The opening Midland League fixture held in glorious sunshine with hardly any breeze led to some highly impressive performances from the Harriers where many of the older athletes helped KTH to a fine 3rd place overall in the team event from the 8 teams competing.
KTH Middle Distance Squad were on fire on the second successive day and In the 800m an event we are traditionally strong at, Poppy Carmichael set the scene for the day with a terrific race to win the women's A race in style with a comfortable victory, setting a SB, followed up with a men's 800m double with an impressive victory from bottom year U17 Dylan Bowley, leading from the gun to set a scorching opening 800m race of 2:03.3 just half a second from his PB. Morgan Potter followed suit with an impressive victory in the B race winning by a huge margin leaving some in the tank for the relays later in the day.
In the longer sprints there was a chance for Emily Williams to test her speed over 400m in the women's A race which she won impressively equalling her PB with 58.5. It was a tense race with Williams closing down the host's English Schools regular Emily Thompson, who had opened an impressive gap over the first 300m, only to be reeled in and taken on the line. Harriet Jolley looked impressive in winning the B 400m to equal her PB as well with 66.2, and Tom Jawad broke his 400m PB for the second time in 5 days with a fine 2nd place with an impressive run in 52.8.
In the 1500m, Claudia Nevett show terrific pace with a magnificent win in the women's 1500m to smash her 2015 PB with 4:50.3 and show she is really progressing well with the set up at Lougborough University and Josh Cannell showed a big improvement in the mens 1500m, finishing ina fine 2nd place with a significant PB in 4:31.3, with Jack Watson winning the B race in 4:44.
Claudia Nevett magnificent win in the 1500m to smash her 2015 PB
Edward Cannell ran a superb race in the men's 5000m, in scorching conditions to finish in 2nd place, taking one of his competitors with his trade mark final 100m sprint.
There was much more to come with the traditional 4x400m Relays, with strong Men's & Woman's teams from the squad who put on a tour de force display. Fist off were the women with birthday girl Amy Robinson making a terrific start with a 66.7 split, handing to Claudia Nevett, showing she has lost none of the speed which helped her become part of the KTH U20 women's National 4x400m title in 2016,to extend the lead with an identical 66.7, with Harriet Jolley taking on the third leg running a faster split than her solo 400 in 66.1 and handing the baton to anchor Emily Williams, who had just helped the 4x100m relay squad set a club record a few minutes earlier, seemingly untroubled and cruising on the final leg to take the team to a remarkable 18 second victory in 4:17.5, with an identical split to her solo 400 effort in 58.8!
Not to be outdone the Men's squad put on an impressive display with Josh Cannell starting off with an impressive opening run of 58.8 to bring the squad home in 2nd place, with Morgan Potter unleashing a ferocious first 150m to glide past and take the lead setting a hugely impressive split of 52.7 in handing over to Dylan Bowley who extended the lead with a fine leg in 55..0 to hand to anchor Tom Jawad who cruised un trobled to an impressive 17 second victory with 3.40.8 and an individual 54.3 split.
Impressive wins for the Men's & Women's 4x400m relay squads
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Sprint Squad
Emmanuel Mbu was the fastest male athlete on the day, finishing 2nd in both of his races, recording times of 11.4 seconds over 100m, and 23.1 seconds over 200m. New squad member Matty Ritchie matched Emmanuel’s time in his 100m, and looks like he could be in for a good season. Achim Loibl finished just outside of his best in the 100m finishing 4th in 11.7 seconds.
Alex Beale equalled her personal best of 13.1 seconds in the women’s 100m, and went on to win her 200m race in a time of 27.2 seconds. Annabelle Clotworthy also equalled her 100m best with a time of 13.2 seconds. Erin Healy finished 2nd in both of her events, equalling her season best of 12.7 seconds in the women’s 100m, and ran 27.0 in the 200m.
The day ended on a high with the women’s 4 x 100m relay running a new club record of 52.0 seconds with The team that consisted of all U17 age athletes, Erin Healy, Alex Beal, Emily Williams & Annabelle Clotworthy running a magnificent race to close down Banbury just on the line and break the record that had stood since 2006.
New U17 4x100m club record holders, Annnabelle Clotworthy, Erin Healy, Alex Beal & Emily Williams
The Men's 4x100m was a superb race with KTH winning, only to be DQ due to an incident on the 2/3rd changeover where we had to run wide to avoid a Banbury athlete who had fallen!