COLCHESTER Harriers sprinter Charlie Dobson will represent Great Britain this weekend at the 25th Bauhaus Juniors Gala, in Germany.

The Colchester Sixth Form College student will compete in the 200 metres along with the 4x100m relay at the event, in Mannheim.

The international gala is a great opportunity for the best young and aspiring athletes from around the world to push themselves against each other.

Dobson, who this week trained with the British Athletics Futures relay team at Brunel University, was in fine form at the U20/U23 English National Championships, staged at Bedford International Stadium.

Having dominated his heat and semi-final, he claimed a well-deserved silver medal in the under-20 men's 200m final with a time of 20.88 seconds, which was once again within the World Junior standard time.

The final turned out to be a thrilling race, with Dobson running a superb bend and racing shoulder to shoulder with his nearest rival down the home straight, to take a well-deserved second place.

He now has a tense wait to see if he has been selected to represent Great Britain at next month's World Juniors, in Finland.

Dobson said: “I knew it would be a tough race, it was very windy round the bend and going against Jona (Efoloko) – he is very experienced and has been top of the game in our age group for a few years (including taking 200m Silver at the European Junior Championships last year).

"I over-cooked my heats and ran out of energy in the final but I have learnt that now and will use the experience to improve my race tactics.”

Dobson was one of five Harriers athletes competing at the Championships, where athletes who had achieved the entry standard were eligible to compete from all four home countries.

Their only under-23 athlete was 19-year-old Phillppa Davenall, who competed in the hammer.

She acquitted herself well, finishing fifth as a first-year athlete with a best throw of 55.72m.

At under-20 level, both Joy Ogunleye and Caitlin O’Reilly competed in the 100m on day one.

In what proved to be a high-quality field, Ogunleye equalled her personal best (PB) of 12.04s in her heat to qualify as a fastest loser for the semi-final, where she finished sixth with a time of 12.16s.

O'Reilly ran 12.56s in her heat.

On day two, Rebecca Jeggo ran a national standard time of 24.86s in the 200m which qualified her for the semi-finals as a fastest loser.

With the tenth fastest time overall in the heats, she was unfortunate to draw lane one for the semi-final and finished sixth in a time of 25.07s.

She achieved these times, despite having a strapped fractured finger.