ALLEN Smalls led Colchester Harriers veterans to a last-race showdown for the Essex Cross Country League title.

The season is drawing to a close and the Green Vests will battle it out with Springfield Striders for the league crown, in their final fixture at Gloucester Park in Basildon.

Harriers have never lost this title yet so will be gunning for it on the day.

Smalls led the Green Vests team home in a superb 19th place in their latest fixture, at Great Notley Country Park.

Cameron Humphries enjoyed his best-ever run for the Harriers in 26th.

He was followed by Paul Rodgers (36th), Jon Nears (45th), Colin Ridley (46th), Essex debutant Andy Lovelock (63rd), Pete West (74th), Gavin Scanlon (80th), Russell Goodridge (87th) and Simon Morgan (109th).

Top four teams, senior men: 1 Springfield 103, 2 Chelmsford 177, 3 Orion Harriers 188, 4 Colchester Harriers 233.

Top three teams, veteran men: 1 Springfield 135, 2 Colchester Harriers 146, 3 Benfleet 195.

Essex results, senior ladies: 19 Rachel Dale, 51 Toni Wilson.

Under-17 men's: 9 Drew Olley, 19 Fergus Crouch.

Under-15 boys: 4 Max Caulfield, 7 Danny Millward, 15 Ziggy Lambton.

Under-15 girls: 20 Mollie Whitford, 26 Hannah Rodgers, 30 Isabella Minder.

Under-13 boys: 35 Charlie Parmenter; under-13 girls: 5 Milly Presland, 24 Madeline Claydon, 44 Daisy Bulmore.

Colchester Castle celebrated its 200th run with a reverse course, on a cold day with strong winds.

A total of 396 runners ran and times were slow, with only four runners beating 19 minutes.

First home for the Harriers was Anthony Barraclough, who finished second in 18m 11 seconds.

Andy Rayner (19m 03s) was fifth, just before sixth-placed Keith Marley (19m 05s) and David Wright (19m 41s), who was ninth.

Jasmine West was second lady in 21m 19s.

At Cornard, Wayne Cook was runner-up in 18m 03s, with Jerry Walder fifth in 19m 23s while Brian Smith was 14th at Mersea in 24m 59s.

The Benfleet 15 is one of the toughest races on the calendar, with 15 miles of tough cross country over the Hadleigh Downs.

New signing Tom Cresswell led the Harriers home in one hour 43m ahead of Keith Marley, who overcame his recent injuries to clock 1h 50m.

Chris Mamby, Richard Boden, Richard Millward, Craig Mitchell and Gavin Scanlan all ran well, while Rebecca Cooke was well up in the ladies race in a great time of 1h 59m.