NEW AGE GROUPS

Age Group Changes from 1st April 2026

The proposal for change was put forward to UK Athletics by the Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) –  Athletics Northern Ireland, England Athletics, Scottish Athletics and Welsh Athletics – following a period of consultation with athletes, parents, clubs, coaches, member bodies and officials.

The move is part of a series of measures to try to stop the drop-off in interest in athletics amongst teenagers. Under the current age groups, teenagers are competing at the top of their age group in GCSE and A-level exam years, which understandably leads to fewer young people taking part. The new age groups will mean that athletes will compete at the top of the age group in a non-exam year. Read further detail about the reasoning behind the change on the England Athletics website here.

The competition year for U10's to U18's will run from 1st October to 30th September. Athletes will remain in that age category for cross country, road and track & field from 1st Oct - 30th Sept.

NOTE: Although aligned to School Years with a cut-off date of 31st August, the age UKA age category is determined by the athlete’s date of birth therefore an athlete who is in a different school year group to their peers will compete according to their date of birth and not their School year group.

The age-group changes will obviously have implications for implement weights, hurdle heights and distances deemed suitable for athletes to run. There is information about these technical changes, as well as a FAQ section and a downloadable age-group-calculator spreadsheet on the England Athletics website.

Youth Development League (YDL)

The Youth Development League (YDL) will offer competition to secondary age athletes: U14 and U16 (lower) and U18 and U20 (upper).

Memberships & England Athletics (U10s & U12s)

U10’s are not covered by UKA Rules but must be registered with England Athletics with an EA URN licence number - this will be sorted by the club when you pay your membership fee. U10s will not pay the EA affiliation fee.

U12’s are not covered by UKA Rules but must be registered with England Athletics with an EA URN licence number and must pay the EA Affiliation Fee. This will be sorted by the club when you pay your membership and EA fee.

Records and Power of 10

U10's performances will not be shown of Power of 10.
U12's performances will be shown on Power of 10, but no rankings.
All U13/U15/U17 records and rankings on Power of 10 will be preserved and frozen. No past performances will be deleted from Po10.
New U14/U16/U18 records will be formed from historic data and results going forward.

World Athletics Age Groups
The age groups outside the UK and applied to all International Competition are determined by the calendar year of birth i.e. 1st January to 31st December. The new UKA age groups look similar now they have changed to ‘even’ years but are determined by the athletes age on the 31st August. This means athletes born in September, October, November & December will be mis-aligned so a second year UKA U16 will become a first year World U18 and similarly a second year U18 will be a first year in the World U20 age group.