Press Report 19th April 2022
TRACK
As the longer nights and warmer weather finally arrives, Ilford’s track runners have finally started reappearing.
Open Meeting Havering Saturday 9th April
The first athlete out of track hibernation first was Oliver Blainey, who has moaned about hills and long reps all winter, but has done them all and was rewarded with a win and a new pb of 52.35 in his 400m race, knocking almost half a second off from last year.
Open Meeting Lee Valley Sunday 10th April
Oliver was back at it again the next day. Different venue and different distance, but the result was the same with another pb, this time over 200m, in a time of 23.12.
Sisters Ayshah and Aleena Lawrence started their seasons with solid runs, both finishing in 4th place. Ayshah clocking 31.07 for 200m and Aleena 13.92 over 100m.
Rhys Edwards who is concentrating on shorter distances this season ran a very good season opening 400m of 56.08
Inter Club Challenge Lee Valley Saturday 16th April
Three of Ilford’s lady sprinters took part in the Inter club Challenge match at Lee Valley.
Efe Austinz started her season with a solid performance over 100m, placing 4th in her heat in a time of 13.41.
Aleena Lawrence improved by half a second on last weeks run out to take 6th in a time of 13.54.
Ayshah Lawrence who normally concentrates on the longer sprint, stepped to the 100m and finished in a time of 14.54.
Ellie Wright, decided to start her season with a 200m, and her time of 27.11, showed that the winter training has gone well.
ROAD
Little Bromley 10k
Saturday 16th April
Saturday saw the 7th running of the Little Bromley 10k, a race held to raise funds for the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Service. Comprising a single lap road course through the Essex Countryside, 470 runners took on the course including Gary Coombes of Ilford AC who finished in 15th place in a time of 34m 18s which placed him 1st place in the M50 category. Gary, in his new M50 age category, is attempting to secure his name in the Ilford AC history books, and this time places him 2nd fastest M50 over 10k in Ilford’s history.
BOSTON MARATHON
Massachusetts
Monday 18 April
Two runners from Ilford AC took part in the 126th Boston Marathon on the challenging course from Hopkinton, just outside the city, to Copley Square. The section from 18 to 21 miles is over the Newton Hills and finishes with the climb up Heartbreak Hill.
Diarmuid Mac Donnell took a steady approach to the race reaching halfway in 1 hr 32 m 46 s and after tackling the tougher second half crossed the line in 3hr 10 m 58 s, just over 2 minutes outside his personal best for the distance.
He was placed 5438th out of the 30000 plus in the event
Carlie Qirem had a tougher race reaching the 13 mile point in 1 hr 41mins 07 secs. In the second half she was bothered by an Achilles tendon issue which slowed her to a time of 3 hrs 32 mins 34 secs, her second fastest Marathon time, placing her 2904th lady finisher and 11115th overall.
