Colchester Harriers’ women’s team put on another impressive show of strength to come home from the Essex Half Marathon championships at Pleshey with gold and silver team medals so wrapping up the series trophy for the first time in the club’s history.  In what has been a truly golden season on the roads for Colchester’s women, the team took gold medals in five of the six races in the series, also collecting 3 silvers and a bronze to finish well clear of closest rivals, Springfield Striders.

Heidi Hogan-Steele was first home for the green vests on the day taking the individual gold in a time of 1:23:36 to also wrap up the individual series trophy.  Victoria Primmer was second across the line for the club, clocking a Personal Best (PB) 1:26:10 to also win individual bronze on the day, with captain Tracy English completing the gold medal team and also taking V45 gold with her time of 1:28:02.  The silver medal winning trio comprised Lucy Davies (1:28:52), Jennifer Lovelock (1:29:56) and Justine Sheekey (1:33:39), whilst Lily Gilby returned from injury with an encouraging 1:40:33 and Ella Jeffries clocked 1:44:34 in her first outing of the season.

Colin Ridley was once again the star for the men, the evergreen Sudbury based runner crossing the line in 1:20:54 to finish over five minutes ahead of his closest rival and take V60 gold for the fourth time this season.  Tom Cresswell ran 1:16:24, Dan Widdowson 1:20:41, Barry Frost 1:24:47 with Paul Dellar taking V55 Bronze with his time of 1:30:26.  Chris Stevenson ran a strong race to clock 1:31:12 (PB), with James Plant finishing in 1:51:59.

Meanwhile at the Langham 10K Lydia Callan also ran strongly to finish third woman in a time of 40:52 (PB).  James Wright was first man home for the club, running a promising 37:51 on his return from injury to finish ninth overall, Dan King clocked 38:20, Matt Davey 39:58, Duncan Scott 42:03, Jonathan West 43:35, Malcolm Statham 44:01, Steve Wilkins 44:02, Chris Regan 45:25, Nigel Eden 48:53 with Arthur Whiston finishing 2^nd V70 in 50:26.

On the trails Chris Sellens ran from Lowestoft to Aldeburgh in a remarkable 3:45:12 to win the Suffolk Coast Path 50K and Bill Haining clocked a sprightly 45:09 to come home first V65 at the multi-terrain Takeley 10K race.