New age groups and what that means to you

If you’re a ‘junior age group’ athlete, i.e., you’re not 20 years old yet, you’re probably going to be in a new age group from the 1st April. And that’s not just a new age group to you, but an actual new age group that didn’t exist before.

England Athletics has changed the rule book to help provide a smoother development route for you as you work through from age 10 to adulthood. The aim is to help keep more athletes in the sport and into the senior age group.

So, no more U/13, U15 or U17s. Instead, you’ll be racing as U/12, U14, U16 and U18 before moving into he U20 and Senior age groups. You can read more details here: https://www.englandathletics.org/about-us/age-group-changes/

But what does that mean for the coming season?

It means that some of you will only get 1-year in your new age group because you’ll unexpectedly be ‘top of the age group’ when you expected to be in the first year of your new age group. And for those of you in technical and throwing events, it means you may have to get used to different hurdles specifications.

For example, a girl sprint hurdler who was at the top of the U13 age group last year will be at the top of the U14 age group this year. And where as she would have gone from 70mH with 2’3″ hurdles to 75mH with 2’6″ hurdles in the old age groups, she instead goes to the new spec of 75mH with 2’3″ hurdles. Good news! But the bad news is that next year she goes into the U16 age group doing 80mH with 2’6″ barriers and stays there for two years.

Another example, a boy competing as a hammer thrower who was last year as a 1st year U15 with a 3kg hammer will now be at the bottom of the U16 age group with a 4kg hammer.

So something you absolutely need to do is check the technical spec of the events you want to compete in this season and get familiar with your new implements or distances and heights.

What about Schools competitions?

Just to confuse things, the English Schools Athletics Association has decided to continue consultations on age groups. For this season at least, they will continue with the old U/13, U15, U17 and U20 age groups and technical specifications.

That means that our hurdler needs to also run over 75mH with 2’6″ barriers as well. And if she were a year older she would have to flip between 80mH and 75mH in an event that is all about cadence and rhythm. Similarly, our hammer thrower will be throwing 4kg hammers for the club, but 3kg hammers for his school.

What should you do next?

My advice is have a chat to your coach and make a plan. If you have ambitions involving selection for Essex Schools to compete at the English Schools Championships you need to decide how you will build different specs into your training programme and your competition programme. And if you don’t you will need to decide how you can build through the season to possibly take on new specifications again next year.

Where can you get more information?

Fortunately, England athletics have published some useful tools. The main page is this: https://www.englandathletics.org/about-us/age-group-changes/

From there, you can download a summary of the new events and event specifications (including new events, such as the 200mH and new Steeple Chase specs) : https://www.englandathletics.org/?media-alias=e22da66f5dc6d18e4a0b

If you’re not sure which age group you will be in from the 1st April 2026, try this handy Age Group Checker from Scottish Athletics : https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/events/age-group-changes/age-group-checker/

Good luck in the coming season and most of all, ENJOY your athletics.

Chris Webb
Hurdles / Combined Events Coach

Looking for budding sports writers

Do you fancy yourself as a sports journalist or blogger?

We’re looking for exciting and interesting articles on Braintree and District AC, and athletics in general. If you fancy writing an article, please get in touch with webmaster@braintreeanddistrictac.co.uk

• Maybe you could interview your coach about how they got involved with the club?
• Or if you’re a coach, what about interviewing one of your athletes about what they love about athletics?
• Maybe commentary on the age group and rule-book changes?

Don’t be shy – get in touch.

Great turnout at the Hatfield Broad Oak 10k

A brilliant run by Tim Wollfe in the field of 1222 runners to come 3rd in 34:30, followed by Connor Culham 31st in 38:45 and another 24 club members. Well done everyone. BDAC results are here and the full results are here.