Saturday 14 October saw not only the sun come back out, but also the inaugural Harriers Mini Run, Jump & Throw competition take place at the track.

30 youngsters ranging from 9 – 16-year-old enjoyed the opportunity to compete in both 150m & 75m sprints, a long jump and an over arm ball throw.  Most of the participating athletes are already part of the Harriers development squad who meet on Sunday mornings and work with Paul Strutt, Annette Bland and Dave Smith.  Others were invited from the Junior waiting list as well as an invitation was sent out to local primary schools and year 7 students at secondary schools who had competed in their primary school district sports in the summer.

The event, which hopefully will become an annual opportunity, was aimed at the most inexperienced members, who have had either little or no competition experience, with the morning structured to replicate, as much as possible, what happens and how it feels to compete at EYAL meets.   It was also a great opportunity for parents to get involved and help the coaches and officials over a range of events.

Junior Ambassadors Rebecca Jeggo, Katie Rice and Charlie Dobson lead the athletes in a warm up then accompanied a group round all three events, sharing their knowledge and experience along the way before presenting medals to all participants.

Starter, Mike Jeffrey enjoyed having a more relaxed meet to attend, where he could share and explain his role to the athletes before they raced.

Whilst no guarantees were given that places would be offered to those not already in a squad; there were some stand out performances which did catch the coaches attention.

Organiser Annette Bland said “It was great, we have had lots of very positive feedback from the athletes and parents and gave us an opportunity to try something new. As we have come to expect with our athletes, they all represented the club and themselves impeccably.  We are already pulling together plans for another event as a Spring opener in March 2018.”