Street Athletics returned to Luton on Thursday 23rd July, 2pm - 4pm in Fitzwarin Close, Marsh Farm.

Olympic Gold medallist Linford Christie ran the second Street Athletics event to be held in the town, as part of a 21 venue national programme which leads to the National Final in Manchester.

The event was organised by Active Luton in partnership with Nuff Respect and backed by Sport England, Sony, England Athletics, and Nike.

Street athletics is the brain child of Darren Campbell (who unfortunately could not be present due to an injury) and Linford who share the same vision: "to breakdown the barriers which prevent youngsters from believing in their own talents and not having the confidence in their futures to set even the smallest ambition".  It targets youngsters who are not engaged in mainstream sports and who can benefit from the confidence and motivation that comes from taking part in a positive community sports event.

A large number of residents attended with just over 100 children and teenagers taking part in 60m sprints, with Luton North MP, Kelvin Hopkins lent a hand to start the races.

There was also music and dance events with the Kombat Breakers, who came runners-up on the ITV show Britain's Got Talent in 2007, showing off their street dancing skills. A number of local dance acts were also present to take part in the dance competition element of the event.

My thanks to all the staff that were involved. A lot of hard work has been put in to make this event a success and it has certainly been worthwhile. As with last year, we can rightly be proud of ourselves.

Thoughts now move to the Community Coaching Day on the 30th July at the Athletics Track. This has been set up to allow young people from Street Athletics to have the chance of receiving some proper coaching and join the local athletics club. Katherine Merry, the 400m Olympic medallist will be working with our coach Catrina and staff from Luton AC. I sure you will be hearing about how successful this event has also been soon.

We will also be taking the winners of this year’s event to the Manchester finals on September 26th. Last year, we have 2 winners at the national finals and will hopefully build on that in September.

For further information on Street Athletics please visit the website below, or alternatively  contact the Sports Development team on : 01582 400272