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Colchester Harriers’ junior and senior athletes continue to impress nationally with some notable performances across the country at the weekend. Rising star Lyla Belshaw was at Pembrey Country Park in Wales representing England in the SIAB Schools International against the other home countries.  On a bright, sunny day she finished in an excellent fourth position as her England team-mates filled the first six positions to comfortably see off the competition. Lyla Belshaw finishes fourth in her first run in an England vest at Pembrey in Wales. Meanwhile in Milton Keynes... read more

Colchester Harriers’ group of young athletes continues to impress, with three excellent performances at the English Schools’ Cross-Country Championships at Paddock Wood in Kent.  Lyla Belshaw, representing Essex, finished in a remarkable 8th position overall gaining her selection for the English schools’ team in the process whilst Isla Widdowson finished 85th and second Suffolk athlete home.  In the boys’ event Theo Gardiner, competing for the first time in a major competition, ran an accomplished race to finish 171st and 6th Suffolk athlete to the cross the line. Lyla... read more

On the last Saturday in February three of our junior Harrier girls travelled to north London to experience the iconic National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hills. There were blue skies and calm conditions but as usual on Hampstead Heath the mud underfoot was thick and challenging. Add to this the famous Hill itself, right at the beginning of the race when runners are full of adrenaline and jostling for a good position. In the first race of the day was Under 17 Lizzie Wellsted. Lizzie is in fine form, coming off of a fantastic second place in the Essex XC League race at... read more

Colchester Harriers’ women’s team picked up from where they left off in 2021 by taking the first gold medal of the 2022 Essex County Road race Championships series at the Essex 20, held in windy conditions at Debden.  Heidi Hogan-Steele led the way once again, the in-form Maldon based runner smashing her Personal Best (PB) to cross the line in 2:10:15 to also take the individual gold medal.  Tracy English, whose trophy cabinet has also started to fill up since making the move to Colchester, took individual bronze in a PB of 2:18:18 with Jennifer Lovelock completing the winning... read more

Colchester Harriers’ veteran Colin Ridley continued his run of golden form to clock the fastest indoor mile of all time by a British M60 athlete.  Running in the Ayo Falola Dream Mile at Lee Valley Stadium on Wednesday evening.  Ridley clocked a remarkable 4:58:23 to take more than 20 seconds off the previous mark and so secure his place in the record books.  Ridley was joined at the event by club mate Jon Nears, who won the C race in a Personal Best (PB) 4:53:17. Lee Valley - Men's C Mile - 16 February 2022 - YouTube On Saturday at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham... read more

Colchester Harriers’ athletes defied the wind and rain to turn out in force for one of the region’s most popular half-marathons at Great Bentley.  The event, which this year doubled as an official England Athletics Age Group Masters qualifying event, attracted a particularly strong field from across the South of England, but Colchester’s runners were still able to figure prominently. The resurgent women’s team again led the way, carrying off the coveted team trophy thanks to a string of fine performances.  Heidi Hogan-Steele continued her incredible run of form to take... read more

Colchester Harriers’ women picked up from where they left off in 2021 as they fought off close competition from both Havering AC and Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets AC to win the Ron Merrie Cup, the trophy awarded to the winners of the annual Essex County Cross-Country Championships. This year’s event, held at a wet and blustery Gloucester Park in Basildon, attracted a strong field from across the county, but saw Colchester’s teamwork pay off with all five of their runners finishing in the top 22. Lydia Callan led the way, with her sixth position finish also gaining her a place in the... read more

Colchester Harriers strengthened their position at the top of the Eyes Rite NESS Cross Country League on Sunday 12th December with a convincing victory in the third fixture of the season at the town’s Hilly Fields course. Harriers had no fewer than seven of the top twelve men’s finishers and eight of the leading thirteen women as they finished comfortably ahead of second placed Ipswich Jaffa. Angus Holford led the way, winning the men’s event, with Jordan Middlemist third, James Morley seventh, Cameron Humphries eighth, Nate Filer ninth, Chris Sellens tenth, Dan Widdowson eleventh... read more

Colchester Harriers’ athletes were in cross-country action this week with the annual county championships for junior and veteran age groups taking place at Writtle University College on Saturday. With the wind blowing and a muddy course it was proper cross-country racing and Colchester’s women once again led the way with team captain Tracy English running a characteristically brave race to finish an excellent third overall (and 2nd V45) despite carrying an injury.  English was backed up by strong performances from the Sarah Stradling (11th overall, 4th V45), Alexandra Hennessey... read more

By Richard Pickering In the strangest of years we started the year doing virtual events and performed very well in the EA 5mile relay and mile events. In the latter we were first V45 team and first V55 team. The women finished 5th.   In the five mile event which was measured as a combination of men’s and women’s teams we achieved 17 in the qualifying round which put us into the national final where we finished a creditable 22. Notably the performance of the women helping the overall position as other clubs struggled to have 6 quality female performances.... read more