The frontrunner's titles were announced at a presentation dinner at Harborough's Three Swans Hotel.

Fourteen other members were also rewarded for their achievements and contributions to the club.

Guest of honour Wayne Walker, coach of the Owls Club in Leicester, presented the awards to the delighted athletes and officials.

Haines, who was away on holiday at the time, was an easy task for the panel of judges as she was by far the outstanding athlete, with podium finishes in road running, cross country and on the track.

The overall award for the Sanderson Trophy saw Haines getting the better of five other key contenders in William Clapp, Karen Brooks, Andy Wilkinson, Mark Lawton and Sarah Ward.

Among Haines's running highlights were her inclusion in the Leicestershire and Rutland cross country team where she won a bronze medal in the Inter-Counties event, won the East Midlands 10k, a strong showing at the Prague international half marathon and a series of personal bests.

Clapp's nomination for the male athlete of the year award was a harder decision for the selectors as there was tough competition from the likes of Sean Fenwick, Peter Swaine, Jason Pitcher, Andy Robinson and Tom Duck.

Clapp, however, prevailed thanks to his solid performances on the track and cross country, in which he thrives in the wet weather and muddy and slippery terrain.

Hardworking Karen Brooks deservedly took the veteran female athlete of the year award following her string of victories and trophies on the road, country and long track events.

A new award, which is becoming increasingly popular, the club road runner of the year, was fittingly won by Richard Bufton as he took part in many events and scored highly for the club.

Participation in this category included several running stalwarts in Martin Gore, Maurice Gray, Hannah Eveleigh, Paul Russell, Lin Farrow, Dave Oram, Stewart Nimmo, Dean Rushby, Shane Edge, Lianne Brooks and newcomer Dave Waddington.

Women's track and field captain Jill Roginski was awarded the field athlete of the year award, ahead of pole vaulter Andy Wilkinson, who won the veteran male athlete of the year title.

Peter Swaine was crowned cross country runner of the year and other award recipients were:

Toni Boa – track athlete of the year; Jay Hairsine – Hilary Johnson Endurance award; Sarah Ward – junior female athelete of the year; Adam Brooks and Brenda Shirive – most improved athletes; Ady King – best newcomer; Mark Lawton – junior male athlete; Yvonne Barber – club/team award; and Peter Leach and Traci Edwards – club services awards.

Meanwhile, the 15-member Harborough A relay team recently finished a standard marathon inside the world record time of 2hrs 4mins 26secs at Kettering Stadium.

They recorded a time of 1hr 59mins 06sec to beat Ethiopia's Haile Gerbresellasie record set in Berlin last year.

The team, who ran in splits of 400metres, was made up of Tony Harrison, Andy Wilkinson, Chris Holiday, Ian Chick, William Clapp, Sarah Haines, Peter Swaine, Kyle Barber, Martin Gore, Sean Fenwick, Dan Worley, Shane Edge and Richard Bufton.  

The B team finished well over two hours and failed to beat the mark.