Commonwealth Games in Yorkshire and the North: 'Friendly Games just cannot disappear' urges Tom Bosworth

Tom Bosworth, a silver medallist in the 20k race walk on the Gold Coast in 2018, has given his backing to the notion that by using existing facilities, Yorkshire and the North could come together to host the Commonwealth Games. The 2026 edition of the old Empire Games is in major doubt after initial hosts Victoria had to pull out.

Their Australian neighbours on the Gold Coast then opted out of stepping in earlier this month.

But in The Yorkshire Post last Saturday, double Commonwealth gold medallist and Olympic champion triathlete Alistair Brownlee urged power brokers such as local councils, UK Sport and the Commonwealth Games Federation to get around a table to discuss the feasibility of Yorkshire and the North saving the Games.

The idea is to use existing facilities like Ponds Forge in Sheffield, John Charles Aquatics Centre in Leeds, the rugby stadium in Hull, the velodrome in Manchester, netball arena in Liverpool and athletics stadium in Gateshead - among others - to put on the Games without the need for major infrastructure investment and to spread the cost across councils with help from central government.

And Bosworth - a former training partner of Brownlee - is in agreement. “This sort of larger-area multi-city model, making use of existing venues is definitely the future of all Games, of every kind,” Bosworth, 33, told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’re seeing it across football World Cups to future Olympics - Brisbane in 2032 is more like the whole of Queensland.

“I can’t see why it wouldn’t work in Yorkshire and the North.”

Although born and bred in Kent, Bosworth’s path to sporting fulfilment brought him to Yorkshire when he came to combine his studies and his athletics career at Leeds Beckett University at the age of 18.

“Leeds and Yorkshire is a real magnet for world class sport,” he said.

“I loved my time there, it was nice to have a low-pressure but incredibly high-performance environment.

“I would be on the track on a Tuesday evening with some of the best runners and best triathletes in the world. Down the road you’ve got some of the best divers in the world, and then a little further down the road you’ve got the best boxers.”

The Commonwealth Games provided seminal moments in the career of Bosworth, just as it did many an English athlete down the years.

In 2010 he was a young athlete savouring his first taste of a multi-sport event in Delhi. Eight years later he was at the peak of his powers, winning silver in the 20k race walk.

“The Commonwealth Games can’t disappear, they just can’t,” he urged. “It’s got to develop, evolve into something that’s really sustainable. Not just wasting money on new infrastructure every two to four years.

“They have to utilise what’s already there. That does more for communities because with new stadia, a lot has to change in the area, and then it’s how do you follow up afterwards? You often hear, especially after an Olympics, of infrastructure sat empty, which is just awful.

“Whereas if you upgrade what we already have with athletics clubs or sports clubs which are already operating, it’s a great advert for that club, that sport and everything about it.

“A joint bid from Yorkshire and the North makes a lot of sense.”