Grassroots sport rarely gets a stage like this one. On 18 July, London Stadium hosted the Novuna London Athletics Meet, a fixture on the Wanda Diamond League calendar and home to some of the biggest names in world athletics. Spond was there too, not as a spectator but as the event’s Official Team Management Partner and Presenting Partner of ClubConnect, and the day proved exactly why that partnership matters.
A Natural Fit
Spond exists to take admin off the plates of coaches and volunteers so they can spend their time on the athletes rather than the paperwork. That mission sits at the heart of the ClubConnect races, which brought together some of the country’s most promising young athletes from London, the Home Counties and further afield to compete on the same track as Wanda Diamond League stars.
ClubConnect is British Athletics’ club points campaign, running across the Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Elite athletes earn points for their club with every top eight finish, from 8 points for first down to 1 for eighth. At the Novuna London Athletics Meet, each age group race was winner takes all, with the top club walking away with a £500 grant.
Event Director Cherry Alexander summed up why the partnership matters before the meet even began, calling it a chance to increase the prize fund and put a spotlight on the young athletes carrying the sport forward. Charlene Kemp, Spond’s UK Country Manager, echoed that sentiment, describing grassroots clubs as the lifeblood of athletics and the whole reason Spond wanted to be part of the day.
What Happened on the Day
The scale of the response caught even the Spond team off guard. The Spond stand was mobbed from the moment doors opened, with queues building steadily through the morning as fans, families and young athletes stopped by between races. Hundreds queued for the Spin to Win game alone, turning a quiet corner of the concourse into one of the busiest spots at London Stadium.
A prize draw competition ran alongside it, giving entrants the chance to win a £100 gift card. Demand for branded merchandise was just as strong. Everything on the stand had gone by 2pm, hours before the day’s biggest races even got underway.
It was the kind of turnout that only happens when an event connects with the people watching it, and it reflected exactly what the ClubConnect races are designed to do. Young athletes from grassroots clubs got to race in front of a packed stadium, on the same card as some of the sport’s biggest stars, with a five million strong global social audience watching the wider meet unfold.
A Stage Shared With the Best
The Novuna London Athletics Meet is one of 15 fixtures on the Wanda Diamond League calendar, athletics’ elite one day meeting series. In 2025 the series drew 400,000 spectators, aired in 170 countries and reached five million social media followers worldwide. The 2026 season runs from Doha on 8 May through to the two day series final in Brussels on 4 and 5 September.
Standing alongside a series with that kind of reach, while still keeping the focus firmly on grassroots clubs, is exactly the balance Spond set out to strike with this partnership.
How Spond Can Support Athletics Clubs
The energy at London Stadium is a reminder of what’s possible when clubs have the right support behind them, and that support isn’t limited to Wanda Diamond League events. Any athletics club, whatever its size, can use Spond for athletics clubs to manage memberships, fixtures and communications without the admin headache. Coaches and volunteers spend less time chasing payments and more time on the track, and with Spond free to use, there’s nothing stopping a club getting started today.
All images by Getty Images for British Athletics
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