Who are the Enfield Harriers?
A Brief History
Enfield Harriers was started by Mr Gary Adair in April 1960 and entered the South Australian competition in 'C' grade. Ten years later Enfield Harriers became an 'A' grade club and the club has a long history of premiership pennants with the club being the champion club a number of times.
The club’s longest serving member is John Pearce who has been coaching and in the club for well over 30 years. Enfield Harriers has a proud history in having some of the best officials in the state who regularly officiate interstate at the major events. The club has had many Australian representatives at international competitions with the latest being Brooke Billett who won the Commonwealth Games Hammer throw in Melbourne 2006.
Location and Facilities
The club is located at St Albans Reserve in Clearview and due to the oval being cut into the side of a hill, makes it one of the most picturesque settings for an athletics oval. The grounds are well maintained and have a good grassed running track and synthetic surfaces, safety cages and sandpits for all athletic field events. The club rooms are used for many uses including change room, body conditioning, weight training and storage of equipment. The athletic equipment at St Albans is maintained to meet the demands of the elite and also the beginner with a wide variety of throwing weights and different size safety landing bags for jumps. The purchase of a new high jump bag and a pole vault landing bag are the latest in an attempt to maximize membership by providing safe training conditions. Enfield Harriers has seen upgrades on the oval over recent years and this has motivated many athletes to train more often.
Membership and Team
Enfield Harriers has had numbers of over 200 members back in the 70's but now averages around 60-70 members per year. Whilst most members are from the local Adelaide area a number of athletes travel from remote rural locations and appreciate the training facilities and the feeling of belonging when they get the chance to come to Adelaide. The club has teams in Over 35, A grade, Under 23, 20, 18, 16 and 14 grades. Enfield Harriers has been the second or third largest club in the state over the past 5 years and always fields a team in the Summer Track and Field and the Winter Road, Cross Country and Walks Competitions.
The Future
The future of Enfield Harriers looks to be very positive with Brooke Billett and Claire Woods showing that dreams can come true in competing at the elite level whilst training alongside juniors. New club rooms were completed in October 2006 to provide a building that would maximise participation in the club.
The new club rooms provide a larger indoor training area and storage of equipment. A complete gym is also available for all Enfield Harriers Athletes. The future of the Enfield Athletic Club's does not involve negatives such as alcohol, cigarettes and gambling that other sporting groups have introduced into their clubs. Enfield Harriers strives to develop the best environment for young people to achieve their goals in sport. This in turn gives people pride in who they are and where they come; and this is the clubs greatest reward.