A contingent from the Lithuanian Athletic Federation headed by General Secretary Nijole Medvedeva were invited to the House of European Athletics in Lausanne on Thursday (8) and Friday (9) as part of the recently launched European Athletics Focus Federation Programme.
The aim of the initiative launched in April 2017 is to enhance communication, transparency and understanding between Member Federations and European Athletics. Two Member Federations are invited to Lausanne each year and the programme is open to all Federations who currently do not have any representation on the Council.
The two-day agenda incorporated a robust programme of meetings, workshops and presentations in which the contingent were briefed on all areas of European Athletics’ operations, ranging from competition structure, bidding processes, good governance and marketing strategy to newer landmark initiatives such as I Run Clean(™), Running for All and Dynamic New Athletics (DNA).
The Lithuanian Athletic Federation also gave a 20-minute long presentation to European Athletics on their internal operation structures. There were also meetings which focused specifically on the 2019 European Race Walking Cup which will be held in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.
“We were very satisfied to have the opportunity to visit House of European Athletics and to have a look at the activities of organisation. In my opinion, this visit was really beneficial because we had an opportunity to communicate with almost every person from European Athletics, to know who is responsible for what,” said press liaison officer Robertas Trakys.
“In each meeting we got answers to the questions we care about - for example, some aspects of working with ARENA system; how to develop I Run Clean(™) programme in Lithuania; or what is the marketing strategy of European Athletics.
“We appreciate that five people from Lithuanian Athletic Federation had an opportunity to see the House of European Athletics and we are really thankful for the invitation.”
The Focus Federation Programme will culminate at the 151th European Athletics Council meeting in Berlin, Germany from 27-29 April.