On Sunday 2 June, Colchester Harriers Juniors travelled down the A12 to compete their toughest match of the season.  Facing host team Chelmsford as well Basildon and Havering – three of the top clubs in the eastern region – as well as teams from CATS and North Suffolk, points were of the essence.  Provisional results placed the team in a great 4^th place finish with 595 points. This maintains the team in 9^th position in the league and – all going well over the next two matches – in line for a chance to compete once again in the plate final.

Little Lyla Belshaw made history in just her second meet with the club. Running a very controlled race and certainly not put off by some much bigger athletes she went on to smash the previous U13 girls 1500m record by some seven seconds and reducing her PB by over 10s to take an excellent second place in 5:12.7. She also competed the High Jump where she cleared 1.20 for a PB.

U17 Aliyah Soames and coach Rick Thompson were both delighted with a much longed for and well-deserved Club Record in the U17 women’s Javelin. Soames added half a meter to her PB and increased the record by 40 centimetres. Having overcome injury along her way, this will mean so much to this talented athlete and will bring great confidence for Essex Schools next weekend.

Equalling a fifteen-year old High Jump Club Record, it was great to see U15 Zion Ateba showing her potential – that is still raw talent.  Once again, she was last woman standing and in very windy conditions rose to the occasion to sore over 1.61m, obliterating the field and adding a healthy amount to her PB. Her first outing in the 75m Hurdles for the club, equalled her seasons best (12.6s) and with some solid training could see the times tumbling before the end of the year. She also PB’d in Long Jump with a leap of 4.75m for 3rd place and ended the day as top girl scorer for the team.

Once again overall top scorer for the day went to U15 Sean Emika- Ugwuada who enjoyed two wins in his jump’s competitions; leaping out to a best of 5.60m in Long Jump and clearing 1.60m for a B string win in the High Jump. Unfazed by a false start in his 100m, he set off and worked hard in a fast race to just get pipped to third in a new PB of 12.6s a great days outing for this up and coming athlete. A trio of PB’s were claimed by U17 Harvey Daniels who started his day off by increasing his Pole Vault height to 2.70m, followed by a 1.70m clearance in the U17 men’s High Jump. His third and final PB ended the day with a 40 cm PB in the Javelin throwing 25.98m.   Not to be outdone, U15 Jakub Walecki showed his diverse talent in a good days competition where he cleared 1.65cm in the U15 boys High Jump to take a new PB and A string 1^st, he then smashed his previous Shot PB adding almost a meter to Put 9.39m and threw the spear to 33.12m for his hat trick increasing his distance by a shade under 5m.

A string of amazing personal bests came in middle distance races, with notable performances including U15 Emily Swann who knocked a whopping 15 seconds off her previous best 1500m to cross in 5.35.0, whilst U17 Missy Buxton was equally pleased with her showing as B string where she knocked 12 seconds to PB in 5.57.5.  Milly Presland gave it her all to take a great second place in the U17’s race where she was facing the top girls in the region. Having settled into third place for most of the race, on the last lap she upped the pace to swoop past and opened up a comfy distance where she produced a season’s best time of 4.55.7 and was satisfied with the result ahead of the Schools championships. In the 800ms Alexandra Bell – Cobbold used her strength and turn of speed to hold onto third place in the U15 girls’ race where she was challenged by Havering athlete over the last 100m, adding to her PB’s this season with a finish of 2:31.5.   Young Harry Gillon was rewarded with a great new time for his U13 800m, chiselling off ten seconds to finish third in 2.42.3s. Daisy Bell made her debut for the club and competed just her second ever race on a track as U15 1500m.

It is always a pleasure to watch Kai Chilvers compete and making his season debut for the EYAL it was great to have him on board.  With a new distance and height to contend with, he ran well to claim fabulous second place points and snatch a new PB of 16s in the U17 Men’s 100m Hurdles. He also competed 400m, where as B string he produced one of the best finishes of the day. Coming off the last bend he upped the gears and drove for home to overtake and hold for a great second place finish in 53.9s.  In the Javelin he took a good 4^th place finish.

All Harrier Hurdlers should be proud of their achievements; this reasonably new coaching group all ran clean races with U13 Hollie Martin- Whymark once again taking a good second place in 13.3s. Bhramav Rajesh has to be applauded for his persistence – always up for a challenge and always with a smile, this young man is not shy of taking on a challenge and was rewarded with three great PB’s throughout his day – starting with the 75m Hurdles where he ran clear to drop his PB to 18.9s.  In the U15’s Georgie Smith was relieved to get through her race following her last outing where she crash-landed.  However, her improved technique claimed a nice PB of 14.0s. Megan Taylor showed huge improvement to surpass her previous PB by almost two and a half seconds to finish in 14.7s (she also then went on to achieve two other PB’s in High Jump and Long Jump).  Madeleine Claydon should be applauded for making a return to a discipline she only competed a couple of times last year and dealt well with the new height and distance to claim a PB of 15.1s. Her focus for the day however was the 800m where she seized a new PB in 2.33s.

Already running behind schedule by the 100m events, all sprinters had a hard job, having been kept waiting around and then having to run into blustery head winds.  U17 Maya Rattray used a good start to her benefit by closing in to take a good second place in 13.3s whilst B string Shanni  Mclean, just keeps on improving, and once her long  legs got out, she used her stride and quick turn over to produce another PB to take second place in 13.2s.  The  youngest Emika-Ugwuadu brother, U13 Arnold held on and just dipped for the line to take a good third in 13.8s whilst  B string Oliver Crisp  had the race of his life to claim a confident second place whilst smashing his previous best to run his first sub 13s race crossing in 12.9s.  U17 Jimi Sijuwola endured two nerve rattling false starts which saw disqualifications, but it was third time lucky and after a flying start, he came across the line in second place in 11.8s.  Henry Lawes showed excellent skill to work his way through the pack in his B string race – to dip for a magnificent first place in a time of 11.9s.

Olivia Simon may not have been pleased with her Hammer competition – but a win is a win – as they say, and with a best of 38.61m she was once again convincingly clear of the rest of the field to take first place points.  Her other events garnered two new PB’s, taking second in the U15 Discus with a new distance of 18.82m and six points for second place, she then added to her total by taking a PB in the Shot where she came fourth with a best of 7.62m. In other field events, U17 Maisie Waterson grabbed a new Discus PB of 13.50m; Josephine Larkins took first in the U17 Hammer with 42.52m and followed that up with two third place finishes in Shot (8.06m) and Discus (19.28m).   Younger brother Wyatt earned valuable points for the team with his Shot, Discus and Javelin competitions, gaining some of the highest points for the club; he came first in the U13 Shot with 7.53m, and third in both the Discus with a best of 14.89m and Javelin with 15.15m. It was great to welcome newcomer Alfie Harris to the team – where he gained worthy points in the U13 boys shot placing first A string in the Shot with a best of 8.08m Bringing revision notes to study between events,  Chanel Mba, hop, skipped and jumped to a great second place in the U17 Triple Jump with a best of 9.85m whilst fellow U17 Joseph Clarke showed a return to one of his favourite disciplines with a welcome PB clearing 11.72m. Victoria Utti further added to the score with a best Put of 9.40m in the U17 w shot.

Later in the 200m sprints – by now an hour behind schedule Martin-Whymark took a good third in the U13 A string in a time of 29.8s.  Olivia Gillon produced excitement in a tight U15 race to just get pipped into 4^th place in 28.1s, whilst U17 McLean, controlled her nerves to run a superb race to outstrip the rest of the field and showed her class to win the A string in 27s. Fellow team mate Libby Sutton completely dominated her U17 B string race from the gun and held out for a superb win in 28.4s. As non scorer Jennifer Palmer was showing her hard work was proving successful taking two PB’s in 200m ( 28.4s) and in 300m (44.7s). Sijuwola held his own in a strong field to take a good second place finish in 23.7s whilst Sam Shippey went one better with a cracking run to take a fabulous first place in 23.4s  for B string.   U15 Tom Ashley took half a second off his PB to face some giants in his U15 200m with a PB of 28.8s.

Rounding off a long, hot and blustery day, the relays -as ever – produced excitement and great camaraderie, with the U13 boys finishing in 5^th, U13 Girls in 4^th, U15 Boys and girls in 4^th, U17 Women grabbing a good second  and a fabulous win to round off the day by the U17 men. The match ended as the clock struck 6pm – one of the longest meets in a while.

Congratulations to all those who competed and gained PB’s.

The next match is in Cambridge on 7^th July.  Athletes, please make yourselves available to ensure that the team’s place in the plate final is guaranteed.

Full results will be published on Power of Ten.  www.thepowerof10.info/ results

Photos curtesy of Steve Swan