Athletics
The Birmingham Athletic Club opened a Gymnasium in King Alfred's Place, in Aug 1865/6, and held their annual display and assault-at-arms in the Town Hall. The first festival of the Birmingham Athletic Club was held in 1868. On March 1, 1880, an association was organised of many of the bicycle clubs, cricket clubs, football clubs, and similar athletic bodies in the town and neighbourhood, under the name of "The Midland Counties Amateurs' Athletic Union." The sport was so popular that in January, 1879 the "Midland Athlete" newspaper was first published.
Today track and field athletics takes place at the open-air Alexander Stadium on a national and international level. Recent development has seen addition of a High Performance Centre for indoor intense specialist training. The Stadium is also home to Birchfield Harriers, who have contributed towards Britain's National and International Athletics for many years and has produced international athletes such as Denise Lewis, Mark Lewis-Francis and Kelly Sotherton. The National Indoor Arena is Britain's Premier Indoor Athletics stadium and in 2003 hosted the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The city hosted the European Athletic Association's 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Birmingham