Charity to reconsider council sports development contribution

Twm Owen – Local Democracy Reporter

A charity behind a popular road race is to reconsider a funding arrangement which saw it make a £5,000 contribution to a council’s sports development team this year.

The Mic Morris Torfaen 10k is held every July and currently makes a contribution of £5,000 to the borough council’s sports development team if the event makes a profit of £10,000, a target it reached this year.

But the charity, which provides financial support to talented young sportspeople and named after the former Gwent Police officer and British middle distance runner who died aged 24 while training in 1983, could reconsider the arrangement.

Proposal

Chairman, Christine Vorres, told the charity board’s most recent meeting a cost analysis would be carried out to determine how many entrants are needed for the event to break even. When the figure is known a proposal for sharing the revenue will be put forward.

Ms Vorres said at present the charity simply distributes the money generated with the council’s sports development team the effective organisers.

The committee’s September minutes state: “It is the Sport’s Development’s event. Without them, there would be no event and no funding. The Trustees are not actually doing anything, we are just sharing the money out.”

She has suggested trustees becoming more involved in organising the race to keep costs down.

Race

The contribution from the race is used by the sports development team for various community projects such as netball camps, taster sessions to allow youngsters to try new sports and events such as its Olympic Celebration of Sport which involved more than 400 children from 14 primary schools and 15 sports.

Registration is already open for the 2025 Mic Morris Torfaen 10k scheduled for July 13.

The race starts in Blaenavon and is billed as the fastest course in the world due to its downhill route. Trustees will also consider replacing plaques with cash prizes for for top three finishers in the men’s, women’s and disabled races.

Entry numbers for the 2025 event will also increase to 1,200, up from 1,000 who registered last year though 835 took part on the day.

The charity has also amended its criteria for supporting athletes which will be applicants must have represented Wales or Great Britain in the past 12 months and provide evidence from their sport’s national governing body; they have been identified as on a Commonwealth, elite or international pathway and have the evidence or they have been selected for a development pathway for their chosen sport. Trustees will use discretion when considering applications.

Torfaen council leader Anthony Hunt is a trustee of the charity along with the sports development team, independent members andrepresentatives of local community councils.

Its minutes have been reported to Pontypool Community Council.