Kettering May Floodlit Open
The Kettering floodlit open was an ideal opportunity for the Harriers to compete at their home track and put some markers down for the season which is starting to gather some momentum. Conditions were again ideal with little wind, and a warm evening and the sprint squad and middle distance squad took full advantage with over 40 personal bests produced.
Middle Distance Report
The middle distance squad who are coming into real form, used the meeting to run some under distance events, and to perhaps try an alternative distance, and it was a spectacularly successful evening with no less than 22 PB’s set from the squad, and some impressive sprint performances to show the speed work is starting to bite.
Perhaps the best performance of the night came from U13 Jemima Davey who had a terrific season opening race and smashed her 1500m PB by 5 seconds taking her to a UK Number 2 spot with 4:53.00 dead, Davey ran a fine race and will have her eyes firmly fixed on the 2005 U13 1500m club record of 4:49.6 which must surly go in her next few races?
U13 Jemima Davey brilliant Opening 1500m for UK No2 and closing in on club record.
A number of the 800m specialists had dropped down in distance for some speed work competing over 400m, to see where their 1 lap pace was at and there were some hugely impressive performances. U20 Indienne King who had just been informed she had been selected to represent the GB juniors over 800m at the Loughborough International run a superb opening 400m time of 56.9 slicing over a second off her best and setting a National Standard English Schools time. King sharpening up for her GB debut ran a terrific race in lane 7 reeling in local rival and specialist 400m athlete Gemma Jones in the first 100m, powering her way off the final bend and looking full of running to finish line, and setting a time which ranks her 4th in the U20 rankings as a bottom year athlete.
U17 Alice Bennett & U20 Amelia McMurtrie were paired together in their 400m heat, and Bennett in lane 2 really powered her way off the start line, and kept up a terrific pace all the way to the line to smash her (unofficial) PB of 61.7 set in a 2020 time trial with an official PB of 58.3 which ranks her 2nd U17 in the UK as a bottom year athlete, and set an English Schools qualification time for the Senior girls AG 2 years ahead of time. McMurtrie who drew a difficult lane 7 ran a strong race to record a fine opening time of 60.72 and a top 40 UK placing. For the Boys Josh Geddes also set a 1 second PB in the 400m with a fine rune to finish in 53.89
Alice Bennett smashed her 400m PB for UK No 2 over the distance with 26.63.
Not content with their brand new PB's in the longer 400m sprints, the Harriers 800m specialists decided to test their 200m pace, with 30 mins recovery they both put in fantastic performances in their no-specialist event. U20 Indienne King shaved nearly 2 seconds from her previous best with a pacey run in 25.36 which amazingly is inside the ES qualification time and ranks her 16th in the UK over the distance. Almost as impressive was U17 Alice Bennett who sliced over a second from her PB to record a time of 26.63 for a UK ranking of 38th.
In the 75m two of our very promising U11’s both set new PB’s, Rafferty Davey sliced half a second off with 12.30, and Tiggy Guthrie-Brown making her full KTH debut ran a great opening 75m time of 12.43. Both were also In action over the 600m and both produced great quality races. Guthrie-Brown got off to a poor start being jostled and found herself at the back of the pack, but she recovered well and by the bell lap she had made up ground to move into second place, a position she held to end to slice 5 seconds of her PB and a first sub 2:00 clocking with 1:58.53. The more experienced Davey got a great start and helped push the early pace, Davey in 2nd place with a 100m to go put in a tremendous effort to overhaul his rival just falling short but Davey’s reward was a 7 seconds from his PB with 1:57.93
There was a great series of 800m races with perhaps the highlight a terrific run from U17 Ben Brooker who sliced 2 seconds of his PB to fall just short of the magical 2:00 min barrier with a super-fast 2:00.91 & UK ranked 25th. U17 Lucas Mansell sliced 7 seconds of his PB to with a great run to set a time of 2:12.37 to win his heat. U15 Lara Turner also in her season opening 800m sliced 7 seconds off her 2020 PB with a time of 2:18.72, less than a second off English Qualification and 22nd place in the UK rankings & Turner will be confident she can go faster still. U13 Camille Chassaigne ran a fine race to knock nearly 7 seconds off her PB with 2:41.05, with U13 Harlee Hooker just behind in 2:41.81 a 6 second improvement, and U13 Finlay Brooker in 2:43.55 slicing 4 seconds off his best. U15 Maggie Gancheva ran well to set a 2 second PB (2:27.54), and Iona Ellwood knocked 9 seconds off with a fine race in 2:45.86. U15 Dylan Ransom making his 800m debut set a great time of 2:18.80 with clearly much more to come, U15 Dylan White ran a terrific race in the A race to slice 6 seconds off his PB with 2:10.96 and Niamh Sinnott sliced 8 seconds of her PB with a solid run in 3:03.85.
Ben Brooker closing in on sub 2:00 clocking for 800m
Sprint Squad Report
The second meeting of the season saw the sprint squad athletes produce some great early season runs once again, and recording 21 personal bests.
The performance of the night came from U20 athlete, Cole Sinnott, with an outstanding run in the 200m to finish 3rd in a personal best of 22.96 seconds. Earlier in the evening he had also set a personal best of 11.52 in the 100m. Following him over the line in 4th was U17, Ryan Amesimeku, in a PB of 23.40 seconds.
Logan Reid, U20, competing in the 100m, battled a headwind of minus 1.1 to finish 2nd in a time of 11.37 to Kaesi Opara who won in 11.16 seconds. Also, competing over 100m, Max Mowforth, U20, showed a return to form with a personal best run of 11.59 seconds to finish 3rd.
U13 athlete, Zane Cooper, continued to impress by lowering his personal bests to 13.31 and 27.69, finishing 2nd and 1st respectively in his races. While, Jasmine Anderson and Harriett Cleaver, both in the U17 age group, both shaped up well with Harriett winning her 100m race in a personal best of 13.35 seconds and followed this up with 3rd place in the 200m in 27.54 seconds. Jasmine, meanwhile, finished 3rd in her 100m race, and produced a personal best of 27.66 to finish 4th in the 200m.
William Rawcliffe, U15, also produced 2 personal best runs at the meeting, posting a time of 13.06 in the 100m, which he won, and 26.03 in the 200m, in which he finished 4th. William Robertson, also U15, finished 3rd in the 200m in a PB of 26.20 seconds.
The squad are now looking forward to competing at the club’s next open meeting on Bank Holiday Monday.