By Owen Morgan

Rhiannon Linington-Payne swapped the desert climate of Doha for the muddy autumnal parkland of Cardiff’s Llandaff Fields last weekend.

Less than a week before, the Welsh Athletics employee was one of an army of officials and volunteers ensuring the smooth running of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Qatar.

Now, having spent a fortnight working in 40-plus degree temperatures in Doha, Linington-Payne could be found squelching around in her wellies, helping to ensure the annual Cardiff Cross Challenge ran just as efficiently as the World Championships.

With heavy rain having fallen steadily on the Welsh capital in the days running up to the cross country event, the lush green – if slightly muddy – parkland of Llandaff seemed a world away from the arid surroundings of Doha.

Working as part of Seiko’s timing team in the heat and humidity of the Qatari capital posed its own unique challenges, but for Linington-Payne they were more than worthwhile.

“I really enjoyed it and I’m really thankful to the Seiko team for having me on board,” she said.

“It was a really good experience and a new experience for me because it was the first time I’ve ever had to work with a local organising committee or officials who weren’t first language English.

“And obviously Doha posed a few challenges in itself with the climate and working with an LOC that I hadn’t worked with before.

“The stadium itself was air conditioned, but before they turned the air conditioning on we had to work in there in the mornings and it was 39/40 degrees.

“Lugging heavy equipment around isn’t ideal. I’m a bit of a sun baby myself so I loved it, but for a lot of the guys it was quite challenging.

“We had a few challenges with the heat and the equipment as well. The out of stadium team had a lot more challenges than ourselves, they were working long days in the heat, with no air conditioning because they were out in the elements.

“It was good experience, a challenging experience but one I thoroughly enjoyed.”

Linington-Payne is no stranger to the organisation that goes into athletics events thanks to her day job. “I’m a combination of event delivery lead for track and field, where I look after the Welsh champs and all the track and field events.

“I’m also a performance co-ordinator, so I look after travelling teams domestically and internationally. I co-ordinate a bit of the support for our pathway athletes as well.”

As an international sprinter in her own right, Linington-Payne was also well qualified for her Doha role from an athlete’s perspective.

“I was responsible for the chip timing for 800m and above,” she said. “We were allocating the chips, issuing them, collecting them back in.

“It was quite a cool job because I got to meet everyone and obviously I know a lot of the girls competing quite well so I got to see a lot of my friends.”

The role also afforded her to the opportunity to experience the unique atmosphere generated by African long distance fans attending the event, which had been criticised for its low attendances during the opening few days.

“The atmosphere was incredible. Obviously, I think everyone knows the first few nights were disappointing, but for the distance races, I think it was the Ugandans, the Kenyans and Ethiopians who attended en masse, it was awesome.”

As an athletics fan, she was also privileged to witness at close quarters some of the great performances of the games, including home superstar Mutaz Essa Barshim’s success in the high jump and American Dalilah Muhammad’s 400m hurdles world record.

“The night that Barshim was jumping, I think from our perspective it was quite quiet because I think we had one event, I think maybe the 1500 semis, so I was able to watch all of that.

“I also got to watch the 400m hurdles world record. That night was incredible, there was just so much quality athletics in such a short space of time, it was great to be there.”

Linington-Payne would encourage others to take the opportunity to get involved with volunteering and working at events such as the Athletics World Championships.

“Get stuck in, these are the kind of things you need to commit to and do,” she said. “I was a bit nervous about going out because it was another two weeks away from home this summer, but once I was out there, my event mode just kicked in and I absolutely loved it and I made some really good friends along the way as well.”

The former Welsh 400m champion, who ran a personal best of 54.45 for Cardiff in the UK Women’s League Premier Division earlier this year, emphasised the importance of the role played by volunteers and officials at athletics events at all levels.

“It’s something you really appreciate coming to the role I am in,” she said. “I never really appreciated it before, but people seem to be a lot more appreciative of it now, they understand how much actually has to go on behind the scenes.”

Linington-Payne said the experience in Doha would stand her in good stead for future events, domestically.

“For me, it was my first major event. I think organising the Welsh champs is a faff, my God, there was so much stuff going on there, it was like mind-blowing, but yes it was really good to experience that next level up again.”

Now she is back into her hectic routine back at home in Wales which includes her full-time job with the governing body, athletics training, and also playing hockey in what little spare time is left.

Asked how she manages to fit everything in, Linington-Payne said: “I don’t sleep very much!

“I have to be very good with my time management so getting back to my routine this week has been a bit of a challenge.

“I train for my athletics six days a week, I have hockey on top of that and train twice a week there as well – I played today before coming here today.

“I am very lucky that I have very understanding employers in that they understand that I need to get my training done and they are very supportive of me as well. I’m incredibly grateful to them, so thanks guys!”