Cymryd Rhan

Hi my name is Rory Mckerlich and I am a Track/Race Walking Judge. I first got into athletics after the 2012 London Olympics/ Paralympics. My son Daniel won an award at school. His prize was trip to the London Paralympics 2012. Shortly after this Daniel asked if he could join his local Athletics club. Daniel joined Cardiff Athletics Club. While he was training at the Club we met a lady called Tracey Allen in charge of officials/volunteers who would talk to all the parents. Tracey was very good job and persuaded me to help out with coaching and officiating.

At the beginning of 2013 I became an Assistant Coach. A few months later I became a level 1 Track Judge. I did not do much officiating the first season as I broke my elbow and was out of action for 12 weeks. Once I recovered, I quickly became a Level 2 Track Judge. In 2014 I had the opportunity to work in the call room at the IPC European Championships in Swansea. This was an excellent opportunity for such an inexperienced official. Over the next few years, I continued to officiate gaining my Level 3 Track Judge. In 2016 I also became a level 2 Athletics Coach.

While Daniel was at the club he competed in many club events. He competed mainly as a sprinter to start with but was asked to fill in with Race Walking, which he later began to enjoy and took up this discipline.  In 2015 he won the Welsh School Games. He found a full time Coach and the rest is history. While taking Daniel to Race Walking competitions in Wales and England I was persuaded to become a Race Walk judge. In 2017 I became a level 1 Race Walk judge. In 2018 I became a level 2 Race Walk Judge. I am working towards becoming a level 3 Race Walk Judge.

At the beginning of 2019 I finally became a level 4 Track Judge. I hope to judge at the Senior British Championships in August in they are able to go ahead. Each year I judge at about 30-40 events form club to National events all over Britain and can really recommend it to anyone thinking of becoming an official.