The UK, as host to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is seen by the IAAF as the ideal partner and will become the first country to see SPIKES rolled out.
Speaking at the SPIKES launch, Sebastian Coe, IAAF Vice-President, said “There’s a lot of good happening in our sport, both here in the UK and globally, but we need to be much more creative and dynamic about how we reach out and promote the sport. SPIKES will help us meet this challenge by fusing traditional and online media to celebrate our heroes, create new ones and inspire a new breed of track and field fans.
“Spikesmag.com will be the heart of the new marketing drive containing a wealth of footage – including world records and inspiring clips of athlete heroes in action and at rest. I certainly would have loved to have had this type of material available when I started out. It’s a great way for young people to connect with our sport and access it in a way that makes sense to them.
“The IAAF’s vision and ambitions for athletics are global and we plan to roll the magazine out to other territories over the next few years as part of our wider plans to help re-energize athletics across the world. SPIKES will be our shop-front for a new era – to capture the imagination of those who follow the sport and to reach out to the next generation.”
Seb Coe was joined by a host of UK and global athletes past and present at the London SPIKES launch, Wilson Kipketer, World Record Holder and three times World Champion: “Young people need heroes to inspire them, no matter where they, whether here in the UK, in Denmark where I live or in Kenya where I was born. SPIKES will help promote our sport at a time when there is so much competition for young people’s attention. What’s particularly exciting about SPIKES is that it can be tailored to appeal to different countries as well as promote the global stars of our sport, no matter where they come from.”
