UKA partners with London Marathon and Great Run to transform the future of UK athletics

UK Athletics (UKA), the national governing body for athletics, has joined forces with London Marathon Events and the Great Run Company (GRC) to deliver major sports events in the UK.

The trio have partnered to launch a new joint venture, Athletic Ventures, which is set to “transform the future and growth of athletics in the UK”.

Athletic Ventures will deliver the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham and the annual edition of the Diamond League in the UK. It will also lead the potential bidding process for the World Athletics Championships to return to the UK in 2029.

The new company will also take over the quest to find new commercial partners for athletics in the UK, offering opportunities from grassroots activities to national events and the UK athletics teams at major championships in an innovative ‘playground to podium’ sponsorship programme.

GRC organises The Great North Run, the world’s biggest half marathon, and an annual programme of running and open water swimming events across the UK. London Marathon Events organises the London Marathon, the most popular marathon on the planet and the world’s biggest annual one day fundraising event, and RideLondon, the world’s greatest festival of cycling, in addition to a range of running events and Swim Serpentine.

Jack Buckner, CEO of UKA, said: “This is a groundbreaking model for the development of athletics and for major sports events in the UK and we believe our new partnership, which combines the national governing body with the expertise of London Marathon Events and The Great Run Company, will transform the future of athletics in this country.

“Athletics is the most watched sport at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and millions in the UK will be watching the Diamond League at the London Stadium and hundreds of millions across the globe will be following the action from the stadium in Paris, putting our sport and our great athletes – such as Molly Caudery, Hannah Cockroft, Keely Hodgkinson, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Josh Kerr – front of mind. We pledge to build on this huge opportunity to rejuvenate British athletics, working alongside our Home Country partners, to restore our sport to the popularity of the golden days of the 1980s.”

Hugh Brasher, Event Director of London Marathon Events, added: “Combining the sport of athletics, which features the basics of all sports in running, jumping and throwing, with the greatest road running events in the world is just the start of this journey. We believe that this partnership will, over time, help deliver even more societal change than our combined events have achieved over the last forty years.

“The entrepreneurial spirit that is at the core of this new partnership has the potential to truly deliver for athletics from the playground to the podium.’’

Paul Foster, CEO of The Great Run Company, said: “The partnership is driven not only by a belief in the sport of athletics, but also the belief that there is real commercial opportunity.

“We’re bringing together the best event organisers in our sport to create a new template for international events. We’re combining world class creative, broadcast and event operations with focused commercial and entrepreneurial vision to develop a brighter future for athletics.

“For the first time, major events will be underwritten by commercial organisations, not the public sector. We firmly believe that this model is the future for major events, and that the Birmingham European Championships will be a huge success for Great Britain, on and off the track.”