News

Colchester Harriers Athletics Club is pleased to announce the re-starting of club training activities at the Garrison Track following the closure for Covid19 and subsequent track refurbishment. Our working party have had to introduce additional safety measures and regulations to ensure that training, both at the track and out in the wider community is offered in a Covid secure environment and meets the guidelines specified by England Athletics. Please read the following information which outlines how implementation of risk assessments will change the way we train. It is imperative that all... read more

Colchester Harriers runners made the most of the return of competitive racing, showing they had lost no sharpness during lockdown with a string of impressive performances. Leading the way and recording big personal bests at the Chase the Moon 5K and 10K events in Stratford were Ellie Cumner and Victoria Primmer.  Cumner clocked 19:15 to finish fifth female in the 5K event and in the process take over 45 seconds off her previous best whilst Primmer starred in the 10K, her time of 41:15 seeing her place sixth in the women’s race and improve on her previous best by more than 2... read more

On Saturday Isla Widdowson ran a half marathon on behalf of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. Being only 11 years old Isla hadn’t run such a long distance before but felt that to ask for donations for charity she should push herself as a one-off. The location of the Poppy Run was Alton Water where almost 2 laps would meet the required 21.1km distance. With calm weather, Dad as pacer and Mum & Brother encouraging on bikes from behind, Isla passed through the first 17km with ease. But then the inevitable wall was met and the final few kilometres were the hardest running... read more

Very possibly the final comps of the season, with UK Athletics extending the track & field season till 31st October, to allow the younger athlete to compete within their age category before moving up age, we saw a small number attend competitions in Dagenham and Norwich, on this final day. Tommy Colsell in his first competition of 2020 took on the wind and rain of a very wet Norwich, running in a well-paced race over 3000 metres Tommy crossed the line in 2nd place with a new PB 10.08 considering the conditions Tommy was happy with his performance. In equally poor conditions 3... read more

Following yesterday's announcement by the Government that a new national lockdown will come into force from Thursday 5th November, today, we have been informed by Sodexo ( who manage the facilities) that the club's last night of training on the track will be Tuesday 3rd November with the facilities closing from Thursday with a view to reopening from Monday 7 December. This is obviously very disappointing having had so little time back at the facilities. Any further news will be shared through the clubs website and facebook... read more

In the recent Ipswich Jaffa junior virtual relays Colchester Harriers entered a small team of athletes competing in a number of age groups. With some Strong teams entered including a number from Australia the young Harriers total points meant a 3rd place finish of 13 clubs. The U13G team of Lyla Belshaw, Isla Widdowson and Ella Licence posted some amazing times for the 2k distance, Lyla led the way with 7.03 this was well supported with Isla 7.48 and Ella 8.18 placing them a clear 1st. The U11G team consisted of 3 young siblings of club members, Rebecca Walder, Audrey Butler and... read more

Tuesday 20 October will see some lucky members of Harriers return to the track for training after almost seven months. As not all coaches are able to return at present, sadly this means not all our Junior members in particular are able to make a return to their chosen activities. All coaches have been sent the action plan and guidelines for use of the track and facilities - please refer to your coach if you have not already seen them. In order to ensure we are complying with UKA guidelines and the Government it is imperative that all members abide by the rules. Prior to... read more

Colchester Harriers endurance athletes enjoyed a busy week of competition, racing in a variety of events up and down the country. Tina Southgate and Mark McKeown led the way, both posting remarkable performances at the Bedford Grand Prix with Southgate taking almost an hour off her Personal Best (PB) to clock 3:39:18 in the marathon and McKeown extending his recent fine run of form to finish 5th in the half marathon in an incredible time of 1:14:19 (PB). Not to be outdone, three Harriers were competing in an endurance event called the Medal Chaser in Finchingfield, attempting to... read more

Colchester Harriers endurance athletes defied the wet and windy conditions to tackle a variety of long distance events over the weekend. The Abbey Fields based club fielded a number of runners in the Virtual Virgin London Marathon.  Veteran Clive Thomas recorded the fastest time, completing the distance in 3:07:09 whilst Steve Wilkins ran a beautifully judged race to record a Personal Best (PB) 3:30:52.  Michelle Lock posted 4:13:14, Darren Ferrugia 4:13:22 with Louise Yates recording 4:40:27 despite having been able to complete very little training.  Cheryl Appleby ran... read more

On Saturday 27 September Jakub Walecki made the gruelling journey to Poland to compete in the Under 16 National Championships held this year in Slupsk – some six hour drive from Warsaw. In a field of twenty athletes including the reigning age group number one, Walecki  - who had hardly slept the night before due to nerves and excitement – executed a mature and confident competition. Last to enter at 1.75m and wearing his Polish Club Vest, WLKS Nowe Iganie Siedlce, he was forced to take a second attempt before getting into a steady, confident rhythm, which saw him clear the next... read more