Athletes celebrated at the Awards Evening

Over a hundred people consisting of Croydon Harrier athletes, parents, supporters and volunteers gathered to celebrate the club’s achievements at St Pauls Church in South Croydon.

Presentations were once again led by President Dave Betts and four-time Olympian Donna Fraser.

Massive thanks to everyone who attended and made the event happen on the evening.

Photos below via Mike.

Our awards history of every trophy going back to 2012

Introduction script:

Welcome ladies and gentleman to the 2023 Croydon Harriers awards dinner!

It is a great privilege tonight to honour and mark the achievements of so many of our athletes for their efforts over the past 12 months. I can’t stress enough how difficult it is win one of these trophies, so you should all be very proud. 

But it isn’t just the athletes who we are honouring this evening. We also would like to thank the many parents, family members and supporters of our athletes who contribute so much to their success. Whether it be helping out at fixtures (often when I’m distressed), the transport to from training & competitions, or just replying to my whatsapps at silly o clock in the morning or night we are so so grateful. 

We also recognise the incredible effort of our volunteers, officials and coaches who make our sport happen, without them it simply isn’t possible for us to exist. It’s wonderful that a lot of you are here tonight. I’m sure everyone will take this opportunity to join me in displaying our thanks to them now. We are always after new blood to come and volunteer with us, it’s a hugely rewarding experience and we’d love to have you involved – we simply can’t do this without you do have a chat with us afterwards if you are interested.

This evening would not be possible without the incredible efforts of a number of key individuals. Pearl for coordinated the trophy collections, projector, PA and music. Haydon, James Roach and Andy for the multiple trips to and from the engravers and transporting. James Moore for all his IT technical expertise. Amy Stone for help in booking, setting up and the catering, Mike for the photos and quizzes. All of you for the raffle donations. And indeed to Andy and president Dave in advance for presenting. 

We will be presenting around 70 trophies in all this evening (that’s just over half of what we’ve actually got!). All have been engraved in advance and polished and cleaned by Pearl and an army of helpers on training evenings. They include Auntie Maureen, Marsha, James Roach and many more.

The history of each trophy often goes back decades and have been donated to us by athletes and presidents of Croydon Harriers past and present. The history of each will flash up on the screen and the database will be available on the website afterwards. All photos will be available on our social media and website in the coming days. 

Once you’ve collected your award, pause for a pic with President Dave who is waving. You’ll have your photo taken by Mike who is waving. And then head over to Pearl who is waving to sign for your trophy.