On a chilly typically blustery day in Kettering the KTH middle distance squad were all looking for early season warm up races and there were some standout performances.
Emily Williams fresh from breaking the club record in the 600m at 1:55.1 at the recent Corby open meeting and at just 11 years old showed what a tremendous prospect she is by winning her first ever 800m race in terrific style with what has become a trademark blistering finish. Emily was a little cautious and sat back on the first lap but started to make progress at the bell by moving from 6th to 4th position entering the back straight, with the then leaders some 30-40m ahead she started her run for home at the 200m mark and in one of the day’s most exciting finishes she took all of the leaders and just managed to pip R&N Harry Andrew on the line to win in 2:42.7.
In race 5 there was also a royal battle between the Gordon sisters (Jess & Beth) and Fran Ashworth all looking for early season form, after a steady start things started to heat up down the back straight when Beth started to close in on her team mates and surged past Fran Ashworth onto the shoulder of her older sister who immediately responded and put in a big effort going into the last 200m. Beth continued to battle with her sister and in the final straight she eventually just piped her on the line to smash her PB by over 5 seconds to record 2:26.7 which considering the blustery conditions was exceptional. Elder sister Jess recorded a respectable first race time of 2:27.1 and was happy with her first full race, and Fran was also happy with her first outing with 2:32.2
The final heat was an all-boys affair with Established 800m specialist Matt Stewart looking for a competitive race along with new 800m recruit Liam Kirk and Jack Hope looking for a fast run out before his first 3k race. In a controlled race Mat & Liam Kirk both sat in behind the early leader, Leicester Coritanian’s Connor Haywood for the first 600m, and both kicked for home in tremendous style to clinch 1st & 2nd in a respectable time for the conditions of 2:07.0 for Matt & 2:08.0 for Liam, with Jack hope also finishing strongly to take 5th position in a new PB of 2:15
Other highlights in the 800, Edward Cannell show good form having just returned to training from a broken leg to record 2:25.2 and there were a number of new PB’s, Chloe Hearn 3:00.1, Amy & Jennifer Robinson 2:55.7 & 3:01.4, Josh Cannell 2:594, Joe Barthorpe 2:48.8, Felix Shiells 2:45.3 & Rebecca Hughes 2:46.7
In the 1500 race new recruit Lewis Hayes showed tremendous form to set a superb debut time of 4:23.1 in his first ever track race and showed what an exciting prospect he will be in the coming months, also running well was Claudia Nevett who again in her 1500 debut recorded 5:32.0 with an excellently paced race. Also running their season openers for 1500m was Abigail Coleman 5:20.1, Gemma Vaughan 5.33.2 & Hannah Winstone 5:44.5.