FOUR Harlow athletes have got their outdoor seasons off to encouraging starts at a number of early season events:

George Watkins has taken his off-track winter form straight on to the track with fine displays at both Peterborough and Lee Valley. A week ago, at Peterborough, Watkins ran 4.42.64m in the 1500m. He was fourth on the track in a race of mixed ages and was comfortably the first U13 athlete home. His time beats a long-standing club record (Anthony Ponton 1977) and sees him ranked second in the country. He followed this up with another fine performance at Lee Valley this weekend. This time, he ran in the 800m. Once again, he was fourth on track in a mixed age race. His time of 2.22.81m ranks him fifth in the country for the distance.

Also at Lee Valley were Holly Austin, Thomas Grey and Samson Brichieri-Colombi. Austin ran in both the 100m and 200m. As with the distance races, the heats were seeded on times. Austin was fourth on track in both her races, in the 100m, she recorded a time of 14.74s. And in the 200m, she ran 30.61s. Both times rank her in the top thirty nationally. Grey’s times were just outside the target times to feature on national lists, but 14.5s for the 100m and 31.4s for the 200m were both new personal best performances for the athlete.

Holly also met World Champion 200 metre runner, Dina Asher-Smith.

Brichieri-Colombi’s day was rather disappointing as the cage was deemed as being unfit to use so he could not throw the discus. He did, however, throw the 700g javelin for the first time and was third in an all U17 event with a throw of 33.65m.

Meanwhile, in Hornchurch, Isla Garrett, Under 15, was in action in the Havering Spring Open, she ran the 1500m. The format was, once again, seeded heats. She ran 5.41.85m and was fourth on track.

Harlow athletes are next in action in the Essex Multi-Event Championships on 23 April.