Colchester Harriers athletes turned out in force and enjoyed a successful evening at the Essex 5K Championships at Colchester’s Northern Gateway Sportspark.

In breezy yet still humid conditions Harriers speedster Dean Williamson led the way with a thrilling victory in the elite race, holding off the chasing pack to secure the gold medal in a time of 14:52.  Dean was backed up by excellent runs from James Morley (15:44) and Jason Gunn (16:24, MV40 Silver) as Harriers’ men also swept to the team trophy. 

The women were also dominant as in-form Lydia Callan ran a mature race to take the overall bronze medal in 17:33, Rosie Wild dipped at the line to snatch fifth place in 18:03 and Holly Freegard clocked 18:21 in a remarkable debut over the distance, the three also combining to take the team gold medal.  Victoria Primmer (18:55, 11th), Jennifer Lovelock (19:09 – 14^th) and Laura Shewbridge (19:47, FV40 Bronze) combined to take the team silver medal on the night as the green vests came away with yet another 1-2 despite the high quality field.*

There were a number of other individual county medal winners – Fran Norris ran an excellent 21:55 to take FV60 Gold, Mel Dowell took FV55 Silver in 21:53 and Annette Oakman posted 20:50 to take FV50 Silver.  For the men Peter West crossed the line in 18:11 for MV55 Gold and Colin Ridley recorded 17:35 to take MV60 Gold.  Full results below.

The following day, and at the other end of the endurance spectrum, a brave band of four Harriers took on the Stour Valley Path Ultra over a gruelling, hilly 50Km course stretching from Sudbury to Manningtree.  Tim Ballard was the first to reach the finish, clocking 4:44:49 to finish seventh overall and 2^nd MV45.  Nicola Hilson and Eleanor Mayne came across the line together in 6:17:53, Eleanor 1^st FV40 and Nicola 3^rd FV50, whilst Dan Macey was able to take a well-deserved rest after being on his feet for 6:44:32.

Essex 5K Championships – full results:

D Williamson 14:52, J Morley 15:44, J Gunn 16:24 (PB), C Sellens 16:41, C Humphries 17:01, M McKeown 17:09, L Callan 17:33, C Ridley 17:35, B Donnelly 17:41, S Mason 17:50, A Lovelock 17:51, C Pugh 17:52, K Higgins 17:55, R Wild 18:03, H Freegard 18:21, A Borwick 18:22 (PB), C Edwards 18:32, S Ford 18:55, V Primmer 18:55, P Dellar 18:55, S Colclough 18:56 (PB), J Lovelock 19:09, L Shewbridge 19:47, P Neville 20:02, G Donoghue 20:36, E Cumner 20:42, A Oakman 20:50, D Steptoe-Thompson 21:09 (PB), P Clark 21:15, M Dowell 21:53, F Norris 21:55, J Peters 22:53, G Hayes 23:43, I Bueggeln 24:14.

*team medals subject to final confirmation.