Age Groups
Two races are held at each event, a junior race and a senior race.
Senior race athletes must be at least school year 12. Junior race athletes must be at least school year 3 and at least 8 years old and up to and including school year 12.
School Year 12 athletes can choose whether to be a Junior or Senior for that League season, once you have run the first event, you can not then swap back to the other age groups again.
The junior is run together as one race regardless of age or gender, but split into girl and boy categories for each of the following age groups in the results.
| Age Group | School Years |
|---|---|
| Under 11 | 3, 4, 5 and 6 |
| Under 13 | 7 and 8 |
| Under 15 | 9 and 10 |
| Under 17 | 11 and 12 |
Entry
Entry to the junior race is free, entry to the senior race is £5 but normally covered by the club.
Please talk to your team manager about your availability.
Where and When
There are up to 6 fixtures between October and March.
Each fixture is on a Sunday. Junior race starts at 10:00, senior race at 10:45.
Fixtures are spread around mid and North Essex and South Suffolk.
Format
You do not need to register for the races in this league, you turn up with a club vest/tee and race, no number needed either. At the finish you are given a finish token which you then pass to the Colchester Harriers volunteer taking the tokens on that day near to the finish area. A call out will be made before each fixture for thos that believe they are going, as this helps the volunteers on the day.
We attempt to take a photo of the team about 10 minutes before the start when possible.
The junior races are between a mile and 2.5km. There are 12-14 teams. In the junior race the first three boys and three girls count towards the team score.
The senior races are around 8km. In the senior race the first eight men and four women count towards the teams score.
Runners score points in each race based on their position, 1 for 1st, 2 for 2nd, etc, the lower the total for your teams scorers then the better the team result.
The senior league is split into two pools with promotion and relegation at the end of the season.
NESS League website
Provisional Fixtures for 25/26 season
Full details will be available nearer to each fixture, or by visiting the league website link above.
26 October – Ipswich
16 November – Springfield
30 November – Great Bentley
7 December – Braintree
15 February – Halstead
22 February – Harwich