Ben Sharman took his winning streak in the Charity Cup to four as he held off the challenge of Rugby & Northampton's junior Rory Grant on a bright, cold day at Wicksteed Park.
Ben, who is recovering from a serious injury setback, was certainly not expecting to win as the field included in-form athletes including David Green (3rd) and County Masters winner Stuart Nelson (4th), along with Damian Carr (5th) and Jonny Goringe (6th), who both finished ahead of him in a Birmingham League fixture seven days earlier.
But, after a slow first lap, the reigning champion grew in confidence and kept his young challenger at bay over the final 400m, winning by a margin of just three seconds.
The Harriers were delighted to re-capture the Alexander Trophy from R & N after a gap of five years. Ben, David, Damian and Jonny were joined by Phil West and Martyn Winstone in the winning team of six. There were also another six Harriers amongst the finishers - the biggest contingent from the club seen on the country for some time!
Phil and Martyn also took team silver medals in the County Masters Championships that were held in conjunction with the Charity Cup. Andrew Clawson and Alan Rain were the other scorers.
There were double bronze medals for the KTH ladies, as they took third team spot in both the Charity Cup and the County Masters. Congratulations to Jill Tierney, Barbara Fulton and Amanda Marlow.
Encouragingly, the size of the fields for the races for younger athletes were larger than last year. KTH had two individual winners. Both Josh Cara (Under 15 Boys) and Kayli Walford (Under 17 Women) took gold by large margins.
There were also five team victories for the Harriers. Ethan Mehmet (silver) and Gabrial Smith (bronze), along with Ryan Barritt (6th), took the Under 13 title, whilst Josh was joined by Jack Hope (silver) and Edward Cannell (4th) in the winning Under 15 team.
The Under 17 men made it a team hat-trick on the male side for KTH. Josh Coles took silver and Matt Stewart bronze. With Liam Kirk in 4th, it was a commanding victory for the Kettering lads.
Not to be outdone, the Under 13 and 15 girls also took team gold medals. Dannielle Gaskell (3rd), Izzy Cara (5th) and Rebecca Hughes (6th) beat R & N by just one point in the younger age group, whilst Fran Ashworth (2nd), Lauren Mehmet (4th) and Gemma Vaughan (8th) were the U15 winning team.
Other young Harriers in action were Jack Pepperell, Lewis Maitland-Knibb, Teegan Bowley, Travis Bowley, Joe Pendred, Hannah Winstone, Sophie Moss, Emily Manson and Ben Tierney.
Congratulations to all who ran for the club.