The final weekend in September saw the Harriers endurance athletes in action at Sutton Park in Birmingham in the Road Relays.
The senior events were on the Saturday with the Kettering teams comprising a mixture of youth and experience. For the men, Jonathan Goringe led off, perhaps unwisely, as he was still suffering the effects of the broken toe he sustained at Hunstanton. He handed over in 50th place (in a field of just over 100) to Jake Waples. Jake had the run of the day, improving the team's position by 17 places in the only time of under 20 minutes for the 5.8km course. Dave Edwards ran a solid leg, followed by Dan Thompson who produced a excellent effort, dropping just one place. Veterans Paul Young and Andrew Clawson completed the sextet with good runs, as KTH finished a respectable 56th.
The women were led off by Hayley Munn who handed over in a superb 18th position (out of 80). Danielle Smith, Deb Galletta and Kelly Barnett all made good contributions on their legs, as the Harriers finished 37th.
On Sunday, it was the turn of the Young Athletes and it was a day to remember for our Under 13s. For the boys, Josh Cara showed a welcome return to his very best form, after a indifferent track season by his high standards. He finished a superb 2nd on the first leg, behind a seriously quick Leicester runner. Ethan Mehmet kept KTH in the hunt, being overtaken by just the Leicester B runner, and Jack Hope's final leg ensured that the Harriers comfortably held on to the team bronze medals. Josh's time was the second fastest of the event.
There was also an individual top-three finish for Maisie Green in the Under 13 girls event. After two good legs from Gemma Vaughan and Anya Galletta, Maisie made up 9 places to take the Harriers into a finishing spot of 8th. Her time was third best of the day.
The Under 15 girls team of Kayli Walford, Fran Ashworth and Abigail Coleman finished in an excellent 10th place whilst the boys, after good runs from Edward Cherry and Liam Kirk, lay in 17th position, but had no third runner to complete the team. Liam Smith showed good team spirit by running as our only Under 17 competitor.