DERVAL O'ROURKE: Planning my year just like running a small business

As 2013 is drawing to a close, track and field athletes are busy preparing for the 2014 season.

Athletes’ plans for the forthcoming year have been made well in advance, though they only learn their financial fate when the high performance budget for 2014 funding is decided at the end of the year.

To perform at the highest level in athletics it is necessary to be able to do more than run fast. If you talk to any world-class athlete, it’s evident they are not simply competing, they are managing their own small business with the primary aim to produce results on the track. The fundamentals are similar to those of any business. To run fast I must plan, manage, review, budget and assume a certain level of risk.