Race Organisers

Grants

The Association offers an annual grant scheme for organisers that use our race licensing system. Since this scheme starting in 2013 we have paid out over £120,000 which has gone directly to supporting and maintaining trail running events up and down the country.

Organisers may apply for an individual grant of up to £750 for the purchase of equipment that will help deliver the event year on year. Grants are not given for expenditure that covers just a single event.

Such equipment should be a single item, e.g. a gazebo, or a single set of related items, such as a set of race signage.  However, the TRA Grants Committee is not restricted to grants of that nature. 

The Association favours more environmental equipment choices where such alternatives are feasible.  For example, rechargeable power packs are preferred over petrol driven generators.

Grant applications for a list of several distinct items are generally not acceptable, and are likely to be rejected.  The grants would always be for a specific item of expenditure, agreed when the grant is approved, rather than for general expenditure.  They would normally be paid to the club or other organisation promoting the event rather than to any individual. 

Grants are not available for items such as cameras, tablets and laptops because although they can be used for race management they may also be used for much wider purposes. 

Grants are now available for part-purchase of equipment - the invoiced total may now exceed the individual grant  limit, though the maximum grant payable would be £750.

No organisation will be awarded more than one TRA Grant in any one calendar year.

The grants are subject to two conditions; these are that the event should have received a race licence from the TRA and that it should take place no later than 12 months after the grant application is made.  It is not a condition that the Race Organiser should be a member of the TRA, although that might be a factor taken into account by the TRA Committee when considering whether or not to award a grant. 

The decision of the TRA on any grant application will be final.  The TRA will not be obliged to enter into any correspondence or discussion about the reasons for its decisions on grant applications.

When a licence application is approved, an email is sent to the applicant which includes an invitation to apply for a TRA Grant. and a link to an online form. Applications should identify the promoting organisation, the event (including the name and date), the TRA licence number and supply the cost and description of the item to be purchased.  Where possible please also supply a weblink to the item. 

The cost should include any additions, such as VAT and delivery. When a grant is approved, payment is made upon sight of the receipted invoice. The applicant should also supply the contact details of the person to whom the TRA should apply for any supplemental information they might need before making a decision.

The TRA expects that grant recipients will:

1.  Consent to the event for which the grant is awarded being included in the TRA Race Diary and to provide all necessary information about the event to the TRA for that purpose.

2.  Acknowledge the grant on the event website and display as part of that announcement the TRA logo (available here)

3. Where a grant is made for equipment such as signage or banners that are custom printed, include TRA logo (available here) in the design.  Confirm that this will be done in your grant application.

4.  Co-operate in the setting up of a link between the event website and the TRA website. 

Race Organisers who are awarded grants are invited to write articles for publication in The Trailrunner, which should be submitted to Kathy Tytler, Trailrunner’s Editor (editor@tra-uk.org).  Reports on events benefitting from the grant would be welcome.  The TRA is entitled to publish information about grants awarded.  The point of this is both to attract more entries to the events and to publicize the availability of grants.