Press report 18th November 2014
LONDON YOUTH GAMES X COUNTRY CHAMPS PARLIAMENT HILL
Saturday 15th November
Over 1000 young Londoners descended on Parliament Hill last Saturday for the first event of the new Balfour Beatty London Youth Games season. The cross country competitions featured representatives from all 33 London borough teams, including several national and regional champions.
A superb run by Ilford AC’s Ahmed Abdulle in the under 17s race saw him narrowly missing out on victory in a sprint finish but was later given 1st place when officials disqualified the original winner for being a over aged runner. Ahmed’s winning time was 17-10 some 30 seconds in hand of the next runner, and relegating the pre race favourite and Middlesex Champion to 6th. Usamah Patel found the going tough and had to settle for 22nd place in 18-53, with Jack Maher in 93rd place in 21-22. In the u/13 boys race Manraj Gill was placed 81st in 8-49. These 4 athletes competed for Redbridge in the team event
London 2012 Olympic marathon runner Scott Overall, a former London Youth Games competitor, attended to present the medals.
ESSEX X COUNTRY LEAGUE
Saturday 15th November
15 athletes from Ilford AC turned out for the 2nd round of the Essex Cross Country League held at Chelmsford’s Highlands Park on Saturday. Over 200 runners lined up for the men’s race with the in-form Kevin Newell leading the squad home in 41st just ahead of veteran Steve Philcox in 44th. Kevin Wotton and Ben Jones were locked together in 71st and 72nd respectively followed by Neil Crisp,80th, and Sam Rahman, 85th, completing the scorers.
The 10 man squad was completed by Andy Catton, 102nd,Steve Parker, 174th, Bradley Brown, 175th, and Steve Cheal, 188th. The race was won by the veteran class act Adrian Mussett of Colchester Harriers. The Ilford men placed 9th out of 22 competing teams.
The women went one better placing 8th with Krystle Balogun heading the team in 24th. She was pushed hard all the way by a great run from Jenni Sheehan who was only 13 seconds behind at the finish. Top veteran Bree Nordin was next home placing 46th and Nicola Hopkinson closed in 73rd. Doris Gaga placed 123rd in her first outing over the country. There were 126 women finishers with Havering’s Lauren Deadman taking top spot.
Ilford had 3 young athletes in the junior races, brother & sister Matthew & Isabella Hick and Bradley Deacon.
Matthew had an excellent race in the u/11’s finishing in 3rd place. Isabella competed in the u/13 girls race and put in a solid run for 44th place with Bradley in the u/13 boys race recording his best performance to date with 24th place.
