Press Report 9th July 2019  

Essex County Relay Champs
Chelmsford
Friday 28th June

Ilford ACs Gold Rush at Essex Champs Relay

Ilford entered 7 teams in the Essex Track relays at Chelmsford  last weekend and came home with a successful 4 Gold medal, 1 Silver medal and a Club Record.

First up was the Senior men and Senior women sprinters

In the Senior Men’s 4 x 100, Ilfords team of Jordan Akinpelu,Wanya Williams, Daniel Wheeler  &Nathaniel Senior ran a great race but just missed out on a medal with 4th position, in a real quality race.

In the Senior Womens 4 x 100 Krystle Balogun,  Eshimu Massamba Gemima, Ellie Wright & Esmeralda Mengeyele powered round to win Ilfords first Gold medal of the night. All 4 girls had amazing runs and takeovers to win the Gold medals

Next up was the Senior Men’s 4 x 400 races. Ilfords Senior team just missed out on a medal but great runs from Alex Richards, Jordan Akinpelu,Daniel Wheeler and Paul Grange

Ilford ACs under 17 4 x 400 was the reigning champions but many of the other big teams in Essex were after their title.
Findke Abidekin ran a great first leg to bring the team in 2nd place handing over to Aaron Samuels, who maintained the second place. Farris Patel ran a storming leg to give Mario Dobrescu a slight advantage , which Mario increased by some 50 m. The overall time was 3.28 , which was a new club record, breaking the previous record by 3 seconds. The time is also currently the fastest in the country for an U17 team.

The under 17s were then back on the Track in 3 x 800 . Bradley Deacon took the first leg and ran an absolute stunning leg to bring Ilford home slightly in the lead , giving the batton over to Aaron Samuels. Aaron had a slight lead from the Basildon athlete, who was the current Essex 800 Champion and tried to go straight  past Aaron. However Aaron held on and actually handed a 20 metre lead to Farris Patel, who comfortably brought home the baton, for another Gold medal for Ilford

Final 2 races of the night for Ilford was the Senior Men and Women’s Medley relays

In the Senior mens race, Nathaniel Senior, coach of all the young sprinters stormed into the lead in the first 200. Daniel Wheeler powered over the second 200 to maintain the lead. Alex Richards ran a great 400 and Paul Grange, new to Ilford , ran a controlled race to stay ahead of the other teams to win the Title for Essex and bring home the biggest Trophy of the night

In the Senior women’s race, Ellie Wright ran the first 200 and led after the first leg,Krystle increased the lead , handing over to Gemima. Jordan Hinds ran the 800 and was just caught down the home straight to win a well deserved silver medaL for the ladies

All in all a great night for Ilford AC

 

Tynedale 10km

Wednesday 3 July

Ilford AC member Tony Young returned north to his native Tyneside to take part in the Tynedale 10km last weekend.
The race which is over a fast rural course has an unusual race finishing prize for all the entrants; a plate of pie and peas.
There was an interested spectator at the event, former Scottish International and British Masters Endurance team manager Archie Jenkins. 

Tony ran a steady race finishing 162nd in a field of 354 with a time of 49.01

 

2019 ETU European Aquathlon Age Group Championship
Targu Mures, Romania
Thursday 5th july 

Ilford Athlete Seb Parris quite literally took the plunge this week while competing for Great Britain’s age group Aquathlon team at the European Multisports Championship in central Romania. 
The venue,Targu Mures, is a town steeped in Hungarian heritage with a large Romany community. 
The weather was scorching all week of the champs with highs of 38 degrees.
The aquathlon took place at a water park so athletes were pleased to be in the right place to cool off post race. A non wetsuit race was approved as water temperatures hit 27 degrees. 
Seb had a strong one lap swim in the lake coming out in 6th place for the run.  Four laps of the flat water parks helped Seb settle into a groove and move up to a 5th place finish in his age group (35-39) for 38.17.

Orion Forest 5
Chingford
Saturday 6th July

On a warm Saturday morning 7 Ilford AC athletes were amongst the 177 runners lining up for the second in the series of 3 ‘Forest 5’ runs organised by Orion Harriers. The course follows a one lap multi terrain route around Epping Forest with plenty of hills to contend with.

Leading the team home in 5th place was Paul Holloway, who also grabbed the M50 title with a time of 29:27. Paul was followed closely by Gary Coombes in 8th place and 1st M40 in a time of 29:35. Steve Philcox was next home for Ilford in a time of 32:16 for 20th place and the M50 on the day. Billy Green completed the men’s team in 81st place in a time of 39:15.

The ladies were led home by Alison Sale in 137th place in a time of 46:41, followed just a few places back in 142nd place by Julia Galea in a time of 47:53. Mandeep Bassi completed the ladies team on the day in a time of 50 mins exactly for 156th place.

Brentwood 10k
Sunday 7th July

The Brentwood 10k is held over a rural one lap course which takes runners along a fairly flat scenic route centred on the picturesque village of Blackmore, Essex.

This years 213 entrants included Ilfords Danny Holeyman, who seems to achieve a Pb every time he runs. This week was no exception with Danny finishing in 11th place for a time of 39:33 which beat his previous 10k Pb…achieved last week at Horndon.