Frank Carreras attended the 172nd European Athletics Council

Gibraltar Amateur Athletics Association President, Frank Carreras, recently attended the 172nd European Athletics Council meeting which took place in the Spanish city of Malaga, with the main topic of providing a clear direction for the next four years of European Athletics activity.
The European Athletics Strategic Roadmap for 2024-27 – which was presented and unanimously agreed at the European Athletics Council meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania last October was the focal point of discussions over the three days.
The Strategic Roadmap has three core objectives: -
• to ensure a strong and united European Athletics family that can face challenges together;
• to grow and lead the sport in Europe in a financially sustainable way; and
• to serve, support and strengthen Member Federations and the wider community.
It has four distinct priorities: competition, digitalisation, innovation, and community.
One of the core priorities was the European Athletics major events strategy, with the aim of maintaining the place of the European Athletics Championships, European Athletics Indoor Championships, European Athletics Team Championships, and the SPAR European Cross Country Championships as some of sport’s leading events in the world. Growing the engagement at all levels of athletic fans as well as looking at potential new developments was also high in the agenda.
Development of activities and the running industry in Europe including the first European Running Championships which will be held 12-13 April 2025 in Brussels-Leuven, Belgium was also high on the agenda.
Last year saw the formation of the Governance & Integrity Commission - Frank also sits in this Commission - progression in this area was discussed. It was well documented that through this Commission, European Athletics has increased its already considerable attention on human rights, safeguarding and Member Federations' governance thus making athletics one of the sports leading in this area.
For the first time ever, Council approved a proposal for athletes to compete for a performance bonus at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome with overall funds amounting to €500,000. Ten performance bonuses of €50,000 each will be allocated across five event areas with an even split between the male and female disciplines.
Gibraltar Athletics will this year launch a new concept of athletics amongst young athletes called Dynamic New Athletics. Also known as DNA, this is an innovative team-based competition concept for athletics created by European Athletics to complement the classical athletics format. DNA targets younger fans and participant groups and gives athletics a new dimension for the 21st Century.
DNA integrates modified rules and presentational possibilities that can be adapted for every level of the competition while remaining true to the essence of athletics. Key features include:

• Mixed gender teams.
• A compact programme of interchangeable disciplines.
• Head-to-head competition in the field events with every attempt counting towards the team match score.
• Team match results remain open and unpredictable until the final competition discipline called The Hunt.

DNA is a new way for fans and athletes at all levels to enjoy athletics and it offers a choice that is a complement to traditional or classical athletics, which remain the format for elite/youth domestic and international competitions.

This summer promises to be a very busy period for the GAAA’s with not only their packed domestic track and field calendar but also in late June Gibraltar Athletics will be hosting 18 European Athletic federations in the 5th Edition of the Championships of the Small States of Europe. The Championships which take place on 22 June 2024 at the newly built, state of the art, athletics stadium at Lathbury brings together approximately 250 athletes and officials from across Europe and will also see an invitation extended to Athletica Vaticana from the Vatical City. The Championship will also serve as a platform to promote physical fitness, sportsmanship, and community engagement. World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe and European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov have both indicated their intentions to attend.