Harriers take home several awards at the Colchester Sports Personality Awards evening

A number of Harriers attended the prestigious Colchester Sports Personality Awards on Monday evening at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, having been nominated in various categories.

The first Harrier to receive an award was young pole vaulter and hammer thrower Olivia Simon who received a commendation in the under 14 girls category.  Last month Olivia picked up the female field and Athlete of the Year awards at the club’s junior awards afternoon.

The next Harrier nominee to receive a commendation was under 15 sprinter Sam Shippey in the under 18 male category.  Sam was soon back on the stage to receive a commendation in the under 18 team category.  Sam was part of the Harriers under 15 boys 4 x100m relay team that stormed to victory in the Essex County Championships in June, smashing what was a very good club record.  The other athletes in the relay team were Kai Chilvers, George Lavender and Oliver Mitchell.

The next category, Coach of the Year saw Steve Garnham win the award for the third time.

No sooner than Steve had sat down, our Chairman, Lance Williams and a number of our athletes, young and old, took to the stage to collect a commendation for the Community Club of the Year award from Colchester Mayor Peter Chillingworth.

The next Harrier to collect a well deserved award was “Mr Colchester Harriers” David Wright, who picked up the Eric Chapman Award for service to sport in Colchester.  David is the third Colchester Harrier to win this award.  Previous winners include Chris Akehurst and Margaret Williams.

Moving on to the main awards, the male sports personality award was presented to our World Junior 200m silver medallist Charlie Dobson with a commendation for Ramadan Osman.

Next up it was the female sports personality of the year award which was won by another Colchester Harrier, sprinter Rebecca Jeggo.

And to round off an excellent evening for the club, the final award of the evening, the Premier Award, was presented to Charlie Dobson.

Another runner to win an award, not a Colchester Harrier, but well known to Colchester Castle Park runners, was the inspirational Gemma Edgar, a worthy winner of the Bill Tucker Award.  33 year old Gemma has been battling with a brain tumour since 2014 and regularly ran in our local Park run until this autumn when she was admitted to St Helena Hospice to receive end of life care.  In 2018 Gemma completed both the Colchester half marathon and the London marathon whilst undergoing chemotherapy treatment, raising several thousand pounds for charity.  There was a standing ovation for Gemma’s father and friends took to the stage to collect the award on her behalf..

Immediately after the Colchester Castle Park run on 8th December a 5k run for Gem will take place to raise money for two charities, St Helena Hospice and Brain Tumour Research.  A number of Harriers will be taking part in this run, why not join them.