Thurrock hosted the first Eastern Young Athletics League meet of the year for Colchester Harriers and what a great day was had by this young team, claiming over 80 PB’s between seasoned team members and a large number who were making their debut for the club.

Harrier’s coaches have worked hard over recent months to recruit and train hurdlers and their efforts were not disappointed by those who took on the challenge. Olivia Simon in the U13 girls – gained a respectable PB of 15.2s in her first ever 75m race. U15 girl Isabella Minder claimed a PB in her debut over 75m Hurdles running 15.8s and stylish U17 Katie Rice clocked 14.1 over 80m.

In the flat sprints, Georgina Smith took third place in the U13 girls A string 100m in a new PB of 14.3s with Simon as B string claiming her second PB of the day in 15.3s.  Whilst little Lilly Upton proved again that she has the makings of a fine athlete, running a relaxed but controlled race to take 5th place in a new pb of 15.3s. Such is the strength of the U13 girls’ team that Harriers had to turn athletes away for the non-scoring races in 100m.

Feliz Ruiz made his debut for the Harriers in the U13 boys 100m earning himself a solid third place and a time of 14.4s.

In their first year as U17’s Megan Stevens showed a good return to form after a frustrating couple of injury ridden years to equal her PB of 13.3s and Katie Rice took B string third place in 14.00. Over 200m Steven’s was delighted with her 4th place finish and a new PB of 27.4s.

Exciting moments came in the U15 girls 200m when Eliza Betts used her long ranging stride to her benefit to claim victory in the A string U15 Girls 200m – knocking over a second off her PB to finish in 28.3s. Rhianne Boatswain fresh from success in the 100m where she clocked a PB of 13.7s then equalled her B string 200m running 28.8s.  However it was the non-scoring event that the crowds found exciting as Ellie Hopgood dominated the second half of her 200m to achieve a stunning win and new PB 29.4s having had a nervous start and coming from the back she drove hard and held her head to the line overtaking the rest of the field.  Her 100m earlier in the day had also earnt the club second place points and another PB (13.6s).

Callum McKay and Graig Anya-Joseph dominated the men’s sprints events with McKay now a second year U17 men’s running an unchallenged 11.2s in the 100m and well ahead of the field again in 22.6 s (PB) in the 200m, whilst Anya Joseph as a first year U15 took just under half a second off his previous PB to run 11.5s (ranking him top 5 in the UK) and a massive 0.7 s off of his 200m best to finish in 23.7s.  Both earnt maximum points for the team… next week will see them compete at the Essex Champs where they will be hoping for podium places and some electronic timings to confirm top 15 national rankings.

Over 300m the U15 girls both achieved PB’s with Isabella Minder clocking 50.5s and newcomer Grace Rothwell 50.6s.  Going for the U17 women were Savannah Harrison who finished in 6th place in 47.00s with Rachel Hoddell taking third in the B string in a time of 49.1s.  At their first meet for Harriers for the boys Jack Banyard took 7th place in 54.9s and B string sprinter Sebastian Jacobs took 5th place in 49.7s.

In the 400m U17 men’s Thierry Ajala continued to show form by finishing almost four seconds  ahead of the field in a time of 53.2s, having run a 100m just twenty minutes before hand, where he claimed a valuable third place in a time of 12.4s  another PB.  Back after a winter of injury niggles,  Daniel Jones, who is always ready for a challenge, held on to take first place in his first ever 400m proving what a talented youngster he is, clocking in at 54.1s.

As the temperature started to rise so did the distances and in 800m new U13 girl Anna Ritchie set herself a PB in a time of 3:01.7 whilst team mate Rebecca Collins dug deep to claim a good 4th place. U15 Milly Presland, who is most comfy over longer distances took on the faster pace of the 800m for the first time and claimed a great 2nd place and a time of 2:32.4s. Grace Rothwell certainly earned her pips for the club running into 3rd place as B string 800m just after her debut 300m.  Also new to the club, Charlie Parmenter, who earlier in the day had finished 6th in the U13 200m also took 6th in the 800m in a time of 2:57.4.  In his first year as a U15 Charlie Walder knocked a very impressive 8 seconds off of his previous PB to come in at 2:52.8 and 5th Place with A string runner and another newbie Chris Smith also placing 5th in 2:26.0.    As a club it’s always good to see cross country and park runners cross over onto the track for the summer; Joseph Boden did just that and was rewarded with a 5 second PB in his U17 men’s 800m storming into 3rd in a time of 2:16.4 with Sam Shorter clocking a quicker time as B string in 2:15.5.

Ziggy Lambton’s U15 boys’ 1500m race was certainly one of the day’s highlights. It was a text book tactical race, sitting on the shoulder of the leader until he pushed for home over the last 100m to claim victory and a new PB, in 4:39.0s.  Sam Hoffman earned valuable points and stepped up for the team to take sixth place as B string runner.  In the U17 men’s 1500 Max Caulfield and Danny Millward claimed 3rd and 2nd places respectively in the A and B string races both claiming new PB’s with Caulfield knocking a very impressive 9 seconds off of last year’s best time.  For girls Alexandra Bell-Cobbold (5:43.0) and Grace Gardiner (6:17.5) both competed 1500m for U13 and once again both achieved PB’s. In U15 girls, Molly Whitehead came home in 5:49.9 and Hannah Rodgers in 6:42.0. in the oldest age category Jasmine West  claimed 4th place in 5:36.4 and Elizabeth Wood took top spot as B string runner in 5:49.0.  Interestingly despite only being an U13, Bell-Cobbold recorded the second quickest time out of all Harrier’s girls and will be one to watch as the season progresses.

Valuable team points were earnt in the Field events which saw U13 girl Olivia Simon claim a big PB in Shot with a distance of 6.44m which now puts her in the national rankings for her age. Rebecca Collins PB’d with 4.05m.  In the equivalent event for boys Charlie Parmenter put 6.18m. Moving up to U15 Aliya Soames and Isabella Minder both claimed 4th place in A and B with throws of 8.57m and 4.96m respectively.

Over in the sand pit, Harriers Long Jumpers produced yet more Personal Bests, including U13 Grace Gardiner (3.44m), U15 Eliza Betts taking 2nd place with a new best jump of 4.64m, for U17’s it was lovely to see Lauren Strutt back competing for the club and with no training took 4th place with a jump of 4.57m (in Triple Jump she then took 2nd place with a leap of 8.91m).

Multi eventer Madeleine Claydon took 2nd place in the U15 girls Pole Vault in dull windy conditions then third in High Jump clearing a new PB of 1.30m. Team mate Milly Presland also claimed a new best as B string also clearing 1.30m. Joseph Boden proved just how handy he is as a team member by clearing 1.50 m in his first attempt at the U17 men’s high jump.

In Discus U13 Natasha Nell produced a throw of 8.25m in her debut for the club whilst Lily Upton had to hop across the track fresh from her 200m to claim 4th place with a throw of 6.49m. Amalia Dean came 5th in U15 girls’ discus with a throw of 16.08m supported by Aliyah Soames as B string with 13.57m. U17 Ammaarah Parker took 2nd place with a top 100 ranking throw of 22.25m and Lauren Strutt claimed B string 2nd place with 13.74m whilst no scorer Hollie Speller earnt herself a PB with a throw of 12.59m. U13 boy Feliz Ruiz earned points for his third place throw of 13.85m whilst Anya-Joseph won his U15 boys discus with a throw of 32.96m.

It was great to see Aliyah Soames back with a Javelin in her hand and her throw of 27.91m puts her back up in the top 50 UK ranked athletes her age. U17 Hollie Speller unable to compete in her favoured running events due to injury gained much needed points for the team by competing in a relatively new event for her. U15 boys’ newcomer Harvey Daniels claimed a good third place in the Javelin with a throw of 14.93s.

Also competing for the club were: U13 Daisy Bullamore 100m 17.3s, LJ 2m92,  Grace Gardiner 1500m 6.17.3, Lily ford 100m 16.3 / 200 34.1, Chloe Goddard 100m 17.5 / 200m 37.0, Lois Gore h/j 1.10 / l/j 3.59 Freya Millward 800m 3.31.1, Lily Nozohoor 100m 15.4 / 200m 32.0. Anna Ritchie 200m 31.8s, Alexandra Bell-Cobbold 200m 32.2s  U15 Grace Rothwell 800m 2.52.0/  300m 50.6. Jess Elmer 100m 15.1s/ 200m 31.8s, U17 Tito Sogeki 100m 15.9s, Rachel Hoddell 200m 30.9s

Boys: U13 Ben Caulfield 1500m 5:35.4/ LJ 2.65m/ Jav 9.11m,(all PB’s) Theo Gardiner 1500m 5:37.2 / Jav 9.05m (All PB’s) U15: Charlie Walder 200m 30.8s (PB) / Shot 7.69m (PB), Sam Hoffman 1500m 6:11.7 (PB) / LJ 3.48m/ Shot 4.13m, Sebastian Jacobs 300m 49.7s (pb)/ LJ 3.26m (pb). U17 Sam Shorter 800m 2:15.5 (pb), 1500m Fergus  4:47.8 (pb), Callum McKay Discus 19.09m (pb), Danny Milward Discus 9.95m (pb), Daniel Jones LJ 5.21m (pb).

Colchester finished in third place over all scoring 443 points. The next EYAL is Sunday 4 June at Chelmsford.