COLCHESTER Harriers' elite sprinters claimed a brace of bronze medals at the Southern Indoor Championships at Lee Valley.

Charlie Dobson enhanced his reputation as one of the Green Vests' top sprinters, at the under-20 and Senior Indoor Championships.

The 17-year-old achieved a new personal best (PB) and club record in the under-20 men’s 60 metres, running 7.09 seconds.

He then ran under his previous PB in his semi-final.

Dobson was back on the track in his favoured 200m, 24 hours later.

He claimed a very comfortable and impressive win in his heat in a new PB of 22.69s to progress to the semi-final as the second fastest qualifier.

Despite making a slower start, he made good ground to claim another PB and a further fast qualifying time for the final.

Dobson's first meet in the older age group rewarded him with a well-deserved bronze, with the top-three places split by 0.04 of a second.

The Harriers youngster claimed another PB and under-20 club record of 22.15s, smashing his previous indoor time by 1.07s.

Both of Dobson's performances at Lee Valley mean he has qualified for next month's England Athletics Open U20 Championships, in Sheffield.

Dobson said: “I felt pretty relaxed.

"There was no expectations on me as a first year under-20 and so I could just go out and do what my coach asked of me.”

Dobson's training partner, Rebecca Jeggo also claimed a bronze medal after a fine performance in the under-20 women's 200m.

The 17-year-old, who is the UK's number one ranked under-20 women’s athlete over 200m, enjoyed a competent win in her heat to ease straight to the final.

A nail-biting last 50m saw Jeggo keep her cool and claw back ground, cruising across the line in 25.56s to snatch third place and an excellent bronze.

She said: “I couldn’t be happier getting a South of England 200m bronze medal in my first year at under-20.”

Harriers duo Jake Young and Oscar Dawson both competed in the under-20 men’s 800m.

A talented field of older athletes proved too much for the Green Vests duo, who have both earned valuable points and individual success on the cross country circuit this season.

The previous weekend, Harriers' Savannah Harrison was fifth in her heat after running 8.71s in the under-17 women’s 60m.

Megan Stevens forced her way into the semi-finals with a dipping finish in her heat, running 8.56s.

The duo also competed in the 200m where both were unfortunate not to reach the next round.

Stevens ran 28.65s in her heat, while Harrison ran 28.99s.

Thierry Ajala took on a number of events, at his first-ever major championship.

He clocked a PB time of 25.30s in the under-17 men’s 200m.

And he quickly followed that up with a commendable third place in the 400m heats and another PB of 56.51s.