News

Junior members of CHAC can be justly proud of themselves having reached the Plate Final of the Eastern Young Athletics League for the first time ever. Once again defying the hot conditions, the team travelled to Stevenage on Sunday 2 September to compete against five other teams from across the region to decide 7th to 12th position placings. The last weekend of School holidays may have deprived the club of a fielding a full team, however despite this, there were many stand out performances and a strong team spirit which helped them finish in 6th place on the day.  The U15 Girls and Boys... read more

Allen Smalls had another great run in his warm up for the 50 mile Dolgellau Ultra at the end of August. Smalls came runner up at the Hatfield Forest Half Marathon and first veteran over 50. David Wright at last put his injuries behind him to be the first over 60 in 32nd place. Fay Smalls also ran well in the severe conditions. Ed Mitchell led the Harriers contingent at the Ipswich Twilight 10km, clocking 34-05, Chris Manby ran well in 39-53, as did Keith Marley 39-36,then came Craig Mitchell 40-50, and Rebecca Cooke. Megan Yallop ran 54-57. Angus Holford ran a superb 3000m steeplechase... read more

This season’s dramatic heat wave has been matched by an equally phenominal increase in the number of Harrier Track and Field athletes.  The influx has ensured a new strength and depth to the teams, and so with their final match of the season in Peterborough on Sunday 5 August (always a tough month to get athletes out to compete), there were hopes that being able to cover as many events as possible would gain the green vests the score needed for a top three finish.  It was all about the points and  securing a place in the top 12 clubs in the Eastern region and with it a chance to... read more

On Sunday 22 July, Rebecca Jeggo and Joy Ogunleye, competing for their higher claim club Shaftesbury Barnett Harriers, took part in the Club Connect Relays as a prequel to the Muller Anniversary Games at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. The Club Connect initiative has the objective of recognising and rewarding the significant contributions made by clubs in supporting athletes through all levels of their athletics journey. The initiative has gone from strength to strength since being launched in January 2014 and plans to continue growing! Clubs are the foundation of the athletics pyramid,... read more

In an almost unblemished season, Charlie Dobson went to the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland hoping to bring back a medal as part of the GB 4 x 100m relay squad and intrigued to see how he faired in his individual event. He opened his Championship campaign on Friday 12 July, Day 3 of the champs, in heat 4, lane 8 of the 200m;  the three previous heats had all been won in times quicker than his PB and knew he would have to pull something special out the bag to just qualify through.  He produced a blistering run, winning comfortably and in a new PB of 20.65 (w-0.1) taking .08 of... read more

Colchester Harriers continued their rise up the Southern Athletics league Division One table with an impressive one point victory over Blackheath and Bromley. On a swelteringly hot day at the Garrison track, Harriers were spearheaded by Man of the Match performances from Paul Clifford and Philippa Davenhall. Paul clinched victory in the 800 metres in 1.58.4s. This was Paul’s last race for the Harriers and we all wish him well at University in Manchester. With victory in the Hammer, Discus and Shot Put, Philippa led a spirited Women’s team who had various athletes away competing at... read more

The English Schools Athletics Championships were held at the Birmingham International Athletics Stadium over the weekend. School county teams are selected based on the athletes achieving performance standards. Four Colchester Harriers athletes competed Friday and Saturday. In the Senior Girls 100m Joy Ogunleye, Essex, had a tough heat and ran well. She finished third in a time of 12.25s, to qualify for the final. Also competing in the same event was Caitlin O'Reilly. Caitlin was representing Suffolk for the sixth time and was their women’s team captain for the event. Her time of 12.66s,... read more

Colchester Harriers youth contingent took the long Journey up to Norwich on Sunday 8th July to compete in their 4thEYAL meeting of the season against teams from City of Norwich, Basildon, Stevenage, West Suffolk, Team Norfolk and Waveney Valley. Temperatures were touching 30 degrees for much of the day and athletes and supporters were looking for shade wherever possible. The team that took to the Track & Field had been decimated with lots of unavailability due to Little Mix choosing to bring their considerable talents to Colchester as part of their UK tour which has... read more

On Saturday 30th June four Colchester Harriers athletes travelled to Peterborough to compete in the Eastern Counties Championships and returned home with a haul of five medals. First to compete was Stacey Eyers who maintained this season’s fine form running a tactical 800m race to claim victory and the gold medal in the senior women’s category. Her time of 2.22 was close to her personal best. Next to medal was talented sprinter Daniel Jones who was narrowly pipped to the post in a highly competitive U17 mens 100m final. He won his second championship silver medal in eight days! Out on... read more

Colchester Harriers’ Rebecca Jeggo was invited to compete at her first senior British Athletics Championships at The Alexander Stadium, Birmingham on Saturday 30th June after gaining the qualifying time in the 100m sprint against some of her idols, including Dina Asher-Smith. On a very hot and breezy day, Rebecca ran 12.26s in the second heat of five, into a headwind of -1.5 m/s this qualified her to compete in the semi-final.  With the BBC broadcasting live from the event, and with an even stronger headwind of -3.2 m/s, she ran a good race, finishing strongly in 5th place in 12.29s. ... read more