Ladies and under 15 girls shine at a muddy Writtle

The third fixture of the Essex Cross Country League on a muddy course at Writtle College saw Colchester Harriers’ women’s team hold on to their third place after finishing third on the day.  Heidi Steele shrugged off injury concerns to finish in 11th position, with Denise Morley (14th and first V50), Rachel Dale (29th) and Alexandra Hennessey (32nd) completing the scoring team.  Debbie Cattermole also had a good day, finishing 43rd and second V55.

Thomas Palmer was the first man home for the club, finishing 41st although he was closely followed by Cameron Humphries (42nd) and Victor Steinwand (43rd).  James Wright (50th), Tim Ballard (62nd) and Gavin Scanlon (69th) completed the scoring team as Harriers finished sixth on the day and now lie in fourth place overall with two races remaining.  Other finishers were Colin Ridley (78th and second V55), Richard Flutter (107th), Mark Wellsted (128th) and Ian Rattray (132nd).

Our Juniors also coped admirably with the conditions with Alexandra Bell-Cobbold (13th), Lizzie Wellsted (17th), Amelia Green (27th) and Emily Henderson (30th) combining to leave the green vests fourth in the U15 girls standings. Milly Presland finished fifth in the women’s 17-20 race.  For the boys, Luke Orrin finished 21st in the U17 mens race, Charlie Parmenter finished 36th in the under 15 boys race whilst Harrison Leek (31st) and Finley Greenleaf (32nd) showed well in the U13 boys race.

Elsewhere Pete Jones ran in the Dawn to Dusk Marathon in Wanstead.  On the shortest day of the year Jones completed 21 laps of the 2k course to finish the marathon event in 3 hours and 57 minutes.  Nearer to home Malcolm Statham ran in the Long Brew Winter Wobble 10, running his way into second place with a time on 1 hour 17 minutes whilst Andrea James continued her return to running, finishing 2nd lady in the Alton Water Great Run 5k.

In parkrun action Danny Millward was first home at Colchester Castle, running 17:45 with Ian Haw second in 18:40 and Jonathan Nears fourth in 19:13.  Ian Jeffries (19:36) and Richard Boden (19:57) also went under 20 minutes, whilst Ella Jeffries was first lady in 21:15.  Elsewhere Martyn Clark was second at Severn Valley (21:54) the same position as Chris Sellens who ran 21:33 at Mersea Island whilst Adam Gerrish clocked 18:45 at Market Rasen.