News

Last week Colchester Harriers sixteen-year-old middle distance runner Lyla Belshaw, coached by Dave Smith, travelled to Banská Bystrica, Slovakia to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 1500m at the European Athletics Under 18 Championships.  On the Thursday evening Lyla had to first negotiate her heat.  Fourteen athletes lined up at the start of the heat, with the first six finishers in the race qualifying for Sunday’s final.  Once the race settled down Lyla was always in the top four. Lyla clocked 4m 22.61s to finish second in a blanket finish with athletes... read more

Saturday saw Sean Eales competing for Suffolk in the Anglian Championship at Norwich. The persistent thundershowers added some additional challenge to the afternoon and after several delays Sean was eventually able to compete in the Senior 2000m Steeplechase. Sean ran a well-paced race and recorded a PB with a time of 6.43:2, this is a 50 second improvement since his initial Steeplechase just ten months ago, and may also be a club record. This has led to his selection to represent Suffolk in Steeplechase at the English Schools Championship in July at... read more

Colchester Harriers started their 2024 Essex Road Championships campaign in Saffron Walden with a strong showing at the Essex 20 road race, held at Debden Airfield.  For the men Kim Bowling ran strongly to record a Personal Best (PB) 1:53:17 and finish fifth, Cameron Humphries crossed the line in 1:58:53 (PB) to finish twelfth, and with Dan Widdowson completing the scoring team in 2:11:03 (34th) the Harriers men’s team finished fourth on the day.  Other finishers for the green vests were Bary Frost (2:12:48), Jerry Walder 2:14:54 (PB - V50 Bronze), and Chris Stevenson 2:22:59 (PB... read more

Colchester Harriers took a large squad to the Great Bentley Half Marathon on Sunday and made light of the difficult conditions with a string of impressive performances. Leading the way was Rosie Wild, the long-distance specialist putting in her trademark brave performance to take the winning tape in a time of 1:20:13, over a minute clear of her closest rival.  Rosie was well backed up by Kate Creak, who finished strongly to claim an excellent fifth place (1:26:03) and Heidi Hogan-Steele – continuing her comeback from the birth of her daughter with a courageous 1:30:20.  Other... read more

On Saturday several promising young athletes did themselves proud by competing in the Essex Schools Cross Country Championships, which were held in Benfleet in challenging conditions. In Junior Boys, 14-year-old Rohan Dasoar dug deep to finish 6th to qualify him for the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Pontefract in March. There was also an excellent run from Finley Greenleaf finishing 12th in the Inter Boys and he will now go through to the Southern Region Cross Country in February. In the Inter Girls race, first-year Isla Widdowson finished in 5th position, also... read more

Colchester Harriers travelled in force to a muddy Gloucester Park in Basildon for the annual Essex Cross Country Championships and came away with an impressive haul of medals. The Senior Women made it three successive team titles as they beat rivals Havering into second place to once again take home the Ron Merrie Cup.  Roanna Vickers was the first home for the green vests, finishing strongly to take the third place and the individual bronze and was followed home by Lydia Callan in fifth spot, with both girls selected to run for Essex at the CAU Intercounties in March as a result of... read more

Colchester Harriers made the most of home advantage by coming out on top of both the women’s and men’s races as the Essex Cross Country league came to town for the fourth fixture of the season. The women strengthened their hold on pole position in the league as they continue to mount a spirited defence of the title they won last year.  Lizzie Wellsted led the way, the 17 year old, fresh from her gold medal success at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels the previous weekend, securing a fine second place on the challenging Hilly Fields course.  Lizzie was well... read more

Colchester Harriers’ promising young athlete Lizzie Wellsted made a big impact on the national stage with an excellent performance in the first fixture of this year’s British Athletics Cross Challenge  series, held at Llandaff Fields, Cardiff.  Up against the best Under 20 women in the UK, the seventeen year old ran a perfectly judged race to come through the field and then hold off a strong challenge from Blackheath athlete Eliza Nicholson to claim a superb second place behind winner Innes Fitzgerald.  Lizzie’s thoughts now turn to the second race in the series at... read more

Last weekend was busy for the Juniors with a double header of Cross Country. Essex League at Basildon on Saturday, and then NESS League at Writtle on Sunday. Starting with Saturday and a course which included the "Mound" of Gloucester Park. In the U13s race, Hayden Preston enjoyed only having to run twice up the hill finishing in 23rd position. In the same race making her Essex League debut was Simran Dasoar running a fine race in 30th. In the U15s a sole Harrier, but what a performance, with Rohan Dasoar finishing in the top ten taking 7th place. U17s saw a full team of three again... read more