Orion Harriers enjoyed a successful day at the Essex Championships in Colchester where the men's team went home with a silver medal for the second successive year.

Frankie Conway started fast and drove home for an excellent fourth-place which was Orion's highest ever senior male finish and also earned Conway automatic county selection.

Nick Sasha also squeezed into the top ten with Brian Jenks (19th) and Colin Read (24th) putting on good displays.

Aub Hall started well but had to drop out with stomach cramps while his brother Ben worked well with Barny Foot (35th) on the final lap to cross the line in 36th.

Harriers' overall score was 130, 99 points behind the impressive Chelmsford but 29 better than third-placed Colchester.

The B team were led home by Ian Clark (42nd), with Neil Swift (44th), Neil McGoun (54th) and George Banbury (67th) finishing eighth.

The Senior Women continued their good run of recent form to achieve a sixth place finish.

They were led home by Clare Thurgood who ran a very controlled race for ninth place and she was supported by Nikkii Barnett (27th), Tracey Alexandrou (43rd) and Hayley Rogerson (45th) for a team score of 124.

Lorraine Gosling (65th) was fastest for the B team with Hayley Baron (69th), Liz Maidment (78th), Sarah Maidment (80th) and Pippa Dowswell (84th) contributing to a total of 292 and 16th place.

The Under-15s Boys boasted a strong squad and George Day continued his rich vein of form with an impressive sixth place to gain automatic selection for Essex in the inter-county championships.

There were also strong performances from Dan Richards (ninth), Harry Sloman (11th) and Josh Iton (18th) for a total of 44 and the team's silver medal ahead of Woodford in bronze.

The top four were backed up well by Jake Offiler (24th) and Joss Foot (31st).

Isobel Mills was the sole runner in the Under-15 girls but ran bravely for 11th place in a very strong field.

Injury and illness had decimated the strong Under-17 squad and Thomas Young was again a sole runner, but continued to show improvement to finish 27th.

The ever reliable Maddie Carr and Joelle Ewen both ran impressively for 17th and 26th places in a race won by former Orion runner Georgia Tuckfield.

Joe Clark won the Under-13 Boys' event, racing from third to first in the finishing straight to be crowned champion.

Saul Ashon also put in a determined display in his first ever county championship.

Aoibheann Pearce and Emily Sharpe ran hard in the Under-13 Girls race to come 13th and 23rd respectively.

Elsewhere Harriers' Jack Callis earned himself a silver medal at the Middlesex County Championships.