Colchester Harriers’ athletes enjoyed success at two very different events held over the course of another weekend of soaring temperatures.

An intrepid group of 4 took on the SVP 50, a gruelling 50 kilometre ultra-marathon trail race following the Stour Valley Path from Sudbury to Manningtree.   In torrid conditions Cameron Humphries completed the course, including 730 metres of climbing, in 5:06:36 to finish in fourth place.  Chris Manby came home in 14^th in 5:57:05, whilst Paul Rodgers clocked 9:08:52 and Kieran Callaghan 9:10:25.

Meanwhile an evening of 5K and 10K racing at the town’s Northern Gateway attracted a large field of runners keen to post fast times on the flat, looped course.

The fast 5K event saw Tom Rehal defy the conditions to run a Personal Best (PB) 15:26 to finish eighth, with Ryan Day running 16:01 (PB), Andy Jobling 16:26 (PB), Louis Davey 16:52 (PB) and Mark McKeown 17:22.

The earlier open 5K event also saw a number of fine performances in even hotter conditions with Justine Sheekey winning the women’s race with a perfectly paced 19:50 (PB), Annette Oakman 2^nd FV50 in 22:39 and Georgina Horrocks 2^nd FV 30 in 25:08.  Jay Hadley led the way in the men’s event, coming home in 17:53 to finish fifth, with Mark Howard sixth in 18:08, Michael Smith ran 18:48 and Simon Ford 19:31.  Simon Colcough (20:07) and Andy Raynor (20:15) finished just outside 20 minutes, whilst George Hayes ran 21:25 and Dean Wicks 23:06.  Meanwhile the evergreen Arthur Whiston braved the 10K event, completing 10 laps of the 1K course in a time of 54:17 to finish 1^st MV 70.