It was a special night for the Harriers to celebrate a hugely successful year 2018/19 with the nominated athletes from all of the clubs squads, coaches, volunteers & Parents. The annual celebration & Awards night, held at the Kettering Conference centre, allowed some of the clubs outstanding established athletes, and some of the up and coming to take centre stage.
Some of the 100+ awards given out on the night
The Club has achieved significant success in athletics in 2018/19 and currently have a world champion in Emily Williams (World ISF schools 800m champion), a number of National champions, over 80 county champions, competing in activities across middle distance, sprint, jumps and throws disciplines.
The Club also enjoyed an unprecedented double promotion this track & field season, winning the Senior Midland League Division, and also finishing very close runners up to Rugby & Northampton to gain promotion to Division 1 of the Heart of England Junior League.
It’s not just the younger age groups performing well, the older members of the club are also enjoying considerable success, with the Vets league winning the B finals in Nottingham, defeating the host club in what was a remarkable achievement for a club of Kettering’s size.
With a rich history, the club was celebrating its 125 years this year, the number of club records that have been bettered in increasing numbers over the Club’s most recent years is remarkable - in 2019 there have been a total of 48 club records broken, with 32 new Vets records, and a total of 16 from the younger athletes from the various squads. Many of which are likely to remain in place for many years to come, given the new benchmark set.
Junior Record Breakers!
The club also had a record number of athletes reach the qualifying standard for English Schools T&F Championships in 2019 with 9 athletes meeting the qualification standard and 5 being selected to represent Northants Schools.
In terms of UK rankings, the club also boasts 14 individual performances in the UK top 25, with 9 of them inside the UK top 10, and astonishingly 6 of these are ranked inside the UK top 5 (including a UK & European number one, 2x UK number two’s and 3 UK number four’s.
The main performance awards were won by the following individuals:
Coach of the Year Amanda Marlow (3rd left).
Outstanding track performance – Emily Williams winning the ISF World schools 800m Gold
Most Improved Male – Joe Bradley who improved his 200m by 1.9 seconds and UK rankings by 109 places.
Most improved Female – Alice Bennett a 9 second improvement in her 800m & 25 seconds on her 1500m (UK rankings 11th & 8th as a bottom year).
Neville Marshall Endurance Award - Jemima Davey, who set three new club records won a National title over XC and is ranked in the UK top 5 for 600m/ 800m & 1500m.
Dick Calpis sprint award/ Allen Sprint Sheild – Logan Reid UK ranked 10th & a new club records and ability to become a top UK sprinter.
Best Thrower – Matt Bell and ex GB athlete prominent in many of the throws events helping to secure promotion.
Male Athlete of the Year – Logan Reid (right) & Joe Bradley & Fynn Batkin (Collected by sister Freya) were also nominated.
Female Athlete of the Year – Emily Williams (2nd left) & Alice Bennett Katie Gibson also nominated.
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Congratulations to everyone who collected an award.