This is a common question from members. It’s often phrased slightly differently (e.g. Do I need to be affiliated/licenced?, Is a race EA/UKA affiliated?, Is it for affiliated/registered runners only?, Do I need a race licence?) To be completely correct, there’s no such thing as athlete affiliation; clubs (like MAC) pay Club Affiliation, while athletes of those clubs pay Athlete Registration. In both cases, if you’re in England, these are to England Athletics (EA), which is our Home Country Athletics Federation (HCAF) of UKA. You can read more about the governance structure of athletics in this post. For the purpose of the rest of this post, I have assumed registered athletes are registered with EA, however, technically you must be registered with any HCAF of UKA (Scotland, Wales, NI).
Needs Must?
Now, there’s a difference between ‘should’ and ‘must’. A previous post covers why I and many others absolutely think everyone should become EA registered, whereas this one will cover the situations where you must be EA registered, and those where it is optional. You can check if you are registered here and if not, can log in and add registration to your club subscription.
Juniors
Simple one to start… any athlete from the U13 age group up must be EA registered. Under 11s are optional.
Track & Field
For all Track & Field competitions, be they Open Meets, League Competitions (MAC competes in the Southern Athletics League for seniors and Alder Valley for juniors), County (Berks), Area (SEAA) or National Championships, athletes must be EA registered.
Road Running
For all public road races, including mass participation events, club hosted races and commercial events, EA registration is completely optional. Note, this also applies to Road Walking, Fell, Hill and Mountain Running and Trail Running events). There is usually a discount if you are EA registered (minimum £2 per race), but it is not a condition of entry. There are a number of caveats to that:
- In order to contribute to a Team competition (either standalone or as part of an open road race) run under UKA rules, athletes must be EA registered (and represent their first claim affiliated club), unless specified otherwise by the organiser. [see RULE T55 (240) S 3 UKA SUPPLEMENT RACE CLASSIFICATION]
- In order to take up a club place in the London Marathon, athletes must be EA registered (and first claim for MAC).
For Inter-County (representing Berkshire), Area (South of England Athletics Association) and National (England or UK) Road Running Championship races, athletes must be EA registered. For County Championships, there is an exemption and for the Berkshire County Road Running Championships, it is currently optional.
Cross Country
For the Thames Valley Cross Country League (TVXC), EA registration is optional. MAC seniors (adults) do not currently compete in any other leagues, but have previously competed in the Chiltern Cross Country League, where athletes must be EA registered.
For County (Berkshire Champs), Area (SEAA) and National (English National Champs) Championships, athletes must be EA registered. See also RULE G2 (21) S 6 UKA SUPPLEMENT COUNTY, DISTRICT AND AREA QUALIFICATIONS on pg 347 of the UKA Rulebook for more info on area eligibility for entry.
There’s not many open XC races, for those there are (including Cliveden XC) EA registration is usually optional.
Summary
In summary, here’s a table for Seniors with the different types of events and whether or not they require an EA registration. Remember, juniors U13 and over always require EA registration.
| Open Competition | Leagues | Berks County Champs | South of England | Nationals | |
| Road Races – Individual | No | TVARC 5k Series – No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Road Races – Team/Relays | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Cross Country – Individual/Team/Relays | Not usually | TVXC – No Most others – Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Track & Field | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trail, Fell, Hill & Mountain Running events | No |