» President's Message

Printer-friendly version

Welcome to Athletics Alberta! – the provincial governing body for the sport of track and field, cross country running, race walking and road running in Alberta.  I was elected President of the association in April of 2008 after having served for several years as a board member and am delighted to have been provided the opportunity to help guide such a progressive organization.  This unquestionably is a fantastic time to be involved in our sport in this province with so many exciting events & activities occurring.   

In 2007, the association adopted a 5-year strategic plan that committed to three strategic imperatives.  The first of these is the development of a road map with clearly defined targets in areas such as athlete, coach, officials, and club development, which also incorporates a means of pursuing new sources of long-term funding.  The second essential element is to ensure synergistic program development by integrating the competition program, identifying talent, growing our membership base, and linking high performance athletes with grassroots initiatives.  The third priority is to position Alberta athletes to achieve national and international level performance.  In the coming months & years, we will be guided by these key elements in our efforts to continue to improve our sport.

Alberta continues to lead the country in its promotion of events within our sport, with our highly successful Timex road race events, various provincial championships, and newly introduced Saucony Run Alberta Cross Country Series races, as well as promotion of grass-roots initiatives such as Run, Jump, Throw and the Hershey’s Track & Field Games.

In order to achieve our shared objectives, we must persist in working together.  Our athletes (at all levels) cannot train and compete without an integrated network of supporters including committed coaches, dedicated officials, enthusiastic parents, other key stakeholders, our highly professional office staff, and our devoted board of directors. Each of these components of our sport is vital in our quest to achieve our vision: 

“Athletics First: Building our Sport – Competing to Win”

Yours in Sport,

Tim Berrett