UK ATHLETICS BOSS BOWKER QUITS

THE political crisis at UK Athletics escalated yesterday with the resignation of chairman Richard Bowker, who jumped before he was pushed after little more than a year in the post.

Sportsmail first revealed the infighting that had developed between Bowker and key figures on the UKA Members Council in October, with the situation concluding in a call for an Emergency General Meeting to discuss his future and a move by Scottish Athletics to gain independence as a competing nation. The home nations, in particular, had rejected Bowker’s attempts to streamline the organisation and essentially merge UKA and England Athletics, issuing a vote of no confidence in the chairman. After attempting to cling to power despite a series of further revelations by this newspaper, Bowker has now succumbed to the pressure and will vacate his role on January 31. Not least because the crisis was delaying the process of appointing a new chief executive of a now rudderless organisation following the resignation of Niels de Vos in September. Former Olympic marathon runner Sarah Rowell has become interim chair, having temporarily stepped down from her position on the London Marathon board. There are concerns that members of the UKA board could now follow Bowker in resigning, given that he did retain some support. Dave Bedford, for instance, was very much an ally of Bowker. Bowker, who succeeded Ed Warner in 2017, will depart with a legacy that includes last summer’s Athletics World Cup, which was staged on the same weekend as football’s World Cup final and Wimbledon finals and suffered from poor attendances. It is feared it lost more than £1m. Despite this, and the circumstances that led to his downfall, a UKA statement issued yesterday said the governing body had ‘made significant strides under Richard’s leadership.’ It added: ‘The board is very sorry to see him leave at this time, but based on the recent decisions while he was chair, the progress that will now be made in the areas of talent, competition and coaching in the coming years will be the real legacy of his tenure.’