Colchester Harriers enjoyed a successful evening at the Ipswich Twilight 5K with a string of fine performances.

Evergreen Adrian Mussett led the way running 15:21, the fastest time in his age group in the UK this year, to claim seventh place overall and just edging out club mate Jordan Middlemist, who ran a personal best (PB) of 15;29 to finish one place behind in eighth.  Max Caulfield improved his own previous best by over a minute to finish twelfth in 15:42, men’s club captain Tom Cresswell clocked 16:22 (PB), and was followed by Colin Ridley who was first M60 in 17:06 and Paul Spowage who was first M55 home in 17:29.  Kevin Higgins (17:38), Keith Marley (18:02) and Becky Cooke (19:14) also recorded fast times to complete a good night’s work in Suffolk for the Colchester club.

Elsewhere Women’s club captain Tracy English, competing against some of the country’s best athletes in the English Half-Marathon Age Group Masters in Chester, ran a superb 1:26:32 on an undulating course to come home third in her age group.

In the Paras 10, run over a challenging course on Ministry of Defence land, Laura Shewbridge was first woman home in 1:15:16, Tim Ballard clocked 1:07:29 and Gary Licence 1:13:55.

In track action there was also success for a number of young Colchester athletes in both the Essex and Suffolk Championship races.  Emerging Under 15 star Lyla Belshaw was once again in fine form, winning both the Essex 1500m and 3000m championships to complete a remarkable double, in the process running the UK’s fastest 3000M (9:55:10) and second fastest 1500M (4:35:81) this year.  There were a number of other excellent performances from Colchester runners in the Suffolk championships including bronze medals for Hayden Preston in the U13 1500m, Theo Gardiner in the U17 800m and Isla Widdowson in the U15 1500m.