Colchester Harriers' survived another torturous double cross-country weekend with a fine overall second place at an incredibly muddy Ramsey farmland course near Harwich in the 53-12 League.

With Harriers’ elite men trying to retain their trophy in the Essex League, it was left to the second-string men to carve out another brave victory against the odds.

Spurred on by another victory by the rising star Charlotte Smith, who was running her second race in 24 hours, the men adhered to the task with good packing.

They were led by their Commonwealth Games race walking trio of Daniel King (third), Dominic King (fourth) and Luke Finch (eighth).

Splitting the race walkers up was Chris Sellens in an excellent fifth spot. The scoring men were completed by David Wright (16th), Andy Kirten (19th), Noel Keeley (22nd) and Sandy Macmillan (24th), who, although suffering from a bad cold, also ran two races for the Green Vests.

Other men to finish were Russell Goodridge (33rd), John Carter (58th) and Artur Whiston (75th).

Smith is now showing signs of bursting through to the very top and, taking on Ipswich’s England international Helen Decker early on, she hung on before Decker had to pull up with a strain being made worse by the intense mud.

Smith went on to win by two minutes 30 seconds ahead of Nicola Belsom of Ipswich and four minutes ahead of third-placed Tracey Ransom of Springfield.

Harriers were just pipped for victory in the ladies’ event by eight points by Ipswich and three by Springfield.

Debbie Cattermole is another Harriers lady on the way up, with the Essex veteran gold medallist finishing a fine fourth on the day.

Completing the ladies team was the consistent Elodi Henrion (11th) and new signing Andrea Richmond (27th), along with Fay Helliwell (34th) and Rachel Richardson-Wright (36th), who both improvd their overall standings.

Results: Pool A: Men: 1 Colchester Harriers 101, 2 Ipswich 142, 3 Harwich 228, 4 Gt Bentley 294, 5 Witham 446, 6 Springfield 559.

Ladies: 1 Ipswich 35, 2 Springfield 40, 3 Colchester Harriers 43, =4 Harwich/Gt Bentley 56, 6 Witham 114.

Overall on day: 1 Ipswich 3pts, 2 Colchester Harriers 4pts, 3 Harwich 7pts, 4 Springfield 8pts, 5 Gt Bentley 9pts, 6 Witham 11pts.

After three races: 1 Ipswich 17pts, 2 Colchester Harriers 16 pts.

A handful of Harriers juniors enjoyed the youngsters’ race, with Katherine Jayne-Barnett 16th overall.

For the boys, it was Callum Burke a fine fourth, followed by team-mates Elliot Bennett in fifth, Ben Disney sixth and George Fleming in 14th.

Meanwhile, Colchester Harriers international distance runner Allan Smalls ran a fine Hastings Centenary Marathon over a difficult hilly course in Sussex.

Although a mainstay of the Harriers’ cross-country team the previous day, Smalls still competed to a high standard and finished sixth overall from the field of 1,900 and second veteran in two hours 50 minutes 57 seconds.