Colchester Harriers' Louis Persent opened his outdoor season in earnest last weekend, at the Loughborogh International, in preperation for a very busy and exciting summer schedule.

After a relaxed first half of the race, he comfortably won his 400m race in chilly stopping the clock at 47.25secs.He ran a relaxed first 200m before producing a strong finish, to claim his first win of the season.

Cameron Irwin also competed at Loughborough, this time in the 400m Hurdles, where he claimed 5th place in his race, clocking 54.1secs.This followed his mid week win at Watford, where he ran a personal best in the flat 400m of 49.17secs.

The weekend also saw Harriers' coach Steve Garnham, who is coach to Persent and Irwin, work with the victorious England team as one of their team coaches for the event.

Colchester Harriers hosted the second match in this season’s campaign in the Southern Athletics League Division 2NE at the Garrison Track. Facing tough competition, including league leaders Bedford and County, the Harriers fielded a strong team. Excellent performances all round, including many personal bests (PBs), resulted in a victory with a massive 249 points.

The day kicked off with the men’s shot putt with the duo of Rob Earle and Daniel Moles taking first and third positions, the pair then tackled the hammer and discus with Rob taking first place in both and Dan taking second and third place respectively, Daniel also threw the javelin and took second place.

Robbie Smith competed in his usual events of HJ with a height of 1.60m, 400m hurdles in a time of 60.2, 110m hurdles in a time of 19.2sec and triple jumped out to 10.59 he then took part in the 4x100m relay.

Matt Rose excelled himself taking part in the High Jump where he achieved the height of 1.65m, came second in the 400m hurdles in a time of 58.8sec, achieved a distance of 5.89m in the long jump, pole-vaulted a height of 3.30m, threw the Javelin a distance of 33.92m, ran the 110m hurdles in a time of 16.1 and was a team member of the 400m relay. Ian Vickery had a good day running the 800m in a time of 2.06.9, the 3000m in a time of 9.43.5 and the steeple chase taking the 2nd position. Billy Stanley achieved two new personal best times in the 100m and 200m in times of 11.9 & 24.3 respectively and Rob Clarke took on the 100m with a time of 12.3 and ran the 1500m. Ben Ridley-Johnson took time out of his study to compete in the 400m talking first place achieving a new PB of 52.1 and Tom White also set a new PB in the 200m and a season best in the 400m. Dave Allworthy ran the 800m and Adrian Mussett ran the 3000m in a time of 9.04.5 taking first place. Conner Price had an amazing day taking 13 sec of his personal best in the 1500m 4.23.2. & Dave Wright had a good steeple chase the first one for 4 years in a time of 11.36.6. The relays team of Azarmi, Rose. Smith and White took second place in a time of 47.7 and the 4x400m team of Rose, Price, Stanley and Allworthy finished in second position.

The ladies were in outstanding form gaining 14 wins on the track and 8 in the field. Kelly Sutton won the A string 100m, before running an excellent PB of 25.8s to take the B 200m. Heather Shepherd also ran 25.8s to win the A race, as well as dominating the 400m in 57.9s. Amie Speller was second in the B 100m in 13.6s. Non-scorers in the event were Anna Taylor (14.0s), Sophie Fisher (14.0s) and Chloe Young (14.1s). Taylor also ran 29.6s in the 200m. Denise Morley was victorious in both the B 400m and A 800m, Rebecca Cooke and Heidi Steele had good runs in the 800m, whilst Abi Newbold achieved a PB of 67.9s in the 400m. Molly and Joy Huggins covered the 1500m, whereas team debutants Karen Baker and Paige Morgan picked up the points in the 3000m, where Sarah Stradling ran a fine 10:35.6. Gillian Benjamin ran 7:28.6 in the non-scoring 1500m.

Maximum points were gained in the hurdle events, with Catherine Holdsworth and Emily Moore running 14.6s and 15.2s respectively in the 100 sprint hurdles event. Jessica Cutts won the 400m event, with Megan Moore running a 77.0s PB to win the B race. A new event to the Harriers, the 2000m steeplechase, was tackled successfully with victories for Stacey Wheat and Molly Huggins.

Meanwhile in the field Holdsworth and Cutts teamed up in the hammer both gaining PBs of 24.79m and 18.55m respectively. They had more success with a brace of victories each in the javelin and high jump. Elsewhere in the throws Holdsworth won the shot with a huge putt of 12.86m, Jade Morgan winning the B string with 9.87m. Kathryn Hart, Stacey Wheat and Harriet Wilson put in fine performances to pick up more valuable points in the throws.

Morgan won the triple jump with an immense leap of 12.29m, Fisher jumping 8.79m for second in the B string. Fisher was also second in the B long jump, Helen Bloomfield jumping 4.69m to take second in the A. Lizzie Simon vaulted an excellent 2.30m for a new PB and second place in the pole vault, Fisher winning the B with 1.70m.

The action ended with success in both relays. Sutton, Morgan, Fisher and Speller running 52.7s to win the 4x100m, before Morley, Cutts, Holdsworth and Shepherd stormed to victory in the 4x400m race.

Final score: Colchester Harriers 249 points, Ryston Runners 213 points, Bedford and County 151 points, Loughton 85 points.

Allen Smalls continued his amazing season becoming Essex Veterans over 40 ten mile champion after running a superb 55-10 at the tough Great Baddow course only a week after winning the Essex Marathon. Smalls was third overall and only 3 seconds off second place. Pete west extended his normal race distance and was pleased with his time of 61-.45. Arthur Whiston continues to dominate the Essex over 60 scene and was crowned champion in 66-10. Fay Emmerson ran smoothly in 85-04. John Wheatley finished in 74-51, 2nd MV65.

The first of the summer series was held on a breezy Thursday night at Harwich seafront. The outgoing 3km was easy but the 140 runners had to brave the strong winds on the turn for 2kms. A good turn out was achieved by Colchester Harriers.

John Cooke was the first Harrier home finishing in 11th spot in 20-53 and making a good start for the handicap series. Next home was Ellie Mayne ( 41) clocking 20-44 for 4th fastest lady on the night. Sarah Ivory last ran this race two years ago and was fastest lady that night , this time she was faster running a personal best 19-03 (61) but had to settle for second behind Tamara Jordan. Andy Raynor continues to improve 18-46 ( 65), while Chris Sellens was the fastest runner overall in 16-32 (70). Laura Stott 22-36 ( 109), David Wright 18-46 ( 122) , Ron Benjamin 21-47(127), and Fran Norris 22-32 (129) also competed on the night.

Super vets Jack Fryer and Les Dunham completed the 20 mile race duplicating their last years positions in the UK Athletics Trail Running Championship (middle distance) by coming home 1st and 3rd respectively in their age group. Jack Fryer was 37th overall in a time of 2.55.29 and Les Dunham was 57th in a time of 3.11.28. both were pleased with their times as they were within a minute of last years despite very little training in sunshine and two last minute course changes caused by excess water and mud in the wooded sections. 

Colchester Harriers athletes wore their green vests with pride on Day 2 of the Essex County Track and Field championships, held at Chelmsford’s Melbourne Park Stadium. 

Emily Moore started the weekend off, taking the Bronze medal in the Under 20 Women’s 100m Hurdles, with a new personal best of 15.06secs and Matt Rose also hurdling in the Senior Men’s 110m Hurdles, to a new personal best of 15.66secs.

Tom White then then ran a solid Under 17 Men’s 400m race, making his way into the final, but having to withdraw from the final with injury.

Kelly Sutton raced her way to a new personal best in the Under 20 Women’s 100m, taking the Bronze medal in a time of 12.33secs, while Keisha Holohan-Yates als o sprinted a new pb of 13.04secs into the final of the Under 17 Women’s 100m final.

  Ben Argent continued on from last years successes and brought his time closer to breaking the 50sec barrier, when he took the Silver medal in the Under 20 Men’s 400m, while in the same race Ben Ridley Johnson ran 52.74secs

when taking 4th place.

Abbey Newbold ran a new p.b. in the Under 20 Women’s 400m and also took on the 100m . 

Robert Clarke and Connor Price both took on the challenge of the Under 17 Men’s 800m where Clarke took the Bronze medal in a new pb of 2min.05.49secs with Price not far behind, running in at 2min.11.45sec 

The Under 15 Girls of Philippa Davenall Alao and Isabel Sawyer ran in the 100m making their way through to the semi finals while Katherine Jayne-Watts took 4th place in the 800m final in a time of 2min. 24.93secs

Paul Spowage added to his medal collection when taking the Bronze in the Veteran Men’s 1500m in 4min 35secs and Denise Morley made light work of taking Gold in the Veteran Women’s 300m, the day after competing in the Senior Women’s 400m, where she clocked 62secs.

Helen Bloomfield tried her hand at the Senior Women’s Long Jump, where she leaped out to 4.84m.

 

At last on day 3 of the Essex champs the weather threw up some glorious sunshine at Chelmsford Athletic stadium, along with some fantastic performances, by a strong contingent of Colchester Harriers athletes.
In the under 13 boys Jake Young achieved a magnificent double winning the gold in the 800m, to go with his gold in the 1500m 2weeks ago. In a tough fought race, Jake finished strongly to win in a time of 2:21.18, a seasons best. Jack Shepherd also competed, finishing 3rd in his heat in a time of 2:36.95.
Jordan Fester had a great day getting silver in the U13s 100m in a time of 13.8.
In the under13 girls, Rebecca Jeggo ran strongly in the 75m, just missing out on a medal finishing 4th in 10.84.
In the girls U15s, KJ Watts ran a well-controlled race, timing her finish well to win the bronze medal in a time of 5:02.17 a new PB by 3 seconds.
Phillippa Davenhall and Faith Aloa ran in the 200m U15s, Pip recording 29.73 and Faith 29.4 a new PB. Pip also took bronze in the discus with a great throw of 20.8 mtrs
Jack Keane turned out in the 300m tackling this distance for the first time, he ran an exceptional race winning silver in a time of 39.67 setting a club record in the process.
In the senior men’s 400m hurdles Cameron Irwin just made the start in time after a mix up but still managed silver with a time of 54.95.
Heather Shepherd went in the senior women’s 200m final coming 5th in 26.34. Denise Morley had a busy afternoon, running in the 300m and winning gold in 45.02, she also ran in the 800m, finishing 4th 2:21.35.

The well known duo of Adrian Mussett and Sarah Stradling swept to victory at a well supported Colchester 10km from the Garrison running track. Musset ran just under 32 minutes while Stradling clocked 36-38. John Fryer was third in 34-50, while Pete West was a fine 7th in 36-33. Arthur Whiston won the ove r60 award, and Andy Raynor ran a personal best of 38-50. Pat Marsh, John Cooke, Mark Brown,Liz Cudmore, and Ellie Mayne all ran well, Maynes was a best ever time of  42-46. New signing Phil Wells ran an impressive 40-51. Laura Stott- Allworthy and Rebecca Cooke both ran well in 45-20 and 46-54 respectivilly . John Wheatley at 69 ran a personal best time of 44-21 , as did Karen Baker in 51-46. Claire Adams ran 44-49.Bill Haining ran the Frinton 5 to continue his come back trail.

Colchester Harriers Allen Smalls was in superb form at the Essex Marathon winning the tough two lap course race round the lovely rural villages bordering Halstead in 2-35 his second fastest ever Marathon time. Even more astonishing was the distance he won by. When Smalls passed the line he was over two miles and 12 minutes clear of the runner up. So it was County gold senior and veteran medals for Smalls. The team backed Smalls up as well as they could with Paul Preston returning from injury to run a vital time of 3-06 to help Harriers to team bronzes. David Wright was third scorer clocking 3-17 and just failing to pass 5 more runners which would have given Harriers gold team medals. Wright also took over 50 County silver while Chris Manby continued his improvement with his third marathon in 5 weeks producing a personal best of 3-32. Malcolm Statham completed his second marathon of the weekend in 3-50, after finishing the Orpington Marathon in 3-44 the previous day. Paul Dowell did very well on little training to finish Halstead in 4-15. 

Only a week after setting an unofficial World veterans record at the Crawley six hour track race, Allen Smalls swept to victory at a windy and cold Heritage Half marathon held at Thorpeness. The Colchester Harrier was nearly 5 minutes clear of the field clocking 1-18 in what is a very difficult off road event. Ellie Mayne had a fine race finishing 3rd overall her first time in the frame, not far behind was Laura Shewbridge who is still suffering from a slight injury. Liz Cahill was also well up in the field. Fay Emerson had a good race and was unlucky to miss the sub two hour barrier by a minute, Arthur Whiston was not on best form but the over 60 was still home in the first wave of runners. Also completing the half marathon were super veterans Jack Fryer and Les Dunham.

 In the Marathon three Harriers struggled on as the rain got worse and flooded tracks made the going extremely tough.  David Wright was first back for the green vests in 6th spot clocking 3-32 with Malcolm Statham in 8th 3-39 followed by a tired Chris Manby 9th 3-42 .  All three will compete in the Halstead Essex Championship Marathon at Halstead this Sunday.

Pat Marsh was disappointed with his 6th spot in the six mile race, while Fran Norris. Rachel Richardson-Wright, Wendy Fryer, Sue Dunham, and Jackie Reavill all completed the course. 

Bill Haining ran two races finishing 14th and first veteran over 50 at the Kesgrave multi terrain event, and second veteran at the Sawston 7.5 km race clocking 30-10.