Press Report. July 3rd 2018
Southern League track and field
Cricklefields Stadium
23rd June 2018
After an absence of almost 8 years, Southern League athletics returned to Cricklefield last Saturday, with Ilford hosting one of the third rounds of matches in division 3 north. It was a tough match for the host club, with 4 of the 5 opposing teams already above them in the table after 2 matches.
Since returning to the League Sam Malekout has been Mr Consistency for Ilford, and he showed his value to the team again, by collecting 19 points from 6 events. He started off with a great 2nd place in the 400m hurdles, running his fastest time for 5 years. Which he followed by taking on both the shot and High jump at almost the same time. He came 4th in the B string shot and 6th in the High Jump. Next up was 4th in the discus, followed by 6th in the Hammer, before finally rounding his day off with victory in the B string Javelin.
Dan Wheeler is another, not happy with one event, and he tried the 400m hurdles for the first time, winning the B string in 71.0, before switching back to his usual events, placing 3rd in both the 100m and 200m. Daniel Poopola also did both sprints with a 3rd place in the B 100m and 4th in the 200m. Temi Adeoshun and Jordan Akinpelu did non scoring 100’s, before combing with the two Dan’s to make a winning 4x 100 team.
Farris Patel had a great run in the 400m setting a PB of 51.25, for 3rd place, he was joined in the 400m by Aaron Samuel who set a Pb in the b string 400m with 54.64 for 2nd. Early Aaron had finally broken 2 minutes for the 800m for the first time in a time of 1.59.1 for 3rd place. The pair were joined by Anthony George and Dan Wheeler in the 4x 400 and ended up in 2nd.
Jak Wright and Bradley Deacon did the 1500m, with Jak placing 4th in the A string and Bradley 3rd in the B string, both set pb’s, with Jak running 4.19.08 and Bradley knocking off 9 seconds in running 4.37.49. Good points were gained in the 5000m, by Amin Koikai and Steve Philcox, both placing 2nd with times of 16.21.19 and 17.38. 30. Ilford also had three non scores in the 5000 Sam Rahman 17.38.80, Seb Parris 18.02.54 and Bradley Brown 20.08.57. Sam had previously run the B sting 800m taking 3rd in 2.15.99
Having earlier competed in the High Jump, Anthony George then took on the Long and Triple Jumps, placing 3 in the B string long and 3rd in A string Triple. Jordan Akinpelu also did both jumps placing 4th in A long and 3rd in B string Triple. Jordan also ran a non scoring 200 in 23.48.
Martins Sulainis had an eventful day, missing his specialist event the High jump due to a timing misunderstanding, he then planned to do pole vault, but that was cancelled for safety reasons. He then decided to do the 110 hurdles, and was leading, before hitting the 5th hurdle and could not finish. His day was made better by taking second in the B string Javelin with a throw of 43.70.
The remaining throws were contested by Wayne Hick 6th B discus, Nat Senior 4th A shot and Pete whiting 5th A hammer.
On the women’s side Esmeralda Mengeyele and Jordan Hinds were Ilford’s top point’s scorers. Esmeralda came 5th in the 100m in 13.82, 4th in the 200m in 28.68, 5th in the Long jump with 4.46, before producing a Pb of 26.79 for 5th in the Javelin. Jordan who has been getting better with each race ran 2.23.59 for 4th in the 800m and then 2nd in the B string 400m in 62.51. These were her fastest times over both distances for 2 years.
Zuzana Sinalova doubled up in the middle distance, knocking 30 seconds off her best in the 3000m in taking 4th place in a time of 11.40.2, before returning an hour later to run the 1500m in 5.42.75 for 5th.
Isabella Hick, Yasmin Martins and Efe Adjario all returned to competition after exams. Isabella gained valuable points in the 100 hurdles, before taking more points in the discus. Yasmin won the B sting long jump with a jump of 4.37 and then ran a non scoring 200 in 29.53. Efe came 4th in the B string 100m in 13.64.
Esmeralda, Efe, Yasmin and Sara Stena were the 4x 100 team and they had a very good run for 3rd place. Sara had previously run a non scoring 100m in 13.86, before throwing a Pb of 14.11 in the discus.
Krystle Balogun was coming back from injury and restricted herself to the A string 200m, which she won in a very good time of 26.76. Gemima Eshimu Massamba looked very good in winning the A string 400m in a time of 60.84.
Ayshah Lawrence set a Pb of 29.53 in the non scoring 200m, before teaming up with Yasmin, Gemima and Jordan for 3rd in the 4x 400.
The overall match was a close affair with Basildon just piping Woodford by 3.5 points. Ilford young team ended up in 5th place.
Essex County Relay Championships
Basildon
29th June 2018
Ilford sent six teams to the Essex Relay championships last Friday and came home with 5 medals, two golds and 3 silvers.
First up were the Senior Mens 4x 100, lead off was Jordan Akinpelu, who made a great start and put Ilford into contention. The change to Temi Adeoshun was great and Temi flew down the back straight, to hand over to Nat Senior. Nat who coaches the three other athlets ran a great bend to hand over to Dan Wheeler in 3rd place. Dan managed to move Ilford into second place with a great last leg.
The senior women 4x 100 followed the men, with Gemima Eshimu Massamba running the opening leg and again giving the team a great start. Krystle Balogun now injury free ran a great second leg, moving Ilford into 2nd place. Jordan Hinds, who does not normally run the shorter relay, kept Ilford in 2nd, before handing over to Esmeralda Mengeyele who stormed down the home straight to match the men with a silver medal.
The under 17 4x 400 was next, with Farris Patel giving Ilford a great start, and coming home in second place. 400m is a bit short for Aaron Samuel, but he used all of his strength to hang onto the Havering athlete and even edged ahead down the home straight to give Anthony George a slight lead going into leg three. Anthony ran a perfect leg just sitting in with the Havering athlete , before blasting the home straight to maintain a slender lead. Mario could probably have taken it easy and just used his 100m speed in the straight, but not content with that Mario gave it all and opened the gap so that the winning margin was over 50m. The teams winning time was around 3.30, which is believed to be a club record.
Less than an hour after running the 4x 400, Aaron and Farris were back on the track for the 3x 800. Aaron ran the first leg and after a steady first lap, he stretched the field out on lap two and bought Ilford home in first place. For the B team Bradley Deacon had a very good run, bringing the team in around 7th. Jak Wright ran leg two and managed to bring Ilford further away from most of the field, with only Basildon able to go with them. On the second lap, the Basildon athlete made a move and opened up a gap on Jak. For the B team Matthew Hick who was running in an upper age group had a very good run and kept the team in close contention. Farris was up against a Basildon athlete who is one of the fastest in the country on the last leg, and just could not get close enough, however second place was great run by the team. Like Matthew Ryan Holeyman was also running against athletes 2 years older than him and had a very good run, to bring the B team home 11th.
The final event of the night was the medley relay, comprising of 200, 200, 400, and 800m. Krystle took the first 200 and had a very good run, to put Ilford in first place, she handed over to Esmeralda for the second 200m and she maintained the lead. At the start of the 400m leg which Gemima was running, Ilford and southend had drawn clear. Gemima had a very good run, but the southend athlete just edged her at the finish. Jordan was ready on the 800m leg, and within 100m, had caught the southend athlete and shot past. Over the next lap Jordan continued to apply the pressure and stretched her lead to over 50m which she maintained to the end to achieve a great victory for Ilford.
Springfield Striders Friday night 5 Miles
Pleshey
29th June 2018
The Friday night 5 is held in the small village of Pleshey and is a two lap undulating course through the village starting and finishing at the village hall.
The race is unique in that runners do not receive a medal, but instead each competitor gets a burger at the end of the race.
Billy Green was the only Ilford entrant on the night and he complimented his ‘average running’ of late by finishing 50th of 100 runners in a time of 39:04
Brentwood 10k
Blackmore
30th June 2018
The Ilford AC dynamic duo of Danny Holeyman and Terry Knightley endured hot and humid and sweltering conditions on Sunday in the Annual Brentwood 10K Road Race.
Running around the sunshine filled country lanes of Blackmore amongst 183 other elite athletes both finished within the top sixteen positions with Danny clocking 41 Minutes and 23 seconds for 14th place and Terry stopping the clock at 41 Minutes 45 seconds for 16th place and 2nd Position in the MV50 category.
South london swimming club aquathlon
Tooting bec lido
Wed 27th june
Seb Parris once again returned to tooting on a hot summer’s day for a swim/run race. Water temp was 21 degrees so a lot of swimmers opted for no wetsuit. The ilford athlete did not! Seb was faster over the 1100m swim this week and felt good going off for his 7.5km 3 lap course over tootings common. He clocked a race pb of 45.00 minutes dead. That was 5th place of 100.
London inter club championship/enfield league 5000m Race walking
Allianz park,Edgware
30th june 2018
With temperatures around 30 degrees the track at allianz park was sizzling for this enfield league track 5000m race.
Ilford ac had a cracking turnout fielding 7 of the 19 starters including a successful debut for Emma Dyos (32.27). Walking confidently for 3rd lady home. Very impressive.
Seb Parris (28.13) found the going tough but headed the men’s team for 2nd place with Mark Culshaw in close contention for 3rd spot and a seasons best time (29.21).
Stuart Bennett (31.13) had a good late battle for his 4th mens spot.
Brilliant races were had also by Rachael Lawless for 6th lady (35.21), 7th lady Ann Scurfield (35.38) and 8th lady Lesley Morris (35.53).
Just over 30 seconds separated 5 walkers which proved exciting to watch. Each female athlete worked hard and recorded fine new 5000m pbs!
