Ladies shine as men have bad day

The Cross Country season is winding to its close and Colchester Harriers position of 2nd overall is, barring disaster, confirmed. The men were mainly marathon training and so decided to give the race a miss, which was a shame as just a few points more would have seen Harriers finish 2nd on the day rather then last. The ladies did well to finish 2nd and overall the team were 5th, their lowest ever finish in a 53:12 XC race. Performance of the day came from Allen Smalls, the 48 year old gets stronger and was a superb 3rd. The only other performances of note for the men was Angus Holford, still suffering from returning injuries, 10th, Anthony Barraclough 21st and Paul Spowage 24th. Only 5 other Harriers finished with Andrew Dagge 41, David Wright 50, Mick Bond 90, Dave Gayor 99 and Pat Marsh 135.

The ladies all ran well wirh Ellie Mayne 5, Rachel Dale 7, Megan Mackay 13 and final scorer Rachel Taylor 16. Also running well were Rachel Rodgers 66 and Becky Bjotter 88.

League positions with one race to go. 1. Ipswich 29, 2. Colchester Harriers 23, 3. Witham 17, 4. Springfield 14, 5. Harwich 12, 6. Great Bentley 10.

The juniors were a good second just pipped by Colchester and Tendring with Ipswich Jaffa 3rd.

2. Danny Millward (1st under 15), 7. Fergus Crouch, 9. Thierry Ajala 10 Joe Boden, 12. Archie French 17. Milly Presland (1st under 13), 19. Theo Gardiner (1st under 11), 31. Madeline Claydon (2nd under 13), 37. Charlie Parmenter, 39 . Millie Whiteford, 42.Grace Gardiner, 57. Isabella Minde, 60. Savannah Harrison, 65. Amelia Dean, 76. Hannah Rodgers.

At the Southern Cross Country Championships held over 9 miles at Parliament Hills, Paul Rodgers was 265th and Colin Ridley 314th.

The latest Park runs saw excellent results for the Harriers at Colchester Castle it was 1,2,3, for the ladies with Elspeth Bisson leading home Jasmine West and Gemma Browne, Fergus Crouch at 15 years old was the overall winner in a field of 363 in 18:07. Keith marley was runner up in 18:48. Mark Harrod was close to victory at Great Notley finishing runner up in 19.00. Drew Olley won Gt Cornard in 18:09 and at Mersea Max Caulfield was 3rd in 18:45, with Richard Flutter on his full debut 10th, Rachel Rodgers ran a personal best 26:00.