• Press Report 20th July 2009

    Havering 90 Midweek 5
    At the end of a furious week of athletic action Ilford Athletic Club are setting the pace in both the men and womens  sections of the popular East London Five Interclub Series with back to back wins in the 2nd race of the series at Havering's 5 mile race held at Raphaels Park on Tuesday evening. Despite having a few major stars missing the men had enough quality in depth to narrowly defeat a spirited challenge from Barking Road Runners. Neil Crisp led the troops from the front clocking 29.31 for an excellent 7th place, ably supported by Iain Macdonald 30.15 for 10th. Keven Newell 18th in 31.18 and Matt Maple 19th in 31.24 packed well to consolidate the team position and with veterans Steve Parker 36th in 34.17 and newcomer Simon Algar 54th closing in 36.42 Ilford just squeezed home in a nailbiting finish.
    The ladies squad although having Bree Nordin sidelined with a knee ligament problem had a more comfortable ride. Former triathlete Karen Sindall was more at home on this flatter course and finished in a good time of 34.03 in 2nd place, beaten only by series leader Karen Levison of East London Runners, 33.17. The dependable Dianne Crisp was next home with 37.08 for 8th, followed by Vanessa Burns who ran a personal best of 39.02 for 13th place. Nicola Hopkinson and Sally Gillam followed in close order for 15th and 16th positions recording 40.06 and 40.26 respectively. Superveteran Pam Jones closed the scorers in 20th with 42.18 and Carol Muir was next home in 49.16.
    !67 runners finished the race won by Rob Warner of Havering Mayesbrook in 27.23.
    Other Ilford performances were:-
    Ray Rawlinson 57th 36.57, Peter Spelman 67th 38.04, Martin Clarke 70th 38.16, Roger Honey 94th 40.41, Billy Green 110th 42.49, Satha Alaganandasundaram 111th 42.50 , Robin Davis 132nd 47.26, Steve Port 156th 52.22. 
     
    Brentwood 10k - Essex Champs
     
    Another good turnout at the Essex Championships on Sunday morning at Brentwood saw the Cricklefields based club contest the Thrift Green Trotters 10k. Two notoriously tough hills at 4k and 7k did not prevent some very good times as the cooler conditions and some refreshing rain aided a large field of just over 500 runners. Ilford's Malcolm Muir was back in action and although still nursing a troublesome knee managed 34.32 for 9th place. Darren Bottrill had a bit of a problem with his watch and although convinced he had run 1 minute quicker was still happy with his official time of 37.23 which gave him 34th place. Neil Crisp chased him home in 39th and 37.36 and Iain Macdonald completed the 37 minute trio with 42nd and 37.44.
    Kevin Newell just kept a head of Terry Knightley who was taking things easy with a back problem. Both did well to record times of 38.57 and 39.18 for 55th and 57th places respectively.The race was won in a very fast time of 31.54 by James Connor of Kent AC with Colchesters Adrian Mussett 32.11 being the top Essex runner on show.
    The womens race was notable for the appearance of Havering Mayesbrooks international Faye Fullerton and an imperious run of 34.52 smashing the course record of 37.10 previously held by Danielle Sale of Orion. Ilford ladies squad had some pleasing performances but were unfortunately not quite good enough to be in the mix for county medals - Dianne Crisp 186th 46.16, Vanessa Burns 266th 49.44, Sally Gillam 301st 51.06, Pam Jones 317th 51.48.
     
    Other Ilford performances were:- Matt Maple 79th 40.23, Rohan Alexander 109th 42.22, Gerry Pells 434th 61.17, Robin Davis 457th 63.37.
     
    Elsewhere Steve Parker was takling the undulations of the Dartford half marathon and was pleased to report a time of 1hr 33mins 47secs on what he described  as very hilly and windy conditions.
     
     
    SCVAC - Track and Field
     
    Meanwhile the previous Monday night witnessed a magnificent effort by the Ilford AC Vets Team at Hemel Hempstead in the SCVAC League when they secured a third place on the evening and an overall fourth place for the season.

    The Walking Team of Pete Ryan and Dave Ainsworth started the evening with Pete well gaining maximum points in the A string covering the 2000m distance in 10.07.7. Dave came home in third in the over 50 age group in 13.32.1.
    Malcolm Muir and Matt Maple carried on the trend of first place by winning the A and B string 800m in 2.07.9 and 2.15.9 respectively. Chris Togwell running in the over 50 age group ran an even paced race to finish fourth in 2.38.4.
    In the A string 200m Henry Ricketts placed fourth with 25.7. Rohan Alexander who was making his first appearance Had just enough time to borrow an Ilford vest to finish fifth in 27.1 in the B string.  Ray Rawlinson finished his track season with 29.4 in the over 50 category. John Batchelor filled the over 60 group finishing fourth in 32.4.
    The 3000m was literally a close run thing with Malcolm just being pipped to the line after allowing the Herts Phoenix athlete to get away from him with two laps to go. His storming last 100 metres almost picked up first place just three tenths behind in 9.12.2. Matt had his own battle for second place eking away at the gap lap by lap but not quite having enough to close down the B string Herts Phoenix athlete. He finished third in 10.34.6.
    The next two age groups ran together where Chris placed third in 11.26.8. Chris had been tracking John who was holding second for most of the race in his age group. He couldn't quite get on terms with the leader and had to settle for second.
    In the field Matt kept himself busy by clearing 1m 30 in the A string high jump for sixth.Chris cleared 1m 25 for fourth in the next age category. Rohan leapt 4m 75 for sixth in the A string long jump and Ray finished fifth with 3m 23 in the 50 plus group.
    The javelin saw Pete Whiting competing and finishing fourth with 28m 70 in the A string. Ray's 18m 13 secured fourth and John who threw to gain points finished sixth with 14m 04.
    The final event of the evening saw the 4 x 200 team of Ricketts, Alexander, Maple and Muir finish third with 1.47.3.
    Enfield and Haringey go through to compete at the Julie Rose Stadium.

    It was a fine season which ended with the customary end of match re-hydration. The team are looking forward to next season hopefully with some new additions or even returning athletes
     
     
     
     
    RODWAY HURDLES TO CLUB RECORD- Report by Paul Cheal
     
    Ilford AC Juniors took part in the last round of the UKYAL which was staged at their home ground, this brought a much better turn out with Clare Rodway U/17 Women, claiming the CLUB RECORD in the 300m Hurdles.
     
    U/17 Women, Clare Rodway: 300m Hurdles - 53.7sec, and the Shot Putt: 5m 36cm. Gloria Alabi ran the sprint double with: 28.3sec and 14.5sec for the 200m & 100m respectively whilst throwing the Discus: 14m 56cm. Gerogia Laudat did the Long Jump: 3m 13cm, the Discus: 11m 67cm and the 100m: 13.7sec. Laibah Malik: Long Jump: 3m 26cm, and the Javelin: 9m 98cm. Melodie Ihuoma: 800m - 3m 00.0sec, Javelin: 25m 46cm and the Shot Putt: 7m 99cm, whilst Corina Bryce-Arnold did the 200m in a time of: 29.9sec and the team finished off with a fine 1st in the 4x100m relay in: 55.1sec.
     
    In the U/15 Girls Tamara Chambers 200m: 27.9sec, 100m: 14.2sec and the Shot Putt: 6m 15cm. Mika Marston: 200m: 30.3sec and Shot Putt: 7m 44, with Bethany Hall competing in the 1500m with: 5m 39.9sec. The U/13 Girls Trinity St Lewis: 150m - 23.4sec, Long Jump: 3m 43cm and the 75m: 11.6sec and Tyra George did the Long Jump: 3m 43cm and the 75m with a time of: 12.4sec.
     
    The U/13 Boys competed well in their event which was lead by Harry Kyriacou: 200m - 29.9sec, Shot Putt - 8m 48cm and the 75m Hurdles: 16.4sec. Shanjay Sivakumaran also did the 75m Hurdles: 16.4sec, Long Jump: 3m 50cm and the 1500m with: 5m 41.2sec. Raeis Mer took part in the High Jump: 1m 15cm, 800m: 2m 35.2sec and the 100m in: 15.0sec and rounding of the team was Isaac Akisanya in the Shot Putt: 5m 39cm. Harry, Raeis, Isaac & Shanjay ran the 4x100m in a time of: 61.8sec.
     
    Some good competitiveness was shown in the U/15 Boys lead by the ever impressive George Hadler who did the 200m: 26.6sec, 100m: 13.1sec and 80m Hurdles: 13.3sec. Ciaran Rodway did the Discus: 10m 81cm, Long Jump: 3m 96cm and the 400m: 69.0sec. Thomas King ran the 1500m: 5m 39.2sec, Javelin: 12m 42cm and the Shot Putt: 4m 94cm.Taschan Peart: Discus - 11m 21cm, 400m: 80.2sec and 1500m: 6m 01.5sec. Jordan Akisanya: Long Jump - 4m 64cm and the 100m: 14.1sec, whilst Christman Ihuoma competing for Ilford for the first time did the High Jump: 1m 35cm and the 80m Hurdles in a time of: 14.6sec, they finished off with a 4x100m relay in: 56.0sec. Omar Rashid was the only Ilford athlete in the U/17 Men and did himself no harm with: 2m 35.6sec in the 800m, 28.4sec in the 200m and 3m 87cm for the Long Jump.
     
    After a season of many ups and downs Ilford have finally come to the end of their track league meeting's and apart from any open meetings between now and the end of the season, I would like to personally thank the following people. Paula Akisanya for her continued support as the girls team manager, those parents who helped out on the day, the officials like Christine Higgins, Steve Cheal and Pauline Rodway but most importantly you the athletes for if it wasn't for you Ilford AC would not have a squad at all, so well done to all the athletes at Ilford that took part in these meetings this season.