Press Report 12th July 2022
Performance of the week undoubtably goes to Ahmed Abdulla who in the Milton Keynes 5000m, placing 8th, dipped under 14 minutes for the first time to achieve a PB time of 13:59.
This achievement places him 3rd in the all-time list of 5000m times by an Ilford AC athlete.
English Schools County Championships (Track)
Manchester Sport City
8th and 9th July
Two high performing athletes from Ilford’s young squad were selected to represent Essex schools in this prestigious high-quality event held this year in Manchester Sport City, The recent National Championships were held there only a few weeks ago.
Oliver Blainey ran in 400m heats on Friday afternoon. He had been slightly hampered in the days leading up to the event by allergies but ran strongly to record a time of 51.09 narrowly missing out on the final. This was Oliver’s first big race on a national stage and bodes well for the future.
Joseph Grange ran in 3000m on Saturday Morning. Joseph has built up good experience from higher level races over the last 18 months over track distances and cross country and this experience and race craft showed in his performance. He came 7th on the day in 8:49:17 a new PB over the distance. Each race has two school years included, on this occasion Joseph came first in his year group.
Field
Ilford AC Hilly 5m
Hainault Forest
Wednesday 6th July
The Annual Ilford Hilly 5-mile cross country race, incorporating round 4 of the Summer Elvis League, was held at Hainault Forest on a warm Wednesday evening.
This year’s course was a temporary new one whilst works are being carried out on part of the old course and the general consensus was this course was a more challenging one with longer hills to conquer.
Ilford were without many runners who gave up their run to marshal on the course
Winning the race was Ilford’s Tom Gardner in a time of 28:10,
The Ilford men’s team, finishing 3rd on the night, was completed by Stephen Philcox 13th 31:45 (1st M50), Paul Holloway 16th 32:14 (2nd M50), Ryan Holeyman 19th32:25, Sam Rahman 22nd 33:11 and Richard Woolterton 27th 34:16 (3rd M50).
Finishing outside the scoring team, but all running well were Steve Crane 34th 35:24, Terry Knightley 35th 35::41 (1st M60), Diarmuid MacDonnell 36th 35:43, Joel Denning 42nd 36:08, Bradley Brown 94th 41:10 and Manjunath Gopi 123rd 44:21.
Ilford were just as successful in the women’s race with Neringa Masilioniene coming home as first female and 23rd in the race in 33:18 and Amy Bird being the 2nd female home in 39th place in 35:54.
Backing up the first 2 scorers and completing the team, who finished 3rd on the night, were Breege Nordin 91st 40:41 (1st F60), Alison Sale 103rd 42:19 (2nd F50) Gaye Young 109th 43:15 (3rd F50) and Dianne Crisp 153rd 48:02 (3rd F60).
Backing up the scoring team and running well in the conditions were Mandy Reid 160th 49:11 and Frieda Keane 183rd 52:56.
Road
CAPITAL GAINS FOR ILFORD AC
Asics London 10k
Sunday 10th July
The British 10k is one of the largest 10k’s in Britain attracting over 14,000 runners including 3 this year from Ilford AC, Amin Koikai, Billy Green and Doris Gaga
The race takes runners through Central London, traffic free, and takes in Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.
En route the runners pass several bands and large union jacks draping the streets.
Sunday’s race was held on an intensely hot sunny day that suited the spectators far more than it did the runners.
Amin led the way finishing in 54th place and first M50 in the huge field in a time of 35:21.
Both Billy Green and Doris Gaga were returning to racing after time away and were both pleased with their performances in the heat. Billy finished in a time of 52:53, whilst Doris came home in 1hr 14m 29secs.
YOUTH
Eastern Young Athletes League
Hornchurch
10th July 2022
On Sunday 10th July at Hornchurch Stadium, Ilford AC young club members took part in the 3rd Eastern young athletes’ league and came home with some great performances. In each discipline and for each age group there are two scoring races and new and improving athletes can compete in non-scoring races to aid their development
100m
In the U13 girls 100m Daniella Joshua (15.73) ran well and came in fifth in the first scoring race. Latifat Adewunmi also ran well in the second scoring and placed 4th in her race in 14.90. Katie Burke (18.73) ran her best and came sixth in the non-scorers meanwhile, Laila Charles ran amazingly in her race coming first in the non-scorers in a great time of 15.31. In the U15 girls 100m Stacey Amaniampong came 4th in the first second scoring race in 14.35 while Reianne Dowdridge came 3rd (13.84) in the non-scoring. Also in the non-scoring race was Destiny Mafo who came 6th in her race in 14.54. Finally, to finish off the girls 100m was Jadyn Charles who came 6th in first-scoring 100m in 13.96.
In the U13 boys Matthiaus Semper came in with an amazing finish coming first in the second scores race in 13.39 while Luke Thake came 4th in the non-scorers in 15.35. U15 did well with Jayden Kyle-McDermott coming 3rd in the non-scorers (13.47), while Ian Johnson came in with an astounding finish placing first in the non-scorers in 12.11. In the U17 boys, Oliver Blainey came 3rd in the first scoring in 11.57 with Mohammed Zergouatran coming 6th in the second-scoring in 12.68.
In the U17W race Jadyn Charles ran 13.88 and was 5th in the ‘A’ string
200m
All the above apart from Ian who sustained an injury then also ran in the 200m
In the U13 girls Daniella came 5th in the first-scoring in 33.69 and Latifat came 5th in the second- scoring (32.10). Laila and Katie did well in their second race with Laila bagging the 2nd place (32.33) and Katie coming in a close third in 39.48, both in the non-scorers. In the U15 girls Stacy came in 6th in the 2nd scoring. Reianne came in with 2nd place in the non-scoring (28.33) while Destiny placed 4th in the same race 29.35.
In the U13 boys Matthiaus had a stunning finish in the second-scoring coming 1st in 27.45 while Luke came sixth in the non-scorers in 33.43. Going straight to the U17 boys we had Oliver who also had a great performance in the first-scorers coming first in 22.94. Mohammed ran well and placed sixth in the second-scorers 26.52.
In the U17W race Jadyn Charles ran 28.29 and was 4th in the ‘A’ string
300m and 400m
In the U15 boys 300m James Thake came 5th in the first-scoring in 47.34 running injured for team points while Aaron Hick came 2nd in the second-scoring race in a new PB of 42.59. Straight to the U17 boys 400m, where Ronan Edwards came 4th in the first-scorers in 56.03.
800s and 1500s
In the U15 boys 800m, Ryder Islam came 8th in a new PB of 2.33.08, James Thake ran incredibly coming 3rd (2.18.34) and Aron Berhe ran well on his Ilford AC debut and came 5th in 2.25.59 in the non-scorers. In the U15 boys 1500 Samuel Crane placed sixth in the first-scorers in (4.50.76) while in the U17 boys 1500 Ronan Edwards had a great run following his tough 400m one hour before coming in a close second in the first-scorers in (4.22.63).
All members of the squad also made contributions in the field events and relays to ensure a good point return for the club. Special thanks to Coaches Wayne and Ernie and Officials Nicola and Andy for all their support throughout the day
Quote of the day: One of the U15 winners was using ex-Ilford hurdlers Roger Honey’s spikes. When asks how he felt after his victory the athlete replied “I could have run faster but I kept jumping in the air for no reason”
