaboration gatherings.

Contact: oliviascullyhahne@athleticsireland.ie for more information

Athlete Development

We have concluded another round of AAI Provincial squad series. It has been a fantastic opportunity for athletes to experience the indoor environment and gain an insight into training and competing indoors ahead of the 2025 indoor season. This was another fantastic opportunity for athletes to develop, with some experiencing an indoor arena for the first time. The performance squad was provided  a mixture of educational workshops delivered across the regions.

County Squads Webinar

Athletics Ireland and the Athlete development sector held an online seminar on the Topic of developing County Squad programmes. This provided an overview of the purpose and value of county squad programmes and how they can aid in athlete, coach, and club development. Some of the key items discussed included:

• Why set up county squad programmes.
• Various structures
• Good practice methods
• Examples of successful structures.

Access the document here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/county-development-squads/

Leinster and Dublin XC Performance squads 2024

This year saw the development of a 3-part performance squad for Leinster and Dublin athletics XC athletes. We held our final cross-country squad at the end no October, with a session aimed at race preparation / simulation along with an educational session on nutrition. Overall, we had excellent attendance across the three days. We hope to develop this further into the 2025 season and beyond. A huge thank you to Paul Archbold of Leinster athletics and our coaching team who helped to make this initiative come to fruition. Any counties hoping to hold similar events, please contact Gracelynch@athleticsireland.ie for further support.