News

Report by Paul Dellar and Chris Akehurst Whilst the wind still blew and the rain still fell the weather did finally loosen its grip sufficiently to allow a full weekend of running for the Harriers’ mighty green army. Top of the bill at a muddy Ardleigh were the efforts of our men’s and women’s cross-country teams in the fourth Ellison's League fixture of the season.  The men had no less than eight runners feature in the top 14 – with Ramadan Osman storming to victory with Chris Sellens second, Daniel King fifth, Dan Widdowson sixth, Nate Filer an impressive seventh on his... read more

A busy weekend of national indoor athletic championships culminated in a superb senior bronze medal for Harrier sprinter Rebecca Jeggo, competing in her third British Indoor Championships. Having taken the long trip to Glasgow, her weekend of competition started on Saturday 22 February with a rare 60m outing.  With the Championships not acting as trials for World Indoors this year, competitor numbers were considerably down on last year. However, a third-place finish in 7.78s was good enough to gain her a slot in her first ever British Championship final, where she ran a PB of... read more

Another quiet weekend for local athletics with Storm Dennis the culprit on this occasion, putting paid to the final Essex League Cross-Country fixture of the season at Great Notley Park, and with it Colchester Harriers’ hopes of challenging for a league title win in the competition this season. With no slot available for the fixture to be re-arranged Harriers finished in second place in the Senior Women’s Division 1 and in third place in Division 1 for the Senior Men.  A number of Harriers did see success in the individual award categories with Milly Presland taking third place in the... read more

The British University and Colleges Sports, (BUCS), has been at the forefront of university sport for over 100 years. Taking place at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) in Sheffield from the 14th to 16th February 2020 the indoor Athletics Championships  is one of the biggest gatherings of Student athletes in the UK. On the first day of competition and making his debut at the indoor championships, Charlie Dobson, representing Loughborough University, competed in the men’s 60m. Drawn in heat number eight of twelve, he eased through round one, closing down after just thirty metres,... read more

Colchester Harriers’ runners braved the wind and the rain to fill five of the top seven positions at The Lamarsh Lionheart 5 mile trail race, the only race to survive as Storm Caira played havoc with Sunday’s local race programme.  Malcolm Statham was first home for the club and second overall as he came across the line in 41:05, just ahead of Douglas O’Neill who ran 42:37 to take third.  Richard Flutter clocked 44:26 to finish fifth, Simon Smith posted 44:31 for sixth whilst Debbie Cattermole ran 44:34 to finish second female and seventh overall.  Rachel Rodgers also... read more

Essex County and Eastern AA Indoor Championships Lee Valley 8th & 9th February 2020 This year’s indoor championships saw plenty of action from Harriers Track and Field athletes with two awarded as County Champions and others gaining some assuring PB’s. One of the club’s youngest competitors to earn recognition was Florence Clark who having already competed in Sportshall Athletics for Essex this winter, was keen to try out three events before taking on her first pentathlon later in the Spring.  A best leap of 3.94m was enough to secure her an Essex Silver (Eastern... read more

Report written by Paul Dellar The Harriers were well represented at the big local road race of the weekend with 22 runners among the 700 lining up on the start line of the Great Bentley Half Marathon.  Mark McKeown was first home for the club on a blustery, grey morning, running 1:16:46 to finish in 17th position and just edge out team-mate Jason Gunn who finished just one place behind with the same time.  Andrew Jobling was next to come across the line, posting 1:17:49, Dan Widdowson clocked 1:18:31 whilst Colin Ridley was first V55 home in a sprightly 1:21:05.  Jon Nears... read more

The South of England indoor Senior Athletic Championships at Lee Valley over the weekend of 1st and 2nd of February, saw two Colchester Harrier athletes making their first appearance of the 2020 indoor season. Joe Wilkin competed in the Senior Men's 60m on Saturday and posted a time of 7.47s in his heat. Rebecca Jeggo opened up her year with a gold medal performance, winning her heat with such ease she cruised through to the final where she again reacted to the gun superbly and maintained her lead through to the finish line in a time of 24.80s, to the start the year in the best... read more

Images: Allen Smalls Colchester Harriers’ senior men’s team cross country team took on some of the best clubs in the country at the South of England Cross Country Championships, finishing in a highly creditable 23rd place.  Ram Osman was first home for the club, completing the challenging 8.5 mile Parliament Hill course in 54:02 to finish in the top 100 in a top class field of more than a 1,200 runners.  Chris Sellens crossed the line in 175th followed by Cameron Humphries who finished in 228th, despite losing a shoe in the mud.  Dan Widdowson was next, in 271st,... read more

Four months after claiming a win at the EYAL Plate Final, fourteen year old Jakub Walecki, continued his fine form by opening up 2020 as a first year U17 with an emphatic first place and new PB. Competing at the London U13,U15,U17 Games held at Lee Valley over the weekend of 25th and 26th January, Walecki - now coached by Steve Garnham - looked confident and relaxed as he got into his rhythm as one of the youngest competitors in the field. He won with a height of 1.88m just missing going clear of the next height of 1.91m. This new PB places him 6th in the UK for his age and is a... read more