The first evening match of the Southern Counties VAC league was held on Monday 5th July. All matches are non-scoring this year so an opportunity to assess performance against training or try new events.
A small team travelled to Stevenage to represent Ilford. Results as detailed with positions in brackets:
2000m walk Stuart Bennett M35 (2nd) 12.15.9, Rachel Lawless W35 (2nd) 12.27.2, Lesley Morris W50 (2nd) 12.43.8
100m Sam Malekout 12.5s (guest), Henry Ricketts M50 (4th) 13.5s, Pete Whiting M60 (3rd) 15.2s, Michaela Davis W50 (4th) 20.1s, Barbara Higgins W60 (5th ) 20.1
400m Henry Ricketts M50 (7th) 64.2s
1500m Rob Sargent M50 (11th) 7.11.2, Dave Butler M60 (6th) 5.30.9
Shot Michaela Davis W35 (5th) 5m 77, Barbara Higgins W50 (5th) 5m 95, Sam Malekout M35 (1st) 9m 18, Henry Ricketts M35 guest 7m 77, Pete Whiting M50 (7th) 6m 90
Long Jump Michaela Davis W50 (4th) 2m 80
Discus Michaela Davis W35 (6th) 12m 58, Barbara Higgins W60 (5th) 12m 91
The next match is due to be held on Monday 26th July in Harrow.
Essex 5000m Championships
Chelmsford
Wednesday 7th July 2021
llford athlete Ahmed Abdulla took on a very busy week starting with the Essex 5000m champs.
Running an excellent tactical battle with Adam Hickey of Southend, Ahmed made his move 2 laps out taking the Essex 5000m Champions title in a time of 14m:42s.
Competing in the same race and securing equally impressive times were Tom Gardner in 7th place for 15m 36s and Alex Richards in 11th place for 15m 54s and a new personal best.
Running in the ‘B’ race on the night was Malcolm Muir who came home in 17m 27s for 11th place
AFDAC Open Meeting
Aldershot
Wednesday 7th July 2021
Brothers Jak Wright and Joseph Grange travelled to Aldershot on Wednesday evening for the ‘Aldershot, Farnham and District Open Evening. Competing in the 3000m both runners achieved personal bests. Jak came home in fifth place and first U20M in a time of 8m 58.7s and Joseph placed 15th and first U15M in a time of 9m 27.61s. Josephs time broke a 40 year old Ilford AC record for his age group at the distance with ironically the previous record being held by Gary Floate, Joseph’s coach and current Ilford AC President.
Fast Friday Super Elite 10000m (Incorporating the English Athletic champs)
Walthamstow
Friday 9th July 2021
This was Ahmed’s second race in 3 days and his first outing at this distance.
Starting off steadily, he worked his way through to the leading group, but as the race progressed and his busy week took it toll, he slipped back to 12th place in 30:08 which put him 7th on ilford all time best performance for 10000m
Southern Athletics League 2nd Match
Woodford
Sunday 11th July 2021
In the 2nd SAL league match Ilfords young team competed very well to come a promising 4th place .
As usual first up was the Sprinters.
In the women’s 100 Efe Adjarifo ran very well for third in 13.2 and Aleena Lawrence came second in a very promising 13.37. Elle Wright and Krystle Balogun ran as non scorers in the 100 and ran a very quick 13.01 and 13.33.Both Krystle and Ellie were back for the 200s and both ran superb for 3rd and 2nd in times of 26.65 and 26.98.Efe and Krystle showed their flexibility by throwing the javelin and shot to gain valuable points for Ilford
All 4 ladies mentioned above came back for the 4 x 100 and all ran great legs to run a very fast 51.53 for 2nd place
In the men’s Sprints Elijah Mayindu came 3rd in 11.36 and Oliver Blainey came 4th in 11.83. Blainey had never beaten 12 seconds before so this was the start of 3 PBs on the day. Oliver ran the 400 30 mins later to break 54 for the first time for 2nd place ie 53.46 and then ran a very fast 200 for 5th in 23.88, breaking the 24 second barrier
Also fellow youngster Jacob Emeagi broke his 200 pb for 5th place with a time of 25.70
In the women’s 400 and 800 ,Ilford are lucky to have 2 very talented athletes Gemima Eshimu Massamba and Jordan Hinds. Gemima came 2nd in both the 800 in 2.33 and in 400 in 59.72,close to her best ever and even found time to throw the javelin over 22m for 3rd place. Jordan is also getting back to her best with a 3rd in the 800 in 2.23 and 2nd in the 400 in 63.74
In the women’s 5000 it was great to see Ilford gain maximum points with both Anna Crawley and Amy Bird winning both their races. Ann ran 21.05 and Amy 21.30
In the women’s Discus and Shot, Amie Harrison 6.70 and 13.24 for 4th and 5th position
Back to the men’s results and another up and coming youngster Dylan Harrod did 3 PBs and seems to get better with every race. He ran the 400m in 53.44 for 3rd place, breaking the 54 second barrier and gets closer every race to beating the 2 min 800 barrier with a time of 2.01 and then did the Triple jump for the first time ever with a respectable 10.13
Fellow youngster Rhys Edwards competed in a number of different events but competed well in all these events to show his versatility. Rhys ran a PB in the 400 hurdles in 62 seconds for third place ,came second in the 3000 in 9.52 and 5th in the Triple jump with 11.50
Ilford were dominant again in the middle distance races. Paul Grange, who is having an outstanding season across all of the different middle distance events, raced against his training partner Farris Patel. Paul came home first in 1.54.6 with Farris close behind him in 2nd place
In the 1500m Jak Wright and Alex Richards both went to the front from the very start and both ran superb tactical races to get away from a quality field in the last 600 and come home 1st and 2nd in 4.07 and 4.10 respectively. Jak also did the HJ and came 4th with a height of 1.55
Tom Gardner, in his last race for Ilford , went out with a bang in the 3000m running away from the pack in the last 4 laps in a very fast 8.57. Ilford will miss Toms dedication to the club and wish him success in his next chapter in Australia
Malcolm Muir kindly competed in 2 events where Ilford struggled for points normally .In the 400 hurdles he won the B string and in the 3000 sc he came second in 11.21, providing valuable points.
In the jumps Fidunu Abidekun , back from the English Schools did the High and Long jump. He jumped an excellent 6.38 in the Long and 1.85 in the High jump for first and second position
In the throws once again Ilford are lucky to have Sam Malekout, Pete Whiting , Nat Senior and Jeevakan Sivayogan who between them did all the throws, long jump and pole vault and bring so many valuable points to Ilford
A great day was hopefully had by all with many personal bests and people doing events they normally would not attempt
Vitality London 10,000
Hatfield
Sunday 11th July 2021
Fun at first in person Vitality London 10,000 since May 2019
After more than a year of virtual races, the Vitality London 10,000 which had been cancelled in May 2020 and postponed in May 2021 finally took place at a new temporary venue in Hertfordshire’s Hatfield Park on Sunday, July 11, with four Ilford Athletic Club members flying the flag for Ilford.
The race took place after the Reunion 5k pilot event in May which provided data for the government’s Events Research Programme, examining how mass-participation events can return safely.
Ilford Athletic Club’s Sharon Honey 57:43, Mandy Reid 1:01:48, Launa Broadley 1:09:24 and Sheila Sinclair 1:11:45 completed the chip timed 10km course through scenic countryside and stunning formal gardens. They enjoyed a fun morning and received unique 2021 finishers medals and technical t-shirts.
“We’ve really enjoyed maintaining our physical and mental health over the last year and it was fantastic to be a part of this first in-person event representing our club”, said Sheila, 56.
With an offer of a socially distanced race or mass start, it was the first in-person mass participation race by London Marathon Events (LME) since the pandemic began.
Westminster Mile
Hatfield
Sunday 11th July 2021
At the same location as the Vitality 10,000 the postponed ‘Westminster Mile’ took place.
Ilford Athlete Alan Pearl ran a fantastic time of 6m 21s which placed him 31st overall on the day and 1st in the Vet 60-64 category
Alan is pictured with Dunstan Creavalle, a former Essex 800m champion during his spell with the club in the 1980’s and 90’s. Dunstan ran the mile in 6m 09s.
