Press Report – 14th September 2021  

TRACK

SCVAC (Southern Counties Vets Athletics club)
Lee Valley
6th September 2021

The Vets team travelled to a warm and sunny Lee Valley for the final match of the Vets Track and Field season.

Cliff Warren competing in the Triple Jump leapt to 9m 59 for first place. He followed this up with a 400m time of 66.09 to finish 7th in the race.

Tony Young achieved a personal best in the 1500m with a time of 6.02.48s to be the 4th V50. Rob Sargent finished in 7.08.60s again for 4th place in the V60 category.

Amin Koikai (V50) and Sam Rahman (V35) competed in the 3000m both finishing 1st in their age categories in times of 9.48.87s and 10.23.45s.

Henry Ricketts competing in field events threw 27m 31 in the V50 Javelin and 21m 39 in the V35 Discus for 4th and 3rd places respectively.

In the women’s match Barbara Higgins showed her multi event skills by competing in the Hammer (V50) 20m 72, Shot (V60) 5m 41, Javelin (V60) 10m 31 and 100m (V60) 18.64s which gave her the placings of 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd respectively.

Carlie Qirem and Gaye Young debuted on the track and as such recorded personal bests with times of 6.00.60s and 6.25.74s finishing 1st and 2nd in their age groups.

A huge thank you to all who competed this season and Clare Levey in her track official capacity. Next year should return to competitive matches where the men will be defending the Herts and North Middlesex title held over since 2019.

 

Essex 10000m Championship
Chelmsford
Wednesday 8 September

Ilford AC had a squad of 5 entered in the Essex 10000m track championship held at Chelmsford, four of whom had never run this event on the track before.

First home in 7th place with a strong run was Gary Coombes in 35mins 13.3secs to take the bronze medal in the M40 age category.

Malcom Muir, who had run the 25 lap race before, gave 100% to come home 9th in 36 mins 02.7 secs. Dan Holeyman and Steve Philcox ran in a group of 4 for most of the race with Holeyman recording 14th in 38mins 33.3 secs and Philcox one place behind in 38mins 36.5 to win the bronze medal in the M50 age group.

Sameena Ahmed was the club’s only female runner on the night and she ran a well controlled race to take the ladies championship breaking 40 minutes with 39 mins 57.3 secs. Sameena was also awarded a second gold medal as she also won the F40 category championship.

There were further medals for Ilford as Coombes and Muir combined to place second in the team championship and take home the silver.

Watford Open Meeting
8th September 2021

As the track season draws to a close and athletes are looking to get in their last few races of the year, a bunch of Ilford athletes made the journey to Watford for the last open meeting of the season. 

The first event was the 200m and Ayshah Lawrence in her second race of the season produced a season’s best time of 30.00 for 6th place.  Wanya Williams who is returning to racing had a good run, in heat 5 of the 200m placing 5th in 23.94. Best performance of the Ilford 200m runners was Oliver Blainey who not only won his heat, but set a pb of 23.61. 

Aleena Lawrence, won her heat of the 100m in a time just outside her best. Efemena Adjarho produced another fine performance clocking 13.17, and it must only be a matter of time before she breaks 13 seconds. Elijah Mayindu ran in the last heat and produced a time of 11.75. 

Jordan Hinds was the first of the 800m runners finishing 4th in a time of 2.21.05, which was her second fastest time ever. 
Dylan Harrod had spent the week in bed with a heavy cold and therefore his performance of 2.00.76 was excellent. This was the fifth time this season he has run under 2.01, and surely a sub 2.00 clocking will come soon. 

Bradley Deacon was next up and having broken 2 minutes in his last race, he was up for another sub 2 clocking; Bradley ran a well judged race and finished strongly to clock a pb of 1.58.77.
Farris Vakil was in the fastest race of the night, and after a mid season injury he is finally getting back to close to his best. He clocked his second fastest time ever of 1.54.26. 

After perfect conditions all night, the rain started just as Mungo Prior started his 3000m race, in a big field Mungo was positioned with a strong pack and was on pace for a sub 9 minute pace most of the way, however he lost a few seconds in the middle laps, but still ended with a fine pb of 9.03.71

 

Southern Athletics League
Thurrock
Saturday 11th September

After a long track season, the Southern athletics league held its last league match.
Many Ilford athletes were unavailable but the small team Ilford sent to Thurrock  had performed very well

In the Women’s races Krystle Balogun seems to be getting stronger and stronger and powered to a 100m and 200 m win. Her times were 12.98 and 26.88 respectively . Krystle has had a great season as usual , winning many points for the club and provides great support to our younger generation of sprinters

Backing her up in the sprints was Efe Adjarifo and Aleena Lawrence. Both came second in the 100 in 13.06 and 13.39 and Aleena also came second in the 200 in 29.04. Both girls , like Krystle have performed so well and competed in all of the league matches

The other female athlete was Jordan Hinds and actually Jordan has got stronger and fitter as the season has gone on and probably wishes the season had another month left. In the 800 Jordan took the race from the start and powered away from the field to run one of her best times ever of 2.21. With athletes around her I am sure she would have broken the 2.20 barrier. Jordan came back later in the 400 and once again run a great time of 62.58 for second position

In the men’s team , it was Ilfords Middle distance group who were able to perform well and score points across many events. In the 800 Farris Patel ran from the front to try and fellow Ilford athletes Dylan Harrod and Mungo Prior to sub 2 mins 800. Farris ended up with 1.59 but Dylan just missed out with 2.00.51 and Mungo 2.01. Both Farris and Dylan won their races and i am sure Mungo and Dylan will break the 2 mins barrier very soon

In the 400 Dylan ran very well for 53.90 for second and Oliver Blainey ran another personal best of 52.91 for second also . Oliver in his first year in athletics has come so far ina  short period of time with many pbs across 100,200 and 400 with so much more to come

In the 3000 Jak wright and Bradley Deacon both pushed from the start with the aim of breaking 9 mins. Even though both won their races they both just missed out with Jak winning on 9.02 and Brad in 9.09. Both have had great year of improvements

Brad came back fro the 1500 for 2nd in 4.18 and it was great to see Ryan Holeyman start getting back to running and performed very well for 3rd place and 4.48. With some tough training we will see Ryan back stronger than ever on the X country season

Special mention again must go to George Marshall Childs and Jeevakan Sivayogan , who did the majority of throws and jump events during the day, gaining many points for the club. Both even asked to do the 4 x 100 m where Ilford came 4th

Best event of the day was the last event of the day and the4 x 400  Mixed relay. Ilford put out an extremely strong team with Jak Wright taking the first leg and performed well to hand over to Jordan Hinds. Jordan ran a great 400 to keep Ilford in 2nd position. And hand over to Krystle who stormed round in sub 60 to put Ilford in the lead and then Farris brought the baton home first for a great Ilford win in the last event of the season.

The whole Ilford team of athletes, officials, parents and general supporters have been great all year and provide a great atmosphere for everybody. Well done Ilford AC

Eastern Young Athletics League
Basildon
Sunday 12th September 2021

Following the SAL final match, it was also the last Eastern Young Athletes League Match of the season. Ilford competes jointly with Orion and the setup has worked very well for both teams.

Some great performances from our Ilford athletes as usual across many events and age groups

First race for the Ilford Youngsters was the 800.
Aaron Hick ran well in 2.31 for 6th position and threw the Discuss 11 metres whilst also running the first leg of the 4x 100, where Ilford came 4th.

Ronan Edwards, who has recently joined, had a superb run, running a near 4 second personal best but coming 3rd in the u17s 800  in 2.10. He also ran the 400 in 58 seconds , as well as the Triple jump and 4 x100m

Joseph Grange ran against his Chelmsford rival in the1500 and it turned out to be one of the best races of the day. Joseph pushed with 600 to go to try and break the Chelmsford boy and it looked like it worked when the gap grew. However the Chelmsford Essex Champ responded to kick the last 300. Joseph hung onto him but was unable to beat him, however he ran a personal best of 4.26. Excellent running for a 14 year old

In the U15  1500 Samuel Crane is definitely getting stronger and stronger and ran 5.08 for 1500. Much more to come from Samual. Ryder Islam ran the u13 1500 and battled round for a personal best of 5.29. Ryder also did the Discus and threw 11 Metres

In the u17s 400 and 200 Oliver Blainey ran 53.4 for second and ran a stunning 200 m for 23.8 to win the race. Jacob Emeagi ran well in the u17 200 for 5th and ran the 4 x 100 and brother Lucas Emeagi came second in the U15s 300 and ran the last leg of the 4x 100 for 5th place

Finally Ryan Holeyman did the 1500m and ran much faster than the previous day and ran a great time of 4.38 for third pace

Once again all the Ilford Youngsters performed well across the season and the club are proud of all of you

 

U20 Inter counties Match
Horspath
Sunday 12th September 2021 

As a reward for his great season over 400m hurdles Rhys Ewards was called by Essex County, for the junior Inter Counties Match last weekend. 
In a high quality field Rhys ran his 4th 400 hurdles pb of the season in placing 4th in 62.35. 
Not content with just the hurdles Rhys then proceeded to  run the 800m where he came 3rd in a season’s best of 2.05.98.
When  you have done two what’s one more, Rhys stepped in again for the Triple jump, finishing second in a pb of 11.61

 

ROAD

 

Ingatestone 5
Sunday 12th September 2021 

There were 5 Ilford Ac runners in this long established race. 

The race takes place on a challenging course starting from the Anglos-European school in Willow Green, taking in Fryerning and a challenging Beggar Hill before heading back to the finish at the back of the school.

Best for the team was Steve Philcox in 13th spot with 31 mins 19 secs which placed him second in the M50 category title. Next home was Terry Knightley in 15th with 31 mins 47 secs, to claim yet another V60 1st place in an excellent season since racing returned.

Alison Sale was best for the ladies in 37th overall with 40 mins 32 secs and 1st place in the F50 grouping.
Pramila Monro ran a strong race finishing 54th with 47 mins 08 secs with Frieda Keane just 3 places behind in 47 mins 35 seconds. The strong ladies team combined to win the ladies team title on the day.

This charity race has strong links with Ilford AC being founded by Ilford Legend Howard Williams to raise money for Ingatestone Boys Club. Sadly Howard passed away in 2017, but nevertheless every year a willing team of Club volunteers keep Howard’s legacy by providing a team to administer the on the day entries and results service. Special mention therefore goes to the team of Martin Clarke, Carlie Qirem, Nicola Hopkinson, Esther Keane, Ernie Forsyth, Satha Alaga, Declan and Ethne Cullen, and Billy Green

Great North Run
Sunday 12th September 2021

57,000 determined and dedicated runners make the Great North Run the World’s biggest and best half marathon – famous for its warm North East welcome, unbeatable atmosphere and the millions raised for good causes, this year the route was adapted and waves introduced for Covid measures

Ilford AC put forward its own Geordie, Great north run regular Anthony Young, racing in his native Newcastle.
On an unusually warm day (for the north!) Anthony recorded a time of 1 hr 41 mins 59 secs to record a new personal best for the distance.

 

Havering Half Marathon
Sunday 12th September 2021

Local mental health charity, Havering Mind, once again organised the 2nd running of the Havering Half Marathon.

Developed in partnership with Havering Council the route took in Ingrebourne Hill Park, Hornchurch Country Park, the suburban streets of Upminster before winding back along woodland trails next to the River Ingrebourne.

Two Ilford AC athletes took part this year, with both putting in excellent performances.
Danny Holeyman impressed with 7th place overall and grabbing the 3rd M40 title in a time of 1 hr 23mins and 55 seconds. Adam Coals was very pleased with his pace, finishing in 66th place in a time of 1 hr 44mins and 31 seconds

Richmond Half Marathon

Sunday 12th September 2021

The Richmond Half Marathon gives runners a chance to run in a World Heritage site – Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The race takes runners on a scenic tour of Richmond, one of London’s most appealing areas. It starts at Kew Botanical Gardens and finishes at Old Deer Park, via a scenic tour of Richmond Riverside and Ham House.
Out of over 2,000 finishers, Ilfords Paul Holloway put in an awesome sub 80 minute run to place 29th in a finish time of 1 hr 19mins 50 secs which placed him second V50 on the day and a time which means he qualifies for an England vest in his age group over the distance.