Colchester Harriers scooped another large medal haul at the Essex County Championships in Chelmsford.

The success came despite the fact some of their top athletes were not competing.

Michael Holden had a golden double on day two, with a win in the men’s 110 metres hurdles and a superb personal best (PB) in the pole vault, creating a new club record in the process.

In the 100m hurdles for women, Nicola Gaisford’s steady return to form saw her claim gold in a season’s best of 15.21seconds.

The under-17 women’s 80m hurdles saw a new PB of 12.47s for Emily Moore, who came fifth in her final.

Jessica Cutts also ran in the final, finishing with a time of 12.84s for sixth place.

Rachel Swain set herself a new PB of 12.46s, while winning her heat of the under-15 girls’ 75m hurdles.

Triple-jumper Jade Morgan won gold in the women’s triple jump competition with a new PB of 12.29m.

The 100m specialists were in top form, claiming three medals.

Kelly Sutton stormed to a superb win in the under-15 girls’ 100m race to claim gold with a 12.9s run, closely followed by the fast-finishing Amie Speller, who claimed silver in 12.95s.

Megan Moore ran 14.7s and Jessie Ancill-Spowage 15.7s in their heats.

In the under-17 women’s 100m final, Bethanie Moore cruised to a comfortable win in 12.94s for her gold medal, also running 12.8s when winning her heat.

Paul Helliwell stepped up to the plate in the veteran men’s 100m, placing fourth in 13.26s.

Cameron Irwin claimed silver in the under-17 men’s 400m, running a well-judged race in 50.3s for a PB, as did Luke Singleton and Ben Ridley-Johnson, who were equal fifth in the same race in 53.4s.

Ridley-Johnson ran a new PB of 52.98s in his heat and Chris Myatt also ran well in his heat, while David Lo set a new PB of 50.76s in his under-20 men’s 400m.

Ella Neale stepped out to produce a large PB in the 400m for under-20 women, winning a silver medal in the process in a time of 59.67s. Denise Morely just missed out on the senior women’s 400m final with a 61.43s time.

Jamie Earle won the bronze medal in the senior men’s hammer competition, with a season’s best throw of 47.96m to finish a good day’s work for the Harriers.

Day three continued much as day two with an immediate win in the senior women’s high jump for Nicola Gaisford in 1.60m, to add to her medal tally.

Nicola Martell-Smith retained her senior women’s 400m hurdles title again, winning gold in 63.72s, and Jessica Cutts closely followed in Martell-Smith’s footsteps, winning silver in the 300m hurdles final in 46.93s.

Jonathon Gladwell excelled in the horizontal jumps, winning a silver medal in a closely-fought long jump competition with a leap of 6.09m and bronze in the triple jump, with 11.97m.

Rachel Gooday set herself a new PB in the under-17 women’s shot, with a put of 8.42m and also leaped out to 4.50m in the long jump.

Michael Holden added the bronze medal to his haul in the senior men’s long jump with a 6.38m jump and rising starlet Chloe Young is following in the family tradition, by winning the bronze medal in the under-13 girls’ 75m sprint in 10.44s.

Jade Ajugun Brauns ran well for her 10.76s time in the same final.

Cameron Irwin set himself a new PB in the under-17 men’s shot competition, with a throw of 11.44m, and the 800m specialists were out in force as well.

Young Max Baker stepped out for a good run in the under-13 boys’ race and Katherine-Jayne Watts showed good potential in the under-13 girls’ race.

In the under-20 women’s race, Ella Neale finished fourth in 2m 20.21s and Phoebe May was sixth in 2m 27.61s, while the senior women’s 800m saw ever-relaible Denise Morley put in a well-timed last lap to grab fourth in 2m 17.51s.