Colchester Harriers continued their run of success in the Essex County Championship road race series with another strong all round performance in the 10K event at Chelmsford on Sunday.  Colin Ridley (35:37) and William Haining (43:49) led the way, both claiming the gold medals in their respective age groups, whilst Ram Osman ran 34:01 to claim 15^th place overall out of a field of nearly 400. Andrew Jobling also ran strongly to finish 25^th in a personal best (PB) time of 35:21, and there were also PBs on the day for Jack McGuire (37:15) and James Plant (42:11).

Colchester’s runners were also in action across the border in Suffolk in the Hadleigh 5 and 10 mile road races.  Carlos Catalan was first home for the club in the 5 mile event, running 32:25 to finish in 11^th place overall with Kate Gibson clocking 38:32 to finish second FV50 and Louise Yates coming home in 41:12 to take the FV40 title.  Alice Craggs finished in 41:34 with Mark Wade posting 45:13.   Dan Widdowson was first across the line in the 10 mile race, running 1:01:22 to finish inside the top 20 with Jerry Walder hot on his heels in a PB of 1:03:27 to claim third place in his age group.  Chris Manby ran 1:09:05, Charlie Holohan and Dave Hilson clocked 1:13:50 with Nicola Hilson and Tina Southgate finishing together in 1:17:25 to secure their respective age group trophies, and Arthur Whiston finishing second V65 in 1:17:29.

Elsewhere in 10K action Paul Mingay ran a spritely 34:54 to retain the V60 British Masters title at Gravesend, edging out his closest rival by just two seconds in a thrilling finish.

Harriers rounded off a good weekend’s work at the Colchester Highwoods Parkrun with Nate Filer (18:04), Jon Battram (19:41) and Andrea Salin (19:41) the first three to cross the line as more than 20 club members donned their green vests to enjoy the event.