SML Div2 - Clarke’s Double Hammer Blow

Ilford AC’s second Southern Mens League match at Mile End on 17th May was a day of highs and lows for the club, and particularly for their star hammer thrower Wesley Clarke.  Following a promising build up to the season, Clarke managed to launch the hammer to a distance of 45.02m for victory in the match and his longest throw for three years.  The win set the team into an early lead, which they never relinquished, finally winning the match by 31 points, with an outstanding match score of 150 points from the 18 events.  Wes’s day however finished tragically with a bad injury to his knee incurred while competing on a wet slippery track in his second event, the 110m hurdles, which is likely to end his season.

Ilford’s athletes braved a miserably wet day to record a series of victories, notably from its squad of sprinters.  There was a welcome return from Marvin Tuffour who won the 200m in a time of 22.8 and a non-scoring 100m in 11.6 with all of the power and authority which he was notable for last season.  Sam Malekout is making a habit of victory in the 400m (51.5 seconds) but Osi Nzeako’s 1st place in the ‘b’ string in a personal best of 53.1s indicated a step up in his ability.  Gary Madigan recovered his form after a disappointing county championships for 11.7s in the 100m while O’Real McAllister narrowly missed a double win in the 100 and 200 with 11.9s and 24.0s respectively as he was pipped to the line by the talented Dacorum and Tring runner in the 200m.  It was therefore no surprise to see the 4x100m relay squad of Simeon Stuart, Marvin, O’Real and Gary power to victory in 45.8s.  A tired 4x400m squad of Osi Nzeako (55.8), Marvin Tuffour (54.4), Gary Madigan (53.2) and Sam Malekout (53.8) was put under some pressure from Worthing until the middle of the last leg, when Sam strode away from the competition to record a comfortable victory in 3:37.1.

The middle distance squad was much boosted with the return of Malcolm Muir in the 5000m and steeplechase, but it was two other stars who excelled.  Darren Bottrill started the 5000m with the early leaders at a furious pace and appeared to be suffering for it into the second kilometre.  But Darren has become a very strong runner and was unusually able to pick the pace up in the second half of the race, unleashing a lightening last lap of 67 seconds to overpower the Herts Phoenix athlete ahead of him and knock 40 seconds off his personal best for 16:46.7.  Jack Webb is only 15 but ran with immense maturity in his first outing at senior level, as he followed a perfect strategy to record a new personal best and 2nd place in the 800m with 2:16.9. Ilford’s other young middle distance runner, Ali Javi-Gauoui is far from being fully fit in his first summer of athletics but also moved onto new ground with a new personal best in the 1500m with 4:54.2.  His ability will see him perform much quicker than this by the end of the season.  Malcolm Muir seemed a little short of pace in the 5000m but his tremendous determination saw him finish in a good time of 16:36.4, while his steeplechase was a surprise to everyone as he bounded to a time close to his best of 10:26.0.  Essex County Champion, Rob Nixon was in a class of his own in the 800 and 1500 metre races and looked comfortable with his tactical victories in both events with 2:03.9 and 4:15.0 respectively.

The hurdles events have been a challenge for Ilford AC in recent years so it is with great satisfaction that Ilford’s new hurdlers are starting to progress.  Michael Wong and Evan Reza looked impressive and both knocked a second off their previous performances in the 400m hurdles with times of 68.1 and 72.5 respectively, while Elijah Collins made his debut in the 110m hurdles with a performance of 20.3s that reflected his great athletic ability, if a little limited in his technique.

Collins had an outstanding day, taking on the high jump with an excellent performance of 1.75m and a triple jump of 12.21m.  Performances in the jumps were badly affected by the wet conditions and Simeon Stuart (6.06m in the long jump and 1.50m in the high jump) and Nathaniel Senior (5.51m in the long jump and 12.69m in the triple jump) were both disappointed with their performances and will be looking to far exceed them in future drier competitions.   Due to some of the competitors ‘no heighting’ in the wet of the pole vault competition, Sam Malekout (2.40m) and Pete Whiting (1.10m) recorded a surprise 2nd and 1st respectively in their ‘strings’ in what must be described as Ilford’s bridesmaid event.

The throws events were as strong as ever for the Ilford club, with only 2 points dropped out of 40.  Along with Wes Clarke, Craig Burrow was the mainstay of the throws squad with good throws of 12.14m in the shot putt, 34.77m in the hammer and 33.61m in the discus while his distance in the javelin of 34.14m was affected by the wet runway.  John Hadler showed great consistency in the shot with 9.46m to record a win in the ‘b’ string, while Sam Malekout completed the throws events with 23.07m in the discus and 34.00m in the javelin.

The final scores were Ilford 150, Worthing 119, Hillingdon 80, Dacorum and Tring 73, Herts Phoenix 68.  The win will give Ilford AC a great deal of confidence, but they will be expecting tougher opposition as they go into their next match at Dartford on the 7th June and particularly the ‘battle of the titans’ in match 4 at Thurrock on the 28th June, which may determine the squad’s aspirations for promotion this year.