News

The 89th English Schools Athletics Championships took place at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham over Friday 12 and Saturday 13 July. Showcasing some of the best athletes of each county in the country for the honour of being crowned English Schools Champion in their respective age and event, athletes had to have been selected by their County Team Manager in order to compete. Harriers were privileged this year to have three youngsters selected and for senior girl Joy Ogunleye 2019 will be a year to remember.  A veteran of five previous Championships which saw her earn two... read more

By Chris Jeggo The South of England Intercounty Championships took place at The Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford, Kent on Sunday 14th July 2019. This senior team competition comprising of seven counties, with each county being permitted to field an A and B athlete across the range of track and field events, with points being allocated to the county, based on the athlete’s position. The accumulation of these points would decide the women’s, men’s and then combined county champions. First up was Billy Praim-Singh throwing the Hammer. Having competed in multi events for the club in the... read more

A severe delay on route to Cambridge for the penultimate match of the year for the junior green vests could easily have spelled disaster for any hopes of maintaining a top twelve league finish.  However, swift thinking by those who had managed to arrive in time and a day of lengthy team changes by Team Manager Michelle Martin-Whymark and parent helpers, meant all was not lost. At the end of a remarkable day with the team showing not just talent and resilience but great spirit, and despite an already depleted team, those who were able to attend, rose to the occasion and amassed a... read more

Adrian Mussett continues to fly the flag for top class road running in Colchester.  Although 47 he still produced a quality performance to finish first veteran and ninth overall in the prestigious Lord Mayors 5km race held in Norwich city centre clocking a very impressive 15m 48s. Andy Jobling was runner up at the tough off road North Downs Marathon held from Reigate clocking 3h 44m although going off course early on, Allen Smalls was 3rd in 3h 48m, while Fay Smalls clocked 2h 58m in the Half Marathon event. In the Mile event at the night of the 10,000s in London, Paul Rodgers ran... read more

Colchester Harriers tradition of producing national quality off road ultra runners  continues to flourish with Nath Filer and Allen Smalls both excelling in the weekends events. The Lowestoft to Felixstowe Pier to Pier run was held over 58 blistering hot miles, Nath Filer is an expert at continuous running and won the race in 8 hours 46 minutes over 2 and a half hours clear of second place. Allen Smalls never tires from top class performances and in the very high quality North Downs 30km was a fine 9th over all in a very large field. Smalls was also the first over 50 male , and... read more

Sunday 30 June was Eastern Counties Track and Field Championship day in a very windy Cambridge. It was a clean sweep of gold medals for the Colchester Harriers Hammer Girls in their respective age groups. Megan Larkins delivered a very consistent series of throws and led throughout the competition to take the senior women’s title with a best throw of 55m. Josephine Larkins improved with each round in the U17 women’s event and in the final round launched her hammer to a massive 46m, close to her personal best. The youngest competitor, Olivia Simon, who was still nursing a... read more

A beautiful summer’s evening awaited participants of this year’s Essex Track Relay Championships at Melbourne Athletics Centre, Chelmsford on Friday 28 June. Just three teams represented Harriers; with the U15 Girls 4x100m team the first on the track competing in the second heat.  From lane 6 they produced their quickest time of the season so far with a PB of 53.32s having got the baton safely round.  Stepping up a year to complete the team, U13 Hollie Martin-Whymark was unfortunate to be overtaken on the line into 5th place, but that was enough for this young team (Tilly Motts,... read more

by Chris Jeggo and Rob Earle Colchester Harriers were represented by three athletes at the England U23 and U20 Championships which were held at the Bedford International Athletic Stadium over the weekend of 22nd & 23rd June. With the event being combined with the trials for the respective European Championships in Sweden in July, the event was a key date on the calender for those vying for GB selection. Such was the importance of the meet, national exposure was provided for the first time by the BBC via the red button. The U23 Women’s Hammer competition attracted the best... read more

Our athletes competed on the road and trail in various events in the last week with some excellent results coming to the fore for the green vests. The Maldon Promenade evening 5km saw the rising star that is young Danny Millward claim an excellent victory in 16m 47s, with club mate Doug McGilvarry in third position clocking 16m 55s. Harriers continued to fill the top ten places with Jason Gunn fourth in 17m 00s,  Dominic Nicejewski fifth in 17m 58s, Paul Rodgers seventh in 18m 01s, Ged McMillan eighth in 18m 11s and Cameron Humpfries ninth in 18m 13s. The lades were in top form with... read more

Harriers had a great team gathered for the 3rd league match of the season at a breezy Harrow venue, and this was again despite missing some athletes due to exams still taking place. Also in the final days prior to the meet, we were very unfortunate to lose four of our scoring athletes, that were covering nine events between them. This made for some interesting debuts for some of our athletes in events that they had not competed in previously, but were happy to step up to score some much needed points for the team. We were battling with Blackheath all the way through the meet for the... read more