National governing body for athletics joins forces with two giants of the British road running scene to deliver major events and find new sponsorship

Hugh Brasher from London Marathon Events tells an amusing story dating back to 1980. His father, Chris Brasher, was having a meal with Brendan Foster in October of that year but in a mild game of cat-and-mouse neither of them revealed the road running projects they were quietly working on.

The following year Brasher co-founded the London Marathon whereas Foster launched the Great North Run. Yet now, 43 years later, we sit here together, says Brasher Jnr.

He is referring to a new deal announced between London Marathon Events, the Great Run Company and UK Athletics on Monday (April 15). Its aims? To deliver major athletics events like the Diamond League in London, the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham and potentially the World Athletics Championships in 2029.

Whats more, the search for sponsors is a big part of their plan with the concept of playground to podium at its core as the quest begins to find commercial partners who want to support the sport from grassroots to national level.

Athletic Ventures is the name of a new company charged with achieving all this with the three organisations working in partnership to achieve it.

Jack Buckner, chief executive of UKA, describes it as ground-breaking and says it was one of Ian Beatties core recommendations when he took over as chair of UKA in 2021. Buckner adds that he felt he was trying to do everything by improving UKAs finances, governance, reputation of the sport, elite athletics performances, plus sponsorship and events organisation, whereas this new deal means he can share some of these tasks. Governing bodies are very generalist organisations with a very high bandwith, he explains, so we need to bring in experts to support us.

Brasher adds that the three bodies are keen to return the sport to the heyday of the 1980s when it comes to popularity. This partnership has been more than a year in the making, he says.

Our hearts are in this, Paul Foster, chief executive of the Great Run Company adds, but our heads are in it too. Its a great opportunity and were at the foothills of a five-year adventure.

Foster says he would not rule out bringing back the popular CityGames or street athletics events if the timing was right. But for now the focus is on turning this summers Diamond League on July 20 at the London Stadium into a successful event, plus bringing in sponsors to inject cash into the sport.

While the Diamond League is on the horizon, the three organisations say they have a long-term plan to make British athletics great again. In the week of the TCS London Marathon, Brasher smiles, this is definitely a marathon and not a sprint.

Foster adds: Its not a short term play. Were not going to roll the dice this summer and turn the Diamond League around overnight.

The Diamond League in London last year made losses and UKAs finances have also been in poor health lately, although Buckner suggested this week that the governing bodys money situation is improving and stabilising. He added: I would have wanted to do this (deal) even if we were making money.

London Marathon and Great Run Company themselves are not pumping money into UKA, though. Instead, UKA is going to utilise their skills and influence in the commercial world.

We are entrepreneurial people with plenty of new ideas, says Brasher. And we believe in the power of togetherness.

The deal has the backing of World Athletics and European Athletics as well, plus UK Sport. This is a very exciting time for our sport, says World Athletics president Seb Coe. We are attracting viewers in the hundreds of millions for our World Championships and with the Paris Olympics mere months away the interest in athletics will only increase.

READ MORE: Is Athletic Ventures up to the challenge? 

It is innovation and creative partnerships like this joint venture between The Great Run Company and London Marathon Events with their impressive track record in road running combined with UKAs world-class athletes, that will keep pushing our sport forward and make it an attractive proposition for fans and commercial partners alike.

We applaud this innovative initiative and eagerly look forward to seeing the promising journey ahead.