West Australian running coach Raf Baugh says athletics is heading back to where it started after COVID-19

West Australian running coach Raf Baugh says the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rethink of athletics place in the world of professional sport. “Over the past four to five decades athletics has gone from being an amateur sport which attracted really capable people from all walks of life, to trying to become professional, to going back to being amateur again,” Baugh said. “It’s heading back to where it started because it struggled to find a way to communicate outside its own bubble. “Athletics attracts people who are passionate, but it’s lost its broader relevance to the general public and with that its commercial position has changed. “I feel it is really important that we are honest about how we are presenting the sport to our elite athletes and our emerging elite athletes so we don’t leverage them into a socially irresponsible position.” Baugh said part of the problem was the four-year Olympic cycle, which the pandemic had pushed out to five since the Rio Games. “The funding and planning for the sport has become increasingly acute and reactive and too often leaves athletes in a perform or perish position,” he said. “The research tells us that the development of a world-class distance runner is a 15-year process, so we have aimed to build a more sustainable model where we can provide a long-term development pathway for our athletes without undue pressure or stress. “The reality is that most of our elite runners are elite people in terms of they are working at a very high level in their job. So they are not just a runner. “With a young athlete like Nic Harman – who is a 2:14 marathoner – we want the university degree, we want the casual job, we want him connected to community. We don’t want him in a bubble thinking that athletics is the whole world. “We don’t want him thinking he can exist on athletics alone.” Baugh, a former world No.3 ranked duathlete who has run 10km in a tick over 30min, heads Front Runner Sports, one of many running clubs in Perth that have survived and thrived through the pandemic. He has modelled Front Runner on a Kenyan philosophy of inclusiveness where athletes train in a “one in all in” team culture. “We have gone back and redefined the values of our elite group and the people who will fit into that group will share those values – ultimately the values of community, integrity and mastery,” he said. Baugh said in a 2015 interview the Kenyan model ensured all athletes improved and not just the elite group. “The thing is if I went to Kenya and trained with the world champion who runs 26 minutes for 10km he would welcome me into that training environment and encourage me to achieve my goals. “In my experience as a physio working with elite western athletes, they want to be in an environment where someone is the boss, someone is the leader. “In Kenya there’s more of a team ethos. Every athlete is part of a bigger entity and part of a bigger motivation.” Front Runner has grown from assisting about 350 runners a week in 2015 to 1000 in 2020, with runners both locally and internationally accessing in person and online physiotherapy and personalised training plans. Baugh said WA was in its best space for decades with middle and distance runners. “Matt Ramsden and marathoners Rochelle Maree (Rodgers), Nic Harman and Matt Felton (T46 - 2:41) have all represented Australia in the past two years,” Baugh said. “The depth has never been better.” Ramsden has broken Herb Elliott’s 1500m and mile records over the past 16 months as he sets a course for Tokyo 2021, while Harman shaved eight minutes off his PB in last year’s Fukuoka Marathon in Japan finishing in 2.14.04. Last September, Maree finished 35th in the world marathon championships in Doha, her courage underlined by the fact 23 of the field did not finish because of oppressive humidity. WA is also well represented in 10km through Ramsden, Harman, Ben Chamberlain (29.13) and Matt Smith (29.54), who have all run sub-30 minutes for the distance, with Felicity Sheedy-Ryan leading the women’s charge, recently breaking the State all-comers record with a 33.54 to claim the WA State 10km title. There is also great depth in the marathon and half marathon with Sheedy-Ryan, Nera Jareb, Sinead Noonan and Maree heading the women’s field and Harman, Chamberlain, Dean Menzies, Francisco Sanzana, Gerry Hill, Thomas Bruins and Matt DiMasi at the point end of the men’s field.