Southern Athletic League Press Report May 30th 2022
Ilford AC competed in the first Southern athletic league of the 2022 season at Lee valley last weekend. Ilford had a small team that turned out but as usual the whole team competed to a high level to finish 4th in the match. With a few more events covered Ilford would have been closer to the leading teams
The 6 Ilford AC Ladies had a very successful day. First up as usual was the ever reliable Krystle Balogun, who came third in the 100 with 13.2 and second in the 200 in a great time of 26.5. Krystle also got good points in the Shot with a throw of 6.98. Backing Krystal up in the sprints was the returning Ayshah Lawrence. Ayshah came third in the 100 and 200 in 14.4 and 30.5
New Ilford Ac member Toyin Olufemi competed in the shot Putt and looked superb with a throw of 9.63 for second place
Moving onto the middle distance and Jordan Hinds had a tough day running the 400,800 and 1500. In the 400m Jordan came 2nd in 63.9,ran a great 800 to win in 2.25 and came back later to come third in the 1500 in 5.28
Our last 2 ladies were both outstanding in the 3000. Sameena Ahmed led from the start to win in 11.27 and Anna Crawley won the B string in 11.57. Anna came back to come second in the 1500 in 5.32
Moving onto the Men’s and once again Ilford had some great performances. Starting with the sprints Abdulhakin Mohamed looked awesome in the 100 winning in 10.80. Much more to come this season from Addulhakin.In the B string new Member Mohamed Zergouat came 4th in the 100 in 12.21 and 5th in the 200 in 26.96. In the 400 , Essex u17 Champion Oliver Blainey ran another Personal best with a time of 50.8. Sub 50 by the end of the season should be achievable .Oliver also did a PB in the High jump with a jump of 1.50
Dylan Harrod, coming back from injury , looks to be getting back to his best, ran the B string 400 and won in 54.2. Dylan also pushed himself to win the 800 B string in 2.04. Dylan also jumped in the triple jump with a jump of 9 meters
In the A string 800 Ilford ACs young vet Paul Grange seems to get better and better with each year and ran an impressive 1.57 to win. Paul returned later in the 1500 to race with his own son Joseph. Joseph ran excellently to get a big pb of 4.16 for second place. Paul came second in B string with the same time
In the men’s 5000 it was great to see Tom Gardner back from his short trip to Australia. Tom hadn’t lost any of his fitness and looked impressive winning with 15.46
In the field events it was also great to see Wesley Clark return as an Ilford AC member and throw the Hammer an impressive 33 meters for second place. Also Jeevakan Sivayogan and Pete Whiting definitely need a mention for doing all the other throw events. Jeevakan looked very impressive in the shot putt with a throw of 8.17 for second place
The last race of the day as usual was the men’s 400 and Ilford has a great tradition in 4 x 400 meter running and the team of Paul, Joseph, Oliver and Dylan didn’t let us down and stormed home to first place in 3.39
Great performances and support from the whole team
