History
An athletics meeting has been held at Don
Valley Stadium since 1994.
It started life as a series of 3 winter warm-ups in March and April, evolving
into a single meeting in 1996 to celebrate the Club's centenary.. The event
was originally run solely by Hallamshire Harriers. It became a track only
meeting in 1998, because it was proving difficult for Hallamshire Harriers
to organise both elements. The field events were re-introduced in 2004, but
still proved too onerous for just one club.
In 2006, City of Sheffield AC took over organising of the track event, and
Rotherham Harriers stepped in to look after the field events.
The Lord Mayor's 10k Race has been held since 1989, although the first explicit
mention of the Lord Mayor isn't until 1993. It was originally organised by
Handsworth Roadhogs. 1997 was an unusual year insomuch as the icumbent Lord
Mayor, Peter Price, actually ran his own event. He was 59 at the time, and
competed the course in a time of 60.22.
In 2003, it became a joint venture with Hallamshire Harriers.
In 2009, the two events were brought together and have been jointly organised
by City of Sheffield AC, Hallamshire Harriers and Handsworth Roadhogs since
then.
A fun run was introduced in 2011 to complement the 10k, and Pole Vault was
added to the athletics programme. In 2013, the 3,000k returned to the track
after a long absence, and Discus was added for the first time.
Events also include race walking and disability athletics, making it one of
the most comprehensive single athletics open event in the North of England.
Following the closure of Don Valley Stadium in 2013, the Festival split into
a number of events through the year. The traditional outdoor athletics programme
continued to take place in April 2014 and 2015 but at the Woodbourn Road Stadium,
managed by Sheffield Hallam University, and renamed SHUCAS (Sheffield Hallam
University City Athletics Stadium). Unfortunately, difficulties in obtaining
a commitment fto hire the stadium for a suitable date in April proved increasingly
difficult, so we were unable to continue this from 2016. We are still hopeful
of being able to resurrect this at some point.
From 2016, an annual Indoor Athletics Open was started at the end of January
at the E.I.S. Sheffield. Despite being only able to offer a smaller choice
of track and field events, this has proved very popular - attracting over
450 athletes to each one..
In 2015, the Steel City Cup was born. It
started as an end of season challenge cup between the two Sheffield Athletics
clubs - City of Sheffield & Dearne AC and Hallamshire Harriers - held
at Mount St Mary's track, Spinkhill. In 2017, Barnsley AC, Doncaster AC and
Rotherham Harriers also contested the cup. In 2018, Chesterfield AC joined
us, and won the cup at their first attempt.
A decision was taken in 2017 to support local charities with the proceeds
from our events. This resulted in us being able to donate in excess of £1,200
that year. We were able to increase the donations in 2018, and hope to maintain
the trend in future years.