Duo set to battle it out for top job at troubled UKA

a tWO-Way shoot-out has developed for the chairman’s position at crisis-hit Uk athletics between former scottish athletics chair ian Beattie and sport England board member Chris Grant. the current chair, nic Coward, is leaving next month and urgency around the appointment is escalating with the Uka in chaos. there had been calls for funding body Uk sport to intervene by making an approach to sir Brendan Foster — as revealed by Sportsmail — and also an approach by British athletes to World athletics chief Lord sebastian Coe to intervene. Beattie and Grant are well respected, though Beattie may hold the advantage because of his background in athletics. indeed, the lack of an athletics background among the governing body’s hierarchy, which is led by CEO Joanna Coates, has become a fevered talking point among critics. the mood within the sport reached a new low earlier this month when a number of Britain’s best-known athletes made a direct plea for help to Coe, citing their disillusionment with the way the sport in this country is run.

Meanwhile, broadcaster Charlie Webster has hit out at Uk athletics after her BBC documentary Nowhere to Run on the abuse she and other athletes suffered at the hands of coach Paul north, who was jailed for ten years in 2002 for sexual assault and rape. Uka CEO Coates claimed that victims would be listened to, but Webster hit back, saying: ‘these words are nOt the reality. i’ve been waiting 19 years for their call.’