THE BIG INTERVIEW CHRIS CLARK
right moves
Making the
C
HRIS CLARK, the new chair of UK Athletics,
has a varied background. A former
head of global marketing for HSBC, he
also holds two non-executive positionswith Aviva UK Digital and the board of the Royal
Marsden NHS Trust. In sport, he was a keen rugby
player – although he had to quit in his late 30s
after being struck by an eye melanoma – while
in recent years he has tackled running events for
fun and fitness.
In addition, he is a keen chess player with
a decent club level grading. Given this, the
domestic athletics world that he now presides
over will be waiting to see what early moves
he makes. Chess is a game of strategy and
calculation and Clark looks set to bring both
those qualities – and more – to his new role.
We are sitting in the Albert Hills lounge at
the London Stadium – a room named after the
English mile and three miles champion in the
1870s – just before the Müller Anniversary Games
action begins. Clark says he is looking forward in
particular to Laura Muir’s race and also getting to
know many of the people in the sport that he will
be working with in coming months.
So how did he find himself in this position?
Clark says the coach of Jessica Ennis-Hill had a
fair bit to do with it.
“I met Toni Minichiello and he said to me
that he’d like me to apply to be chairman of UK
Athletics,” says Clark. “I said ‘really?’ He said ‘yes,
I think it’s going to be my mission to get you to
put your hat in the ring!’ So he did and as I went
through a phase of finding out a bit more, the
more I found that the scope of the challenges got
more complicated and bigger and each time I
went through another round I wanted more, which
was a good test.
“So for me, understanding the nature of what
the role is and also the job to be done, I found
very compelling in the end. I’ve got a lot to learn
but I also feel I’ve got a lot to bring and while I’m
not an athlete by background I’m not a person
whose never been anything other than a massive
fan of the sport and I think I’ve got a lot to bring
in terms of some of the stuff that’s required in
terms of the complexities of the commercial
side of things, some of the issues we’ve got in
terms of making sure all the strands of the sport
come together.”
Bringing together the many varied and, at
times, disparate strands of athletics is a task
that many have struggled with over the years.
David Moorcroft, the former chief executive of UKA,
likened the sport to an archipelago, for example.
Clark says: “Having been at a rather complex
organisation for most of my career at HSBC you
learn how to manage those matrices and start to
make sure that some of that stuff starts to work.
“There is obviously the IAAF, home countries
athletics federations, club system, UK Sport ... the
list goes on. Unifying some of that in a collegiate
fashion feels interesting and the sport naturally
would like to do that but you have to create an
environment that enables that to happen.”
Clark is keen to stress that actions will speak
louder than words once he gets to grips with his
job. “You have to figure out what you want to do,”
he says. “How you’re going to adapt. How you’re
going to change some things and how you’re
going to make some of the things you already do
shine in the right kind of way.”
A priority right now is appointing a chief
executive. Niels de Vos, the previous CEO, left his
role last autumn with Nigel Holl acting as interim
CEO since.
“The CEO (appointment) is a big focus,” says
Clark. “It’s the thing we have to get right. We havesome very strong candidates and we have a
tough call on our hands which is a nice problem
to have. It’s better than scratching our heads
thinking ‘what are we going to do now?’
“It is seen in the realm of sport generally as
one of the plum jobs. Athletics has a fantastic
sporting legacy and there’s the opportunity to
set an agenda for the future. There’s some great
talent out there and the legacy in the way we’ve
performed as a nation over the years is really
important when it comes to understanding how
we can shape the future.”
What are Clark’s early impressions of the
sport? He voiced an opinion on the ‘power’ of
athletics in a column in AW last week and in our
interview he adds: “Athletics has the capacity to
move people. I think it’s really important that we
hang on to and foster a kind of joie de vivre about
the sport. It’s a celebration of something that you
should really thoroughly enjoy and I hope what
we can do is that this gets baked into how we
present the sport. If you’re involved or coming up
through the ranks, how do we ensure that it feels
like fun?”
This month athletics has taken a bit of a back
seat as cricket, tennis, netball, motor-racing
and cycling have dominated the nation’s media
coverage. Can athletics improve and become
more prominent?
“Yes,” he replies without hestitation. “But it’s not
a classical marketing task of presentation but
having a product that appeals.”
Clark believes athletics should continue to
try new ideas and to innovate and says: “Other
sports that have enjoyed a resurgence have gone
through some kind of format development. I
don’t know what that looks like yet (in athletics).
But we need to start to look at some new ideas.”
He continues: “If your fundamental product
has a real strength and captures the public’s
imagination or ‘gains preference’ as we used to
say in the marketing world then the next thing is
how you present it.
“You don’t need quirky, silly events but we do
need to find ways to engage with people.”LAST WEEKEND CHRIS
CLARK WENT TO HIS FIRST
MAJOR EVENT, THE MÜLLER
ANNIVERSARY GAMES, AS
UK ATHLETICS’ NEW CHAIR
AND HE TOOK TIME OUT
TO TALK TO AW
WORDS: JASON HENDERSON
PICTURE: MARK SHEARMAN