Grabbing the growth baton – how Kilmarnock Harriers have built momentum

Friday 14th March 2025

By Katy Barden

The continued rise of Kilmarnock Harriers – named scottishathletics Track and Field Club of the Year at the 4J Awards last October – has been driven by its people, its partnerships, and its place at the heart of the local community.

Chair Donald McIntosh recalls the summer of 2012 when the club relocated to the Ayrshire Athletics Arena, a brand-new facility that opened to coincide with the Olympic Torch Relay ahead of the London Games.

‘We suddenly became very visible,’ he says. ‘Our visibility helped attract members and because of the Olympics, everyone wanted to be an athlete. We were swamped.’

Some would have panicked, but the club grasped the opportunity and began to lay the foundations for a new and successful era.

Initially, club officials worked their way through waiting lists, suggesting to parents that a willingness to volunteer could fast-track their child’s (or their own) membership. Unsurprisingly, there weren’t enough coaches to cover the growing numbers, but the club invested in new and existing coaches, creating not only specialists, but multi-discipline experts who could work across the fast-growing junior section.

Killie Harriers didn’t stop there. In 2019 the club started a coaching academy for junior members. Successful applicants were provided with kit, first aid training, and supported through scottishathletics coaching courses.

Progress was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, but McIntosh is aware of the coaching academy’s impact – not least aiding succession planning and adding value to members – and intends to get it back up and running as soon as possible.

‘There are a number of projects we need to push through and this is one of them,’ he says.

‘We believe strongly in our young people and we listen to them. The benefits of the coaching academy are significant and extend beyond qualifications and performance.’

Podium success at the Scottish U17 Champs (photos by Bobby Gavin)

‘Keeping young athletes in the sport motivates me’ – Natalie Sharp

In an interview for PB magazine in 2023, club member Natalie Sharp – 21-years-old at the time and the youngest member on the club’s committee – spoke about her love of coaching and how she got involved in her late-teens before gaining her coaching assistant qualification.

Now a Level 2-qualified coach, Natalie is the club’s U11 coach, an active member/mentor of Athletics Trust Scotland’s Young People’s Forum, an athletics representative on the Scottish ClubSport Young Person’s Working Group, and a leader with the ‘KH Jog Squad’, the jogging group associated with Kilmarnock Harriers.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, husband and wife duo Kevin and Gillian Mitchell were nominated and short-listed for scottishathletics Community Club Coach of the Year (2024), deserved acknowledgement for their hard work and commitment over many years at the club.

Club membership has grown to around 360 across junior and senior sections from around 160 in 2012.

Progress is exciting, but the club acknowledges the importance of operating in a professional manner for continued success and has recently recruited (and funded) three new part-time positions focused on administration, pathways development, and outreach.

‘A big challenge for us is junior athlete retention and movement through to seniors,’ explains McIntosh.

‘We’ve got committed coaches, we’ve got a strong junior section, but because of our location a lot of young athletes move off to university and we lose them.’

The club’s partnerships, together with its new employees, have an important role to play in maintaining the visibility and appeal of Kilmarnock Harriers and ensuring it continues to flourish.

In addition to scottishathletics, the club has strong partnerships with Ayrshire College (students are sign-posted to the club for suitable volunteering and development opportunities linked to their courses), East Ayrshire Leisure and East Ayrshire Council, the latter linked specifically to the organisation and delivery of the increasingly popular Roon the Toon 10k.

The success of Roon the Toon – which doubles up as the Scottish 10k Championships in 2025 – has given Kilmarnock Harriers a valuable opportunity to give back to the sport, most notably through the event’s sponsorship of the National Club Conference in 2024 .

The Roon the Toon start-line from a couple of years ago with Callum Hawkins (photo by Bobby Gavin)

‘It shows people that we’re not just taking their money and putting it away after the race, we’re actually putting something back,’ says McIntosh, in addition to providing grants (through applications to the Jim Young Grant Fund) to deserving athletes.

The introduction of the KH Jog Squad in September 2023 has also resulted in a valuable contribution to the club in the form of new senior members and qualified coaches.

Starting out as a ‘Couch to 5K’ group – but with a change of focus linked to various races throughout the year – the Jog Squad was getting up to 30 or 40 members turning up each night and participating in a 12-week training block. On completion, they were encouraged to sign up to the Harriers.

‘The Jog Squad started with three qualified leaders and two coaches and now they’re up to around 10 qualified leaders and three coaches across three or four groups,’ says McIntosh.

‘One group has already progressed to a mainstream Harriers group and are doing really well. It’s great to see how this is impacting our senior club numbers in a positive way.’

Killie celebrate their Track and Field Club of the Year win with Diane Ramsay – Donald McIntosh is on the right of the picture (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Kilmarnock Harriers have a clear vision is to reach 450 members by 2028. To achieve that they need more coaches and volunteers, backed up by the efforts of the club’s three new employees.

‘There’s so much going on in the club just now; it’s immense, but that sort of progress doesn’t just happen overnight,’ says McIntosh in conclusion.

We’ve had the track for just over 12 years now and it’s taken time to build up that base. To win Track and Field Club of the Year was recognition of our journey so far and it was fantastic for everyone.

‘Our success is credit to the people in the club and the hard work put in from everybody across the board over those 12 years, but we must also look forward.

‘At Kilmarnock Harrier & AC we are committed to fostering the champions of tomorrow and our future shines bright with every stride, jump and throw.’