• Press Report 28th January 2008

     
    The infamous mud and Hills of Hampstead Heath provided a scenic backdrop to the South of England Cross Country Championships on a beautiful bright and crisp Saturday as 11 athletes from Ilford AC made the trip.
     
    The morning races saw good performances from Thomas King and George Hadler in the under 13 boys race held over 3000metres. King finished in a pleasing 142nd place in 14.02 with Hadler 207th in 15.54 with both lads home and bathed before the senior women got under way just before 2pm.The traditional start at the bottom of Parliament Hill fulfilled its purpose of sapping the strength of even the most seasoned of athletes and typified the demanding 2 lap 5 mile course to come. Nevertheless The Ilford ladies squad rose to the challenge with Bree Nordin leading the charge in a very good time of 41.05 breaking the tape in 122nd position out of a field of 326. Dianne Crisp was next home for the club in 45.50 for 210th with Sally Gillam making up places all the time in 232nd in 47.07. Rookie Victoria Morgan was negotiating the course for the first time and built on her experience of 269th position for 51.02. The Winchester duo of Rachel Townend and Louise Damen opened up a massive lead with Townend eventually victorious with 31.36. Rachel Felton of Shaftesbury Barnet was 3rd.
    In the under 15 boys the mud laid claim to one of Liam Leddy's spikes but he nevertheless soldiered on to complete the course on the one remaining shoe coming home 225th out of 242.
     
    With the mud now nicely churned up for the men's race the large field of 832 runners provided the usual glorious sight as they charged up from the start by the lido with Frank Tickner of Wells City taking an early lead. To the specators the 3 laps of 15K must have seemed cruel on this terrain as Ilford AC's Malcolm Muir expectedly lead home the troops in 83rd. However the run of the day came from club captain Darren Bottrilll who with obvious enjoyment seemed to relish the adventure. His final place of 139th and time of 56.18 was impressive enough when you look some of the names in his wake. Neil Crisp contributed with a steady 302nd place in 61.31 with Steve Cheal back in 783rd for 81.15. Tickner increased his lead to take the race from Andy Vernon of Aldershot with Newhams  Keith Gerrard in third.
     
    The following day Sally Gillam returned to action resuming her London marathon preparation by competing over the gruelling multi terrain 15 miles of the Benfleet 15. Gillam despite suffering from a painful hip still managed her 2nd best time on the course with 2.12.07. She was accompanied by two other London bound Ilford Athletes, Race Walker Steve Allen and newcomer Gurdip Dhami. Allen fighting to regain full fitness was nevertheless happy to just dip under the 2 hour mark with 1.59.49. Dhami in his first ever competitive race did exceptionally well to cruise round in 2.07.02 and looks a safe bet for a good first marathon time.
     
    Meanwhile, after both winning their respective age categories in the Vets AC Cross Country Championships the previous Saturday, Ilford's "golden oldie" duo of John Batchelor and Pam Jones returned to action in Friday's Serpentine 5K.  Out of 183 runners of all ages (10 were over 70) and in very windy conditions, Batchelor placed 40th in 19:13 and Jones, still a little off form after a bad chest infection, was 153rd in 26:06. Once again both emerged as category winners. 
              
                                                                     Chambers Spot on with Hurdle GOLD - report by Paul Cheal
     
    Day 1 of the Essex Indoor Championships at Lee Valley saw Ilford AC come away with a full set of medals.Tamara Chambers in the U/13 Girls 60m Hurdles was very impressive with her performance clinching GOLD in a time of 10.55sec which put her joint 3rd in the UK at the moment. Clare Rodway competed in the older category of U/15 Girls 60m Hurdles and finished 5th in heat 1 with a time of: 11.76sec but unfortunately was unable to progress any further.
     
    Michael Wong & Jacob Ansong competed in the U/17 Men's 400m and in a very fast and competitive race, Jacob was able to clinch BRONZE with a time of  57.3sec and Michael came home in 5th with 60.86sec. Lydia Hall ran in the U/17 Women's 400m and this was Lydia's first step up into the longer distance especially as she had competed in the 300m all last season. The race was again fast like the U/17 Men's with some very good athletes competing against her. Lydia ran well but was unable to stay with the leaders and finished 4th in a time of 66.41sec. The final competitor was Youcef Zatat in the U/15 Boy's Shot. Following his success at the South of England Champs last week he was unable to repeat the same feat, however he did come away with a SILVER medal with a putt of 10m 46cm so it was not that bad after all he now has 2 medals in a weeks work.
     
    JUMPS GRAB FULL SET OF MEDALS - report by Paul Cheal
     
    Day 2 produced another good day for Ilford AC with some good performances and a collection of medals to hand. In the Junior Men's Long Jump Simeon Stuart and Antoine Green lead the way with a GOLD from Simeon with a distance just shy of the Championship best of: 6m 34cm and Antoine improved from last week with a solid jump of: 5m 86cm and BRONZE. Elijah Collins made up the trio in this event with a jump of: 5m 38cm. Elijah however did not want to be shown up and produced a good performance in the High Jump with a clearance of: 1m 75cm and this earnt him a SILVER MEDAL. Simeon and Antoine ran in the 60m just prior to the Long Jump and Antoine improved from last week with a time of: 7.39sec which was 4th in heat 2 and Simeon: 7.58sec for 6th in heat 3, unfortunately neither were able to qualify for the final.
     
    Jacob Ansong continued his good form in the U/17 Men 200m this time and ran a very good time of: 24.47sec which was good enough to qualify for the final. In the final he was able to repeat his heat time of around: 24sec but finished 5th in the final. Jack Webb competing in his first ever indoor meeting took part in the U/17 Men's 800m which boasted a very strong field for the less experienced Jack. However he shrugged this off to run a very respectable time of: 2m 19.02sec which is faster than his outdoor PB of last year and finished 5th. The last athlete to compete was Andrew Townsend in the U/17 Men's Shot Putt. Andrew coming back from illness and a lack of training in recent months was able to putt a distance of: 7m 24cm for 5th which was only 13cm or so outside his PB outdoors for U/15's last year so well done.
     
    All these performances indoors over the last two days shows that there is some good work being done by the athletes and if continued will do well in the outdoor season to follow.