SOUTHERN ATHLETIC LEAGUE MATCH 1 NORWICH

Colchester Harriers headed off to Norwich for their first match of the season on Saturday. The conditions on the day were more suitable for a winter’s cross country league, despite the cold and blustery conditions, the Harriers put up a good fight for a close fought 3rd position, just behind Chelmsford AC and hosts Norwich. There were some terrific individual performances on the day and some really encouraging debuts from our younger athletes, making the move from Junior to senior athletics.

Women

Heather Rose ran her first race of the season over 400m and in tough conditions came in 2nd in 59.9 taking her to number 1 in the UK for her V35 age group. With a great winters training behind her and with better conditions, it could be a really exciting year for Heather.

Pip Davenall showed her intention for the year, in her first Hammer competition, she threw a magnificent 57.32 PB, catapulting her into the UK U23 top 5 and claiming maximum points for the club.

 Milly Presland made her debut for the senior team and did not disappoint with a fantastic win in the 3k and a PB of 10:52.1. B string runner Heidi Steele also smashed her previous best in the same race, finishing in 11:10.6 to take the B string win.

Chanel MBA also made her senior debut and showed real potential in the triple jump, smashing her previous best jump and claiming 2nd place with a leap of 10.07 meters.

Savannah Harrison stepped up for the team to take on the 2K steeplechase also bagging a PB 10.40.9.

It was a tough day for the sprinters with freezing cold conditions, rain and a strong headwind to contend with. Despite all of this, there were some solid performances from the ladies. Rebecca Jeggo did the A string 100,200m double. Joy Ogunley repeated this in the B sting also claiming a 100m 200m double. Stacey Eyers claimed a 3rd in the women’s 400m.

The hard working Stacey Eyers, then went in the 800m and 1500m claiming valuable points for the club, also highlighting the clubs deficiencies in the availability of our women’s middle distance runners.

Heidi Steele backed up Stacey with a hard working 3rd place in the B string 800m.

In the field Eliza Betts gained 3rd place in the Long jump jumping 4.80 Maya Rattray gained 4th in the b string in 4.24.

Savanna Harrison claimed 3rd spot in the B string Triple Jump.

In the shot, Megan Larkins competed for the first time in the Southern League for the Harriers and won the a string with 11.28 she claimed 2nd in the discus and won the B string hammer with a very impressive 52.85 meters, then gained a 3rd place in the Javelin

Pip Davenall also won the B string Discus and gained 2nd spot in the B string shot.

Aliyah Soames coming back from injury came 4th in the A string Javelin.

The 4 x 100m relay girls won in style in 51.6, while a depleted 4 x 400 team managed a creditable 4th.

Men

Jake Young impressed in the 400m with a strong run and win clocking 49.6 just outside his PB.

Ermeas Afewerki and Paul Preston both came into the 800m after last minute changes and both clocked PBs Ermeas 2:04.8 for 3rd place and Paul Preston 2:23.3 for 4th in the B string.

Akin Akinboh claimed 2 x 2nd places in the 100m and 200m while in the B string Daniel Jones did the 100m, 200m double.

Sam Shippey made his senior debut in the B string 400m, gaining a very creditable 3 place.

In the 1500m Ermeas finished 2nd while Oscar Dawson won the B string race.

In the 5000m Colin Ridley was 4th in the A string and Dominik Niciejewski, in his debut for the senior team, managed a 3rd in the B string.

Matt Rose went in the 400m hurdles and 110M H finishing 4th and 3rd respectively unfortunately Matt was the only hurdler performing on the day for Colchester including men and women costing the club points on the day.

Ben Halls was 2nd in the 2K S/Chase with Victor Steinwand making his debut in the SAL and winning the B race.

In the field it was a welcome return to the club for James Hamblin who had a busy day claiming 2nd in the Hammer 3rd in the Javelin and 3rd in the shot.

Mat Rose backed up in their field events with a B string 3rd in the shot 3rd in the A string discus. Joe Clarke stepped in to do B string, achieving 3rd place with a new PB.

Vic Chima gained 2nd in the men’s triple jump with a new PB 12.33 Oscar Dawson took 3rd in the B string.

Joe Clarke took 3rd in the A string long jump, while Jimi Sijuwola was 3rd in the B string.

In the high Jump, Vic Chima took 4th in the A string and Jimi Sijuwola took 2nd in the B string.

All in all it was a hard working performance from a fairly depleted team on the day with once again the team managers having to rely on athletes doing multi events for the points.

Hopefully everyone will be available for our next match at Eton on the 19th May. We need a strong team out to consolidate our position in the league.