COLCHESTER Harriers athletes Caitlin O’Reilly, Matt Rose and Charlie Dobson competed as seniors for Essex at the Southern Counties Senior Inter County match at Kingsmeadow Stadium in Kingston.

Despite the sun and heat, a reasonably strong blustery wind made life tricky for athletes.

Rose gained a comfortable first place in the B string 400m hurdles and was fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.20m.

Feeling under the weather, O’Reilly was second in the B string 100m in a disappointing time of 26.72s.

But her final leg helped Essex finish second in the 4x100m relay.

Dobson won his senior 100m race in 10.92s, in the face of running into a -2-headwind.

Essex's 4x100m relay team were disqualified for passing the baton just outside the box.

Essex finished second overall, with their Men's team finishing first with a total of 374 points and the Ladies' team in fourth.

Colchester Harriers athletes rose to the occasion at their penultimate Eastern Young Athletics meet in Peterborough.

Competing against six other clubs including top-ranked Nene Valley and Shaftesbury Barnet, Harriers finished in a respectable fifth place with a total of 348 points, due mostly to being able to field a full team of girls.

Despite only having a very small boys' squad, both teams showed what a fabulous group they are and the older athletes stepped up to help the younger athletes warm up for their events.

Callum McKay, Archie French, Graig Anya-Joseph, Hollie Speller and Katie Rice acted as young role models, while parents assisted the Track Judges in completing their duties.

One of the highlights of the day came from Theo Gardiner (U13) who beat his 1,500 metres PB by more than two seconds to finish with a time of five minutes 34.9s.

Ziggy Lambton (U15) ran with ease to win the 1,500m by 3.5s in a respectable time of 4m 33.6s, while Zion Ateba who has shown steady progression this season and added two PBs to her profile.

She was second in the 70m hurdles in 12.5s and ran 29.5s to finish as B string 200m winner.

Georgina Smith (U13) won her B string 70m hurdles and attained a PB of 13.0s, beating her opponent by 0.7 seconds.

Despite taking a nasty tumble in the 100m, she still finished fourth with a PB of 13.9s.

Lauren Strutt bagged herself a very decent 100m PB time of 13.4s despite a lack of training, while Graig Anya-Joseph (U15) finished second in the 100m, just 0.1s behind first place.

He gained a valuable 11.4s PB ahead of this weekend's English Schools Championships.

Callum McKay (U17) was injured and unable to enter his usual sprints but earned valuable club points and PBs in throwing events, recording 8.48m in the shot putt and 13.16m in the javelin.

Further PBs were achieved by: U13 Girls: Anna Ritchie 800m 3.00 PB, High Jump 4th 1.20m PB; Lois Gore 100m equal PB 15.00s, High Jump 1st B 1.15m PB, Rebecca Collins 800m PB knocking 11.34 seconds of her previous outdoor best, Shot 4.10m PB; Grace Gardner 1,500m 6:06.00 PB, Javelin 14.69 5th place PB; Lilly Upton; Javelin 3.38m PB, Discus 9.71 m PB; Emily Swan 800m.

U15 Girls: Kausara Ayoola A string 100m 13.2 s 4th PB; Rhianne Boatswain Shot 5m 5th PB; Milly Presland A string 800m 2:30.05 PB, H Jump 1.30 PB; Amalia: Discus 17.57m PB 3rd Hammer 15.19 4th PB by 3 m. Madeleine Claydon 75m Hurdles 14.9s.

U17 Girls: Megan Stephens shot 7.52m PB; Triple jump 9.51m PB; Katie Rice; 300m 44.8s 3rd Hurdles 13.2s PB; Savannah Harrison Long Jump 4.11m PB; Lilly Waterson Javelin 23.08s 2nd PB.

U13 Boys Archie French 800m, Theo Gardiner whose Javelin 11.67.

U15 Boys: Sebastien Jacobs 100m & 200m; Jack Banyard 200m; George Lavender Javelin 28.78 Discus 26.16m and 200m 26.0. all PB’s.

U17 Men Daniel Jones 200m 24.2s.

Harriers' final EYAL will be a home meet at the Garrison track on Sunday 30 July.