University opening up facilities to let elite athletes train

LOUGHBOROUGH University is gradually opening up some of its on-site sports facilities to enable elite level athletes to train.

The University is working closely with its campus partners - British Athletics, British Weightlifting, British Swimming, British Triathlon, England Netball, LTA, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and the English Institute of Sport (EIS) - to ensure athletes, coaches and support staff can begin to access facilities and resume training in a safe way, with strict social distancing guidelines in place.

John Steele, Executive Director of Sport, Loughborough University, said: “It goes without saying that this period of uncertainty has been tough on everyone including athletes, in what was supposed to be an Olympic and Paralympic year.

“In returning to training, our primary concern is that we provide a safe environment for athletes, coaches and support staff, so that they can focus on optimising their training to ultimately be ready for the next major competition – whenever that may be.

“Sport and people in sport, have had to show resilience in many different scenarios in the past, and this is now another situation where we will need to be patient and adaptable as we navigate our way back to competition.”

Steve Paulding, British Athletics World Class Programme Director, said: “We have been working hard to develop systems and processes to ensure the government guidelines on elite athletes returning to training are being met. Over the past three weeks, working closely with Loughborough University in their role as part of UK Sport’s Elite Training Centre Network, we are now in a position where more than 50 eligible athletes are able to book carefully managed sessions to train.”