A highly successful European Athletics Communication Manager Seminar concluded today in Berlin with discussions on Dynamic New Athletics (DNA), a revolutionary new athletics competition that will make its official debut at the second edition of the European Games in Minsk, Belarus in 2019.
Fifty-eight communications experts from 38 Member Federations attended the three-day seminar. The largely youthful group was made up of 28 men and 18 women, which resulted in lively discussions and a healthy variety of viewpoints.
Having earlier discussed communication strategies for the anti-doping programme “I Run Clean” and the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships and its part of the first edition of the European Championships scheduled for 2-12 August 2018 in the German capital and Glasgow, the participants spent the final day of the seminar brainstorming ideas on how to promote DNA.
The new competition will feature a compact and unpredictable mixed-gender, team-based format, designed to present a more alternative, modernised version of athletics and engage new and younger audiences.
“It is 100 percent athletics but in a never-seen-before format,” said Marcel Wakim, European Athletics Head of New Business Development. “It is also modular and can be easily adapted, so it can be held indoors, outdoors, or even in more urban settings.”
Mixed-gender national teams will compete against each other at the DNA in Minsk. There will be 10 events in total, including Track’Athlon, which will see athletes participating in everything from running with weights/parachutes to medicine ball runs and obstacle races. The entire competition will last no longer than 120 minutes.
Other DNA track events will include men’s and women’s 100 metres, women’s 100m hurdles, men’s 110m hurdles and a mixed 4x400 relay. The three field events will be men’s high jump, women’s javelin and women’s long jump, all held in a head-to-head knockout format. The event will conclude with a mixed-distance pursuit relay known as “The Hunt.”
For more information on DNA, please click here.
The Communications Manager Seminar finished with a presentation by European Athletics Vice-President Jean Gracia on Member Federations Development.