It was as tight a finish as you could get at the second round of the NESS XC League held at Great Notley Park.  The Harriers ladies swept to victory thanks to Andrea James 4th, Becky Cooke 5th, Debbie Cattermole 10th, and Annette Oakman 12th, beating Ipswich JAFFA ladies by 8 points.  The men saw the reverse, placing second by 17 points to Ipswich JAFFA, with our scoring men Danny Millward 3rd, Nat Filer 4th, Ermeaus Aferwerki 7th, Richard Heath 12th, Chris Sellens 15th, Jon Nears 35th, Alex Sales 36th, and Paul Preston 38th.  Overall the Harriers finished second with a 9 point deficit.   We still lead the standings by 3 points going into the next round at Ramsey. In total 41 Harriers senior athletes ran.

The juniors kept up their 100 per cent record with the girls and boys both recording super victories to strengthen their hold at the top of the league. Milly Presland 1st , Alexandra Bell-Cobbold 3rd and Madeline Claydon 4th, were the winning team, with the victors for the boys being Thomas Palmer 1st, Sam Shippey 4th and Victor Steinward 7th.  Click here for boys race results.  Click here for girls race results

In other news Dan Wilkinson ran 1hr 38mins  at the Stevenage half marathon, John Hennington ran 41m 16s at the Billericay 10km and. Malcolm Statham ran his 208th marathon at the Elmstead Trail event finishing joint first in 4 hrs 27 mins.

Park run roundup – The Colchester Castle park run saw Jason Gunn surge to victory in 17m 26s, with Fergus Crouch 5th in 18m 35s and Jon Nears 6th in 18m 47s.  Chris Sellens set a new buggy and baby record finishing 18th in 19m 54s while Annette Oakman was 3rd lady in 22m 21s.  Paul Dobson was 3rd at Maldon Promenade park in 18m 30s, while Ziggy Lampton won the Mersea Cudmore Grove in 18m 47s, with Tim Comer 3rd in 20m 59s.  At Cornard Country park it was Tom Cresswell 2nd in 18m 20s and Craig Mitchell 8th 19m 57s.