EA Registration and FRA Membership

EA Registration and FRA Membership

EA Registration

EA registration runs from 1 April to 31 March.

If you are a Mercia member and you wish to register with England Athletics you must do this via Mercia (assuming you weren't a member of another running club first and didn't fill in a change of first claim club form when you joined Mercia). You will then be registered as a Mercia athlete and will be First Claim Mercia for all fell running.

To do this you tick the relevant box on the Mercia membership / renewals form and send in the EA registration fee (£20 for 2025/26) as well as the Mercia subs, and we will register you.

In order to compete in the UKA Relays or the British Championships you must be registered with EA OR be a member of the Fell Runners Association (much the better option for those who only run fell except for any coaches / leaders). FRA Race Organisers are now expected to charge an extra levy on those non FRA members who run in their races.

If you join another club (say for cross country) you can represent them as a First Claim athlete in all disciplines they affiliate to England Athletics for except Fell Running. This status is called "First Claim (Other Disciplines)". You may not show up as eligible for your other disciplines club if the Race Organiser checks eligibility with EA, but you are eligible. If the club offers the option you should not pay any element of the membership fee which is for the EA subs - some clubs wrap their membership and the EA registration up together. You're looking for a box which says something like "Additional First Claim" or "First Claim Other" on their membership form.

If you are running cross country or track and field for your other discipline club you must now be registered! You can still compete in road races without being registered but you will not be eligible to count as part of your other discipline club's team.

One thing you must not do is run in a fell race for your other disciplines club.

SUMMARY:

If you're a member only of Mercia and if you only run fell (or fell with occasional road or trail races) just pay Mercia your normal subs.

You are highly recommended to join the FRA too, and must do so if you want to run in the UKA Relays or the British Championships and save yourself from paying any additional race levy.

If you are a coach or leader you must pay your EA Registration otherwise EA won't renew your coaching license.

If you are a member of another club and you will be running cross country, or track and field for them you must register with EA but you must do it via Mercia. You should make sure your other club knows you are not eligible to run fell for them and that your status with them is First Claim (Other Disciplines). Any queries from your club, please put them in touch with the Mercia Membership Secretary.

FRA Membership

FRA membership can be made via their website Fellrunner — Join the FRA

The 3 magazines alone are worth the annual subscription as well as allowing you to compete in FRA championship races