Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, cross country running, road running, race walking, mountain running, and ultra running. Included in its charge is the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports, certification of athletic facilities, recognition and management of world records, and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions, including the World Athletics Championships. The organisation's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom, who was elected to the four-year position in 2015 and re-elected unopposed in 2019 for a second four-year term, and then again in 2023 for a third and final 4 years.
County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Historically, it has also been known as County Leix.
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running and racewalking. In British English the term "Athletics" is synonymous with American "Track and Field" and includes all jumping events.
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically 3–12 kilometres (1.9–7.5 mi) long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road and minor obstacles. It is both an individual and a team sport; runners are judged on individual times and teams by a points-scoring method. Both men and women of all ages compete in cross country, which usually takes place during autumn and winter, and can include weather conditions of rain, sleet, snow or hail, and a wide range of temperatures.
Rosenallis is a village in north County Laois, Ireland. It is in the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains on the R422 Mountmellick to Birr road, 6 km north-west of Mountmellick. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin-off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money, or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
The European Athletic Association is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 members and is headquartered in Lausanne.
Kilcoole is a town in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of Greystones, 14 kilometres (9 mi) north of Wicklow, and about 28 kilometres (20 mi) south of Dublin. It was used as a filming location for the Irish television series Glenroe, which ran through the 1980s and 1990s.
The Iowa State Cyclones are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Iowa State University, located in Ames. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams in 12 sports.
Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by World Masters Athletics. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups. For international events the first age group is 35 to 39. Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping and throwing events. Masters athletes are sometimes known as "veterans" and the European Masters Championships, for instance, is known as "Eurovets". This and other high level events including biennial World Championships cater largely to elite-level athletes, but many masters athletes are novices to athletics and enjoy the camaraderie offered by masters competition at the local, National and International level. Most National governing bodies for track and field hold annual Masters championships. Prestigious National meets such as the Penn Relays and the United States Olympic Trials put on exhibition events for top masters athletes. Masters athletics is growing Internationally with over 6000 athletes competing at recent World Championships. World; National and Regional records are maintained for each age group.
Mountmellick GAA (Irish: Cumann Luthchleas Gael Móinteach Milic) is a Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic Football and Hurling club in the town of Mountmellick in County Laois, Ireland. It fields teams in both football and hurling from juvenile up to adult.
Clonliffe Harriers is a Dublin-based athletics club. They were founded in 1886, and are the oldest athletic club in Ireland. They have been based in Morton Stadium since the 1950s.
Swansea Harriers Athletics Club is an athletics club based at Swansea University Athletics Centre in Swansea, Wales, UK.
The Schools International Athletic Board (SIAB) consists of representatives from the Schools' Athletic Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and All Ireland. The SIAB hosts a very small number of track and field and cross country running competitions annually for elite junior athletes. The English Schools' Athletic Association (ESAA) hosts three major competitions a year for athletes under 15, under 17 and under 19 years of age. The events are cross-country running, a track and field competition and combined events with race walking. Athletes from Wales, Scotland and Ireland take part in their respective national schools' competitions. A very small number of young athletes from each of these countries who do well at their national event, in their respective disciplines at under-15 and under-17 level in Cross Country and Under 17 in Track and Field are selected to compete in an international athletics competition representing their country – England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland – organised by the SIAB. There is also a Combined Events Indoor Pentathlon competitions organised independently by the Scottish Schools' Athletic Association for Under 16 and Under 18 athletes from the four countries. This event was staged for many years in Glasgow at Kelvin Hall but staged at the new Emirates Indoor Stadium for the first time in December 2012.
Ayr Seaforth Athletic Club is an athletics club located in Ayr, Scotland. The club trains at Dam Park track, situated outside Ayr College. The club hosts a club championship every year that allows up-and-coming athletes to compete against their teammates to see who has progressed the most through the year. Ayr Seaforth is Ayr's only athletics club offering athletes both young and old the opportunity to take part in many aspects of athletics. Seaforth has a very strong road running club but is also a strong track and field event club. Dam park track is made up of tartan track; the track has a signature red color it. This track runs for 400 m with eight lanes around the full length, along with this Dam park also hosts a high jump area, a triple jump pit, a long jump pit, a shot put area, a javelin area, a hammer throw area and a football pitch.
Athletics has a long history in Wales, with many events recognised today codified during the Victorian period. The first amateur athletic clubs in Wales were formed in the 1870s, while the first championships began in the early 20th century. Wales began competing as a country in international athletic events in the 1920s and has since produced a notable number of world class sportspeople including many medal winning Commonwealth, World, Olympic, Paralympic and European champions. Wales competes in the Commonwealth Games under its own flag but at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as part of a Great Britain team.
The European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition between the European running clubs that are the reigning national champions for their country. It is often abbreviated to the name ECCC Cross Country. It is traditionally held on the first Sunday of February.
The International Cross Country Union (ICCU) was the first major international sports governing body for cross country running. Created in 1903, it launched the International Cross Country Championships that same year. Originally a grouping for contests between the four Home Nations of the British Isles, the body was symbolic of the increasing co-operation of the older national bodies found in those nations.
Ava O'Connor is an Irish track and field athlete and cross country runner.
