Delight and fine displays as Kettering Town Harriers return for April Open

After a truly miserable year for the Kettering Town Harriers athletes, there was delight as the club were able to stage their traditional April Open meeting.

With the help of many hard-working volunteers, it was held under strict Covid secure rules and saw some stunning performances from the athletes, many setting new PB.

In the 2000m B race, U15 Lara Turner took a commanding lead on the final lap to win in 6:48.41 while U13 Jemima Davey (6:55.50) set a big PB in third and Harlee Hooker also set a new best with 7:36.56 when finishing seventh.

Dylan Bowley won the A race with a front running display in 5:51.53 and U17 Ben Brooker (6:03.18) finished third ahead of U17 Lucas Mansell (6:11.56) and Josh Cannell (6:33.54).

For the girls, U20 Indienne King made her club debut and won the women’s race in 6:31.10 and U17 Alice Bates knocked 30 seconds off her PB with 6:41.73.

In the 800m races, U15 Dylan White set a new PB to finish second in his heat in 2:17 with U15 Nathan Lamb knocking five seconds off his best for fourth place in 2:25.

U20 Josh Geddes also had a great start to the season with a solid opening time of 2:04 and U15 Shaikira King ran an impressive opener of 2:16 in seventh.

James Clutton (2:44) set a new PB, Payton Almond (2:51) ran a fine race and Freddie Ward (2:38) marked his debut with a solid run.

In the 600m, it was a good day for the Lambs with U11 Bella and older sister U13 Jess running impressive PBs, Bella finishing in fifth place in 2:06.26 was the fastest of all the Harriers

U11’s with Oliver Smith-Smith (2:06.96), Edward Turner (2:20), Harrie Ellwood (2:20), Millie Sharpe (2:22), Rosa-Eileen Currie (2:27) and Theo Stanmore (2:29) all running well.

In the U13’s+ 600m race, bottom year U13 Jess Lamb recorded a 13-second improvement to finish in second place overall in 1:50.

The 1500m A race saw U15 George Separovic finally dip below the magical 5:00 barrier with a strong run to slice two seconds off his PB to finish eighth in 4:59 with U20 Amelia McMurtrie running a fine 4:53.

In the B race U15 Dylan Ransom showed plenty of potential to slice 70 seconds off his PB to record a fine time of 4:55.25 while Finn Currie (5:29) also set a new best with Ellie Separovic just off her best mark in 6:13.

U17 Alice Bennett finished second in 3:01 in the 1000m with Maggie Gancheva (3:19) in third.

In the sprint races, a total of 24 personal bests were achieved on the day.

In the U20 age group, Logan Reid ran a strong 100m to finish second in 11.22 and Cole Sinnott had an outstanding day with two personal bests.

He finished fourth in the 100m in 11.64 and went on to win his 200m race in 23.18.

U17 Ryan Amesimeku did the double in his races, recording personal bests of 11.53 and 23.49 in the 100m and 200m respectively while, also in the U17 age group, Jasmine Anderson ran personal bests of 12.98 in the 100m to finish third and 27.48 in the 200m to take fourth.

Also recording a double win was U15 William Rawcliffe, in PBs of 13.11 (100m) and 26.61 (200m). In the same age group William Robertson had PBs of 12.79 to take fourth in his 100m and 26.39 for third in the 200m.

The youngest athlete in the squad, U13 Zane Cooper, won his 100m race in 13.84 while Veteran athlete Wilika Carr also ran well in her 100m race to finish fourth in 14.52.

Harriers had two first-placed finishes and new course records at the Oundle 5k and 10k. Natasha Martin won the women’s 10k race in 39.42 while Elana Albery, who had earlier run a huge PB of 18:32 at the Mallory Park 5k, won the Oundle 5k in 18.56.

There were also top-10 finishes for Amey Brassington (43.56, PB) and Chrissi Stewart (45:13, PB) in the women’s 10k.

Bruce Whitehead ran 37:51 over 10k to place first in the V60 while smashing the previous V60 course record.

In Leicestershire, meanwhile, Ron Searle ran a 91-minute half at the Prestwold Hall Half Marathon to secure first V65.