Harborough Athletic Club Junior Summer Camp

Established three years ago, these camps are designed to offer both club members and newcomers an engaging and intensive introduction to athletics. Participants enjoyed training sessions covering all the core disciplines: sprinting, endurance running, hurdling, throwing, and jumping. With the excitement of the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and the recent British team trials in Birmingham, the camp buzzed with enthusiasm and showed the emerging talents for the future from the Harborough District.

While the focus remained on enjoyment, the juniors benefited greatly from the expertise of the HAC coaching team, whose years of experience have guided many young athletes to represent the club, their schools, the county, and even the country. The thirty athletes were organised into three groups of ten by age, each group rotating through the same activities over the first two mornings.

Day one centered on sprints, throws, and endurance, culminating with a 600-metre time trial. This trial was used to seed athletes for a staggered race on day two, giving everyone a fair shot at victory. Before the race—which was ultimately won by eight-year-old Maggie Saul, one of the youngest competitors—the juniors practised hurdling, jumping, and honed their baton-passing skills for relay events, mastering some of athletics’ trickiest techniques.

The final morning brought all the training together with a mini-Olympics, organised by Club Chair, Junior Coordinator, and UK international Masters athlete, Jill Roginski. Teams were mixed to ensure a competitive edge, and each tackled a range of track and field events introduced in previous sessions.

The concluding events were attended by Lynn Carson, Director of Davis Optometrists a generous club sponsor. After the medal and certificate presentations, Lynn remarked, “The children were so impressive; it’s inspiring to see both how they perform and the brilliant work the club coaches do to encourage them every step of the way.”

Jill Roginski praised the young athletes for their effort and competitive spirit, especially during the mini-Olympics.

“There were plenty of laughs, plenty of cheering, and even the odd tear when a relay baton was dropped in the final race—which just shows the emotion that gets generated when you’re competing flat out with your teammates. Our juniors have performed brilliantly this summer in their Quadkids and Heart of England League meetings, with some very strong results—a remarkable achievement for one of the few regional clubs without its own track.

"The Summer Camp allows them to further develop their fitness and key athletics skills, complementing our regular Monday evening sessions. We’re also grateful for the continued support from sponsors and our good friends at Market Harborough Rugby Club, who mark out a temporary track for us and provide their ground to make these camps possible.”