Harriers close in on winning North Essex Cross Country League title

The club inflicted a rare home defeat on rivals Ipswich JAFFA in the fourth round of the North Essex and South Suffolk Cross Country league. With two races to go the Harriers lead by five points, meaning just finishing third in each of the remaining fixtures will bring the title back to Colchester for the first time in many years.

The Orwell Bridge Suffolk Food Hall course saw some great performances by the senior athletes from the men and ladies who both won and both girls and boys junior teams who also won; it was a whitewash by the Harriers.

Ramadam Osman who had the day previous finished runner up in the Essex XC League romped home a long way clear of the field. He was backed up by the other scorers Nathan Filer, Chris Sellens, Ermeas Aferwerki, Richard Heath, Tom Cresswell, Andrew Lovelock and James Wright. The ladies were also victors shaking off losing an ill Andrea James before the race to win comfortably thanks to Aiko Hennington, Helen Taczynski, Debbie Cattermole and Margaret Deasy.

Our finishers were:

Ladies  Aiko Hennington 4th, Helen Taczynski 5th, Debbie Cattermole 7th, Margaret Deasy 9th, Ella Neale 10th, Annette Oakman 15th, Jo Marks 19th, Kate Sandercock 30th, Jenny Richardson53rd and Fay Smalls 94th.
Men Ramadam Osman 1st, Nathan Filer 4th, Chris Sellens 7th, Ermeas Aferwerki 10th, Richard Heath 12th, Tom Cresswell 19th, Andrew Lovelock 22nd, James Wright 25th, Danny Millward 30th, Joseph Boden 31st, Robert Smith 33rd, Mark McKeown 36th, Oscar Dawson 39th, Paul Rodgers 40th, Paul Preston 42nd, Fergus Crouch 43rd, Paul Dobson 46th, Jon Nears 48th, John Fryer 53rd, Keith Marley 54th, Colin Ridley 56th, Kevin Higgins 57th, Craig Mitchell 62nd, Russell Goodridge 73rd, Jerry Walder 74th, James Waterson 88th, Charlie Holohan 89th, Andrew Dagge 102nd, Richard Millward 104th, Dan Beard 108th, Nikolas Krickta 118th, Andy Taczynski 120th, Dan Mark 122nd, Dan Wilkinson 130th, Martin Claydon 147th, Keiron Callaghan 154th, Pat Marsh 157th and Mick Bond 161st..

Team Results 1. Colchester Harriers 125 pts, 2. Ipswich JAFFA 160 pts, 3. Great Bentley 611 pts, 4. Harwich Road Runners 642 pts, 5. Witham Running Club 656 pts and 6. Springfield Striders 980pts.
League positions after 4 races  1. Colchester Harriers 23 pts, 2. Ipswich JAFFA 18 pts, 3. Witham 13 pts , 4. Springfield Striders 13 pts, 5. Great Bentley 10 pts, 6. Harwich Road Runners 7 pts.

For SENIOR results click on the link – http://www.nessxc.org.uk/results-senior.htm

All images by Allen Smalls

The Junior Harriers team are unbeaten in the league this season and again stormed to victory with individual winners yet again Thomas Palmer and Milly Presland.

Our finishers were

Girls Milly Presland 1st, Alexandra Bell-Cobbold 4th, Madeleine Claydon 6th, Grace Gardiner 10th, Missy Buxton 12th, Niamh Higgins 17th, Emily Swan 18th, Molly Whiteford 22nd, Amelia Green 25th, Jess Longstaff 26th, Emily Hendersin 27th, Daisy Rickwood 30th, Maise Whiler-Tayre 32nd, Alice Begg 33rd, Emily Longstaff 34th, Jan Goldsmith 49th, Mia Ghignoni 66th and Nancy Filer 69th.
Boys Thomas Palmer 1st, Victor Steinward 2nd, Theo Gardiner 15th, Tommy Colsell 20th, Charlie Walder 23rd, Charlie Parmenter 28th, Harrison Leek 30th, Finlay Greenleaf 39th, Stephen Lee 54th, Alex Walder 55th and Joseph Filer 61st.

For JUNIOR results click on the link – http://www.nessxc.org.uk/results-junior.htm

There were more excellent results from the Essex Cross Country league fixture at the Epping Forest, Chingford. The senior men’s team finished runners up in high class company, they were second beaten by Havering AC with Orion Harriers third. Our finishers were Ramadam Osman 2nd, Ed Michell0 14th, Nathan Filer 17th, Chris Sellens 26th, Allen Smalls 38th, Gavin Scanlon 49th, Andy Jobling 54th, Alex Sales 71st, Paul Rodgers 73rd, Jason Gunn 74th, Tim Ballard 88th, Simon Morgan 125th and Andy Taczynski 149th. The veteran men’s team finished third.

The senior ladies team finished fourth and the veterans team runners up. With the worse score to be dropped the veteran ladies are odds on favourties to win the league at the final fixture in Basildon early next month. Our finishers were Denise Morley 9th, Helen Taczynski 14th, Rebecca Cooke 18th, Ella Neale 27th and Mellissa Dowell 42nd.

In the junior races Milly Presland was 4th and Madeline Claydon 16th in the under 15 girls race, while the impressive Danny Millward continued his good form with 4th spot in the under 17 men’s race. Daisy Rickwood finished 32nd in the under 13 girls race and Charlie Parmenter ran well for 31st in the under 13 boys race.

Other news  Malcolm Statham completed his 210th Marathon at the East Hanningfield Trail event in 4 hours and 20 minutes. Jerry Walder ran a huge personal best 18m 17s at the Olympic Park 5km.

The Clare Park run had one of its biggest fields with 170 plus runners. Although muddy, a trio of Harriers run well with Chris Mamby 5th, Charlie Holihan 6th, and David Wright 7th.
Colchester Castle Park run saw Kevin Higgins run a personal best to be first home for Harriers in 4th spot clocking 18m 48s, Jon Nears was 7th, and Keith Marley 8th. Laura Shewbridge was first lady yet again in 20m 19s finishing 10th overall in a big field of 525 runners, just short of the largest ever Colchester Castle field.
Ziggy Lampton won the Mersea Cudmore Grove Park run in 19m 28s, while at Harwich Promenade Park run Simon Ford was 8th, Dan Wilkinson 9th in a PB of 20m 55s and Greg McDowell 12th.

Harriers at the front right from the start

Another impressive win for Ramadan

Fine runs from Helen 5th and Margaret 9th

An excellent 7th place for Debbie

First Harrier lady home was Aiko in 4th place

Harriers in the pack