There was an impressive 9 Harriers who finished in the top 2 in the Northants County Schools championships to ensure progression through to the Inter-Counties Mason Trophy held at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium. The championship was held on a damp and chilly day at the traditional Corby Triangle track.
The first Harrier to qualify was Emily Williams in the 800m which is a traditional strong event for KTH. Emily easily won the Junior Girls race, which was a scrappy affair with Emily being chopped in the first bend, and narrowly avoiding a falling athlete at the 200m mark, but she looked majestic in the second lap opening up a 30m gap on Selina Scott to finish in a leisurely 2:24.3 and she will relish the greater completion on offer at the Mason Trophy.
Ella Palmer totally dominated the Inter-Girls 800m setting off at a storming pace and leading throughout, she eased down in the home straight and won by an impressive 50m to record a respectable 2:19.8, and again she will relish the greater completion on offer in the next round.
Both Emily Williams & Ella Palmer hold English Schools qualification times so must hope they get the nod after their performance at the Mason Trophy.
Two more 800m places were secured in the Inter-Boys race with Jake Trent & Ethan Mehmet both totally dominating the race to secure an impressive one/ two. The pace was no doubt helped along with new KTH athlete Guilliaume Morand a French national who is training with the squad for 3 months while on a UK internship, who was running as a guest. Guilliaume who has a 1:55 PB looked impressive and took on the race immediately and split in 57 which was ideal for both KTH athletes who are looking for a 1:58 qualification time, Jake continued to track Guilliaume and made a challenge in the home straight and was rewarded with yet another 1 second PB of 1:58.9 when finishing just behind the stylish French National, with Ethan Mehmet who just closed down with 50m to go finishing in an easy second place.
In the 3000m Inter-Girls race there was two Harriers competing, with Claudia Nevett & Chloe Hearne looking to qualify. Claudia who has now finished her GCSE studies & is looking to move her 2015 track times forward, took the race on from the start and won easily with a fine display of front running to set a SB of 11:06.5 and will find some improved competition in the next round for sure. Chloe narrowly missed the runner up spot but made the selection for Mason Trophy as a reserve and also set a new PB of 12:11.6 and will be looking to dip below 12:00 in a weeks time.
In the 1500m Junior Girls race there was a huge performance from Danni McCann Gaskell to secure a runner up spot and also dip below the magical 5:00 barrier for the first time with 4:59.7. Danni set off with the tactic of going out hard with the front runner and to try and build a gap between the other competitors and this proved to be the right strategy on the day.
Elana Albery who has been finding her feet on her first track season was in action in the Inter-Girls 1500m and she produced a quality performance to grab runner up slot with a terrifically strong (and late!) finish in the home straight to stake her claim for the prestigious Mason Trophy with a new PB of 5:16.7
Final Harrier to secure Mason trophy selection was star sprinter Erin Healy in the Junior-Girls 100m who ran a superb new PB of 13.0 to finish in second place and she is showing signs that she is making good progress after 4 weeks of missed training. Erin will also be looking for a quality race in the Mason trophy in a week's time.
Well done to all the Harriers who secured progress to the next round, and to everyone who competed.