On a sunny Easter Saturday, Kettering held their first open meeting of their 120th anniversary season. Record numbers of athletes, 315 in all attended to make this the biggest open meeting of recent times.
The day started with the u11 75m races (7 in all) which saw a heat win for Skye-lily may in 12.2 and second places for Millie Houghton & Cole Sinnott in their races. Sachin thethy from R&N ran the fastest time of 11.2s and was also fastest in the 150m (22.2s). In the other 150m races, there were home wins for Millies Houghton & Webb in their races while Jessica Williams & Brandon Raulia were both in the top 3.
Next up were the 16 100m races with local wins for Cian Prior, Niamh Ruffles, Sam Bott and Ed Cherry. The final race of the 16 saw 4 athletes under 11.5s with Rico Ewer just edging it in 11.3 before taking home the fastest 200m of 22.9s. In top 3 places for harriers were Shannon Eady, Porscha Jaynes, Laura Lowery, Erin Healy, Mitchell Hunter, Jack Reed and Bradley Fox.
There were 15 200m races in all and Shannon Eady, Niamh Ruffles, Sam Bott & Jack Reed all won their races. In other races, Ethan Nelis, Laura Lowery, Cian Prior, Erin Healy & Mitchell Hunter finished in the top 3.
There were 5 races across the 300 & 400m which again highlighted the increase of athlete numbers against last year. In the fastest 300m race, u15 Thomas Jasper ran a fast 40.2s to win from bedfords u17 Zoe Steel. In a first for the open meeting, there was also an 400m hurdles race with daventry's Kieran Russ winning in 57.4s.
In the u11 600m races, there was a harrier win for Cole Sinnott in one of the 4 races. The fastest time of the day was Harborough's Hannah Smith who won in an impressive 1.59.8m.
It was also a busy day on the track for the middle distance runners as well with 9 large races across the 800m & 1500m. There were top 3 finishes for Kettering's Ethan Nelis and Harry Young, who finished behind Newark's Peter Carrington in 1.59.5m. In the 1500m, there were race wins for Josh Cannell, Dylan Bowley & Lewis Hayes with the latter winning in the fastest time of the day (4.10m). There were also top 3 places for Chloe Hearne, Jess Gordon & Jack Hope.
The field started earlier than normal with an advanced long jump competition for experienced competitors. Bradley Fox won the overall event with 6.08m ahead of 5 others who all jumped further than 4m. Later in the day, the advance entry long jumpers took to the pits and Millie Webb won the u11 pit with a fine 3.27m. In the other pit there was a close contest between Stratford's Charlotte Rigby (4.04m) just beating R&n Georgina Woodward (4.01).
In the high jump, Bradley continued his winning ways with an eventual winning PB of 1.80m while there was also age wins for Lewis-Morgan Barton (1.30m) & Brandon Raulia (1.15m).
In the throws, the shot replaced the discus while the cage is being sorted. There was a range of ages involved and a home 1-2 when u20 Daisy Gilbert beat Lorna Milne. The furthest throw of the day was R&ns Kiona McLennon who threw 11.83m.
In the javelin, Aidan Bailey threw a 34.39m to win his event while also officiating the event. The furthest throw of the day was Evie Harris-Jenkins in the new 500g javelin weight. The first throws event of the day was the ever popular vortex throws which saw home wins for Sophie Toseland & Cole Sinnott with Mia McCarthy also finishing in the top 3.
The club hopes everyone enjoyed their day and hope to see you again at our next open meeting on Sat 16/8. To make the day a success, it is only possible through the hard work of many volunteers and officials.
If you feel you can help out to make the august meeting go even smoother, please contact the club at [email protected]
Please also see below a further open meeting report on the Middle Distance team:
There was a fantastic start to the season for most of the middle distance squad in the Kettering open with 14 of the squad setting new early season PB's!
Just a few of the squad opted for the 800m which were off first with Daisy Robinson and Blainne Conway both setting new PB's and Rebecca Hughes also setting a new lifetime best of 2:30.8, this was the sole representation over the shorter distance with most of the squad in action in the 1500m's
Race 1 saw Young Josh Cannell dominate the race with a great display of front running, and smashing his PB with 5:30.6, Chloe Hearne also knocked 23 seconds off her PB to finish 3rd in 5:37, and Jenifer robinson also setting a new PB with 5:53,
Race 2 saw Dylan Bowley doing battle with Amy Walker from R&N and running superbly over the last 200m to easily win with an excellent new PB of 5:01.2, with Nat Farr also setting a new PB of 5.24, and Amy Robinson running her first 1500 running well with 5:46.
Race 3 saw 7 of the Harriers in action with Jess Gordon running a superb race to beat local rival Kirsty Goddard with a strong final 150m sprint finish to equal her PB of 4:54.1, with Fran Ashworth also setting a great opening time of the season with a superb final lap to finish in 5th with 5:00.4, with Bethany Gordon with her typical strong finish setting a 7 second PB in 6th with 5:03.3, also setting an excellent new 9 second PB was Claudia Nevett finishing strongly in 7th with 5:04.7, with Abby Coleman finishing just behind in 8th with a good opener of 5:06.7, with Emily Williams running superbly to set a 14 second PB of 5:14.3 in 10th.
The final race saw the boys in action, with Lewis Hayes looking impressive who unleashed a blistering quick final 150m to easily see off the fast finishing Hizam Sheekh and win by a clear 7 seconds in a good opener of 4:10.6, and Jack Hope also running a fine opening race with 4:18.6 in 3rd, and debutant George Glinski running his first race in the Kettering red & white hoops setting a new PB with 4:36.2 in 7th, and Edward Cannell running a decent opener in 8th with 4:44.0
Great opening fixture and a Great Start to the season!
Shane Smith