COLCHESTER Harriers have secured their top-flight spot for another season after a superb win in their final Southern Athletics League match.

The Green Vests fought hard for every point in Tonbridge and had to wait until the result of the final field event, the men’s discus, to secure the win by just 2.5 points.

In the 400m events there were wins for Connor Oliver and Ross Livingstone in the men’s races, Stacey Eyers in the women’s race, Matt and Heather Rose in their A string hurdles races and Robert Smith and Nicola Martell-Smith in their B string hurdles races.

The 4x400m women’s relay quartet of Nicola Martell-Smith, Becky Jeggo, Stacey Eyers and Helen Bloomfield inherited the win in four minutes 12.2 seconds after the Thames Valley Harriers team were disqualified for a lane infringement.

Harriers' hammer throwers took maximum points with impressive wins for James Hamblin, Rob Earle, Phillippa Davenall and Catherine Holdsworth, who also won the A string shot competition.

The only Harrier to win a jumping event was Jessica Francis, in the B string pole vault competition.

It was a good day for Harriers' sprinters against one of the region's top sprint clubs Thames Valley Harriers, with wins for Becky Jeggo and Heather Rose in their 200m races.

The men’s 100m races saw Charlie Dobson and Connor Oliver clock 11.3s and 11.4s for second place in their races. Becky Jeggo and Isabel Sawyer also finished second, in their 100m races.

Harriers' men’s 4x100m relay team clocked 45.6s to finish second to Thames Valley Harriers, while Matt Rose and Robert Smith won their 110m hurdles races.

In the middle distance events Paul Clifford and Oscar Dawson, both took second place in their 800m races whilst Stacey Eyres and Beth Francis also finished second.

Helen Bloomfield was second in the B string 1,500m race while Ramadan Osman, Oscar Dawson and Emma Livingstone all finished third in their races.

In the distance races there were second places for Ramadan Osman and Chris Sellens in the 5,000m, Robert Smith in the B string 2,000m steeplechase and Sarah Stradling in the 3,000m.

Ben Halls was third in the A string 2,000m steeplechase.

Points were hard to pick up in the jumps for Harriers, with second place in the B string for Helen Bloomfield and third places for Millie Belbin, Matt Rose and Oscar Dawson in the triple jump.

In the women’s high jump competition, Nicola Martell-Smith and Jessica Francis both finished second.

Millie Belbin equalled her personal best (PB) of 2.00m in the pole vault, to finish second in the A string.

In the throwing events, Phillippa Davenall picked up more valuable points with second in the B string shot and A string discus competitions.

Kathryn Hart was second in the B string discus while Catherine Holdsworth and Nicola Martell-Smith covered the javelin completion, finishing second and third respectively.

James Hamblin, Rob Earle, Paul Clifford, Paul Cooper added to Harriers' points total in the throwing events.

Cooper finished second in the A string javelin with an excellent throw of 49.78m and Earle and Hamblin were second and third in the discus, to help Harriers secure the match win.

Result: 1 Colchester Harriers 198 points, 2 Basingstoke and Mid Hants 195.5 points, 3 Thames Valley Harriers 185 points, 4 Tonbridge AC 150.5 points.