A leading British athlete has turned down a place at the European Road Running Championships after being asked to pay to compete.
Ben Connor, who was part of Team GB in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, was selected to run the European half marathon in Belgium later this month but pulled out after an initial ‘athlete contribution’ of up to £1,100 for travel, accommodation, food, kit and staff.
Upon selection, UK Athletics did later stress that the final amount was likely to be under £500 – and potentially down to £200 – but Connor, who was also offered a subsidy from England Athletics, believes that the chance to represent Great Britain should not come with financial costs.
“Representing GB shouldn’t come down to who can or cannot afford to pay for it,” he said. “Representing your country is a privilege, and in athletics is earned via a qualifying process, which while not always perfect, gives everyone the same chances to gain selection.
“Coming from a working class background, I don’t like the potential precedent being set where people, especially junior athletes of the future, don’t have the same development or competition opportunities because of finances.
“Running (especially road) is the highest mass participation sport in the UK and we are asking our best to pay to represent this country on an international stage. I wish there was more transparency and honesty regarding the state of our governing bodies finances and about how our sport is being managed for this to be the position.”
UK Athletics lost £1.2 million in the most recently published accounting year to March 2024, down from a £3.7m loss the previous year, following the loss of major broadcast and sponsorship contracts. UKA were also hit by a shock cut of £1.75m in their Olympic funding from UK Sport last year. They have made a series of cuts and warned that they cannot fund every representative team.
“In order to be selected for the European Road Running Championships, athletes were required to submit an expression of interest form which acknowledged they were aware of the potential athlete contribution which would have to be made,” said a UKA statement.
“With more competitions being created at international level across differing disciplines and age groups it is impossible for the sport to fund all teams. Up to 500 athletes can wear the GB & NI vest each year across all disciplines and competitions and UKA feels it is better to give athletes opportunity to compete than opt not to send teams at all.”
