St Mary’s to Become English Athletics Talent Hub

England Athletics have today announced that St Mary’s University, Twickenham is to become one of their two new Talent Hubs.

The new Talent Hubs, located at St Mary’s and Loughborough Universities, build on the two established Hubs at Birmingham and Leeds, and aim to provide direct support to hundreds more athletes and their coaches on the England Athletics Talent Pathway.

St Mary’s has a long history in athletics excellence and is home to the Endurance Performance Centre (EPC), which was founded in 2001, which provides an endurance running programme and an environment that is known internationally as one of the best training setups in the world.

Athletes from the EPC have represented their nations at every major athletics tournament since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. EPC Alumni and current Athletes include Sir Mo Farah, Charlotte Purdue, Elliot Giles, Adelle Tracey, Steph Twell, Emile Cairess, Anna Møller, Andrew Osagie, Beth Potter, and Charlie Grice, amongst many others.

The University also regularly welcomes international teams and athletes to train regularly or host pre-competition training camps. St Mary’s welcomed ten nations before for the London 2012 Olympics, 14 nations before London 2017, and three nations during Rugby World Cup 2015 to train in our elite facilities.

The aim of the Hub network is to create a training and educational environment for pathway athletes and their coaches and, over time, develop links to local clubs to become an integrated part of the England Athletics structure.

The new Hubs will provide coaching support, coach education, mentoring, and a range of sports science and therapy services.

Head of Sport St Mary’s, Andrew Reid-Smith said, “St Mary’s has a rich record in endurance running and we are proud of the athletes who train here and go on to compete on the national and world stages. We are delighted to be a designated talent hub and partnering with British Athletics and England Athletics as part of the university network, to support the development of athletes and coaches.”

Head of Talent Development at England Athletics, Sarah Benson said, “We are delighted to be partnering with St Mary’s and Loughborough as talent hubs to support more athletes on their journey through the pathway. The expertise and development environment that St Mary’s brings to the England Athletics Endurance Programme is world-class, as is also the case with Loughborough’s long standing and rich heritage within athletics. Together, we are incredibly excited to be working towards delivering the England Athletics and UK Athletics Talent Strategy together.”