Wigan Harriers get together to celebrate another memorable year

The fantastic turn-out included Under-13’s all the way through to seniors, and it was amazing to see how much the club has achieved this season after facing a number of challenges.

There was indoor and outdoor competition success, including the Upper Youth Development League (YDL) team reaching the Premier League for the first time in a decade, the Mid Lancs League team being promoted, and the Under-17 girls team selected for National Relays.

In addition, there was success at the Wigan Council Believe Sports Awards - Upper YDL Team third place 'Team of the Year', Young Sports Achiever nominations, and Talent Fund Athletes Volunteer of the year runner up for coach Karl Hopper.

A section of the evening was dedicated to celebrating the successes of our GB and international athletes - including Olympians Harry Coppell, Emily Borthwick and Gloria Hooper – which was really inspiring for the younger athletes.

Awards on the night were for league matches, age group awards, coaches' awards and national and international recognition.

It was also fantastic to see some of our endurance athletes stepping across to compete in track and field.

A special mention went to youth internationals Amy Hewitt (triple jump) and Yasmin Baker (shot) who were this year selected for the England Athletic Youth Talent Programme.

The final award of the evening was the prestigious Rose Bowl, which went to Ava Lloyd, who has achieved success at world junior level.

During 2024, she represented GB Under-20 in the 1,500m in Lima, Peru (finishing fifth in the World Juniors); ran internationally over 1,500m in Brussels, Belgium; ran 800m internationally in Nembro, Italy and Ghent, Belgium; placed eighth indoors and ninth outdoors - both over 1,500m - in the UK Senior Champs...all having been a Wigan Harrier since the age of 12!

The evening was a huge success with no athlete going home empty handed.

And the club has experienced a remarkable increase in memberships over the past few years.

It's also important to highlight the key part that the coaches play in this success as the club is built on volunteers (including coaches).