Press Report 19th July 2022
INTERNATIONAL
World Masters
Tampere, Finland
Jun 29-Jul 10
Krystle Balogun donned her first British vest as she competed at the highest stage of all in the World Masters Championships held in Tampere, Finland.
Competing in the W35 category in her favoured event, the 200m, she qualified for the final with a season’s best performance of 25.92 into a slight headwind, a time that is just outside of her personal best.
Despite being given an unfavourable Lane 8 in the final she ran true to form and finished a highly creditable 5th in a stacked final. A superb display of sprinting in her first international competition, she has her sights set on further competitions in the remaining 4 years/seasons left in the W35 category.
A stalwart in Southern League competitions, County endeavours, Elvis runs and Park runs in her previous life as a distance runner Krystle continues to impress in her commitment to the sport as a representative of Ilford AC.
ESSEX CHAMPIONSHIPS
Essex Relays
Chelmsford
15th July 2022
At last weekend’s Essex Relays, held at Chelmsford, Ilford had a number of teams competing in the U15 and U13 age groupings.
All the top Essex clubs enter teams for the Championships, so Ilford AC knew they had to run well to have a chance of a medal
In the U15 4 x 300m boys race Aaron Hick ran a very good leg to come in 5th, very close to the teams in front. Aaron handed over to Samuel Crane, who ran very well to maintain Ilford’s position. Next was new athlete Aron Berhe, who ran a storming leg to move Ilford into 4th. Aron handed over to James Thake, who brought the baton home in 4th position for a time of 2 mins 57 secs. However, one of the other teams was unluckily disqualified for cutting in too early on the first leg, meaning Ilford was promoted to 3rd and the 4 Ilford boys were awarded a Bronze medal each.
In the U15 boys 3 x 800m, all the boys in the previous relay were back competing within 40 mins and found the next relay very tough.
In the A team James Thake, Samuel Crane and Aaron Hick came home in a solid 6th position.in 7 mins 22.1 secs
Aron Berhe, Ryder Islam and Mohameed Zougatt in the B team came a very promising 7th position in 7 mins 40.7 secs
The U15 girls 4 x 100m team consisted of Destiny Mafo, Stacey Amaniampong, Anika Sharma and Reianne Dowridge.
All ran strong legs against more experienced runners, but their 5th place was not enough to seal a place in the final.
Unfortunately for the U13 girls Jadyn Charles had to pull out due to injury meaning the remaining team of Laila Charles, Ruby Moffat Virk and Latifat Adewunmi had to be withdrawn, which was a great disappointment after all of their preparation and hard work.
The team shows great promise, and we are confident that with more experience they will improve greatly.
Felstead 10km (incorporating the Essex Championship)
Sunday 17 July
On a good weekend the Essex 10km Championships was held in conjunction with the Felstead 10km.
The start time was brought forward to 9am to avoid the midday heat and the runners set off on a gently undulating single loop course. Ilford AC had a small squad in action with Sam Rahman leading the club home in 26th place with a good time of 36 mins 51 secs. Steve Philcox won the county title in the M55 category in 37 mins 35 secs as he placed 34th, while Richard Woolterton just missed his personal best recording 40 mins 52 secs for 83 th.
Terry Knightley crossed the line 2 places later in 41 mins 01 secs to take bronze in the M60 age group. Joanne Reeves was the 29th lady home with 46 mins 02 secs to finish 3rd in the F45 grouping for the bronze medal.
Alison Sale placed 243rd overall and 60th female in 52 mins 52 secs and Dianne Crisp lost out on the silver medal in the F60 category by 1 second but took a deserved bronze with 58 mins 16 secs as 86th female and 308th overall.
The Ilford squad was completed by Rob Sargent (312th 58.35) and Frieda Keane (337th 61.12)
TRACK
Southern league
Lee Valley
15th July 2022
In the 3rd Southern league match of the season at Lee Valley, Ilford had a depleted squad but the athletes who turned up were all outstanding and attempted to compete in as many events as possible.
Starting with the ladies, Ilford had 5 ladies competing and all competed at a very high level.
In the Sprints Krystle Balogun, who recently came 5th in the ‘World over 35 vets champs’ over 200m , competed over 100m and 200m and was outstanding as usual.
Krystle won the B string 100m in 13.01 and placed 2nd in the 200m in 26.41
In the A string 100m Aleena Lawrence was 4th in a very competitive race in 13.54
In the middle-distance race, outstanding youngster Jordan Hinds did the very tough 800 and 1500m combination.
In the 800 Jordan ran very well and was leading the race until the last 2 meters of the race , until being pushed back to 2nd but in a good time of 2.23.
Jordan was back a couple of hours later to come 2nd in the 1500m in a time of 5.09.
Anna Crawley, who always competes for the club if available ran an even tougher double by doing the 1500/3000 combination. In Both Races Anna ran so intelligently in the hot conditions by working her way through the field and looked to get stronger as the races went on.
She came a magnificent 2nd in both races in 5.27 and 11.46
Moving onto the Men’s, Ilford had some truly outstanding performances.
In the 800, the race felt like an Ilford AC club champs as Ilford were 1st,2nd and 3rd. Paul Grange was truly outstanding under such hot conditions. He went through the bell on his own around 56s and powered on to achieve a superb 1. 54.. It was also great to see Ahmed Abdulle compete in the 800 and he got stronger as the race went on to come home with a Personal Best of 1.58. Dylan Harrod was the third Ilford athlete, and he is coming back to his best with a time of 2.00. Last year Dylan ran so many 800s so close to beating the 2-minute barrier and the expectation was that he would smash through it this year. However due to an injury in the winter Dylan missed a lot of training but he is back to his best and will beat this 2-minute barrier soon.
In the 1500 Ahmed was back and was aiming for a fast race. However, the 2nd lap was very slow so with 2 laps to go it was truly amazing to see Ahmed move up a gear and run the last 800 very close to the time he had run in the 800, to win in a very impressive 3.56. Ahmed is in the form of his life and would have run close to 3.50 if the 2nd lap would have been quicker.
Ilford AC’s outstanding youngster Joseph Grange ran in the same race as Ahmed and it was great to see he had the confidence to try and go with Ahmed, early in the race. Joseph won the B string in 4.16
In the 5k Fabrizio Stefanoni looked superb to come 4th in a very good time of 16.55
In the Men’s 400 Ilford hadn’t seen Simeon Balson Jones compete for some time due to several reasons. Not sure what to expect Simeon went off like a train and led most of the race and was just overtaken on the line in a time of 52.8. Being his first race, we would expect Simeon to be a bit rusty, but it was great to see him back and expect something near to sub 50 by the end of the season. In the B 400 ever reliable Dylan ran a close to his best 53.5 for 2nd place
Paul Grange came down a distant to compete in the 200 to run an outstanding 23.99, which was a PB
Special mention must be given to youngster George Marshall Childs who competed in all Throwing and Jump events, achieving 2 Personal best and providing Ilford with so many points.
Also, special mention to our other throwers and Jumpers like Wesley Clarke, who won the hammer in 35 metres, Pete Whiting and Jeevakan Sivayogan and also Dylan Harrod who did well in the Triple Jump
Ilford has a long history of winning the last event of the day i.e. the 4 x 400m and the team of Paul, Joseph, Ahmed and Dylan didn’t let us down and stormed home in 3m.38s
Finally, the club couldn’t compete without the support of our officials Nicola, Ernie, Andy and Robin. Thanks very much goes to them
FIELD
Veterans AC 5km Championship
Battersea Park
Tuesday 12 July
The Veterans AC 5km Championships for runners over 35 were held on the usual 2 lap flat course on a hot, sultry evening which had an adverse effect on the times achieved.
There was a good turn out from Ilford AC runners in the field with Fabrizo Stefanou showing great form to come home 4th overall in 16 mins 55 secs to take the gold medal in the M45 category.
Also on the rostrum was Joanne Reeves finishing 7th lady in 22 mins 44 secs to win the silver medal in the F45 grouping.
Sam Rahman is another in good form as he trains for the Amsterdam Marathon in October coming home 9th in 17 mins 23 secs with Ed Skinner, racing in the M65 category came home 49th with 25 mins 34 secs just missing out on a top 3 place in his age group.
Rob Sargent was 52nd in 29 mins 11 secs and Launa Broadley finished 11th lady in 30 mins 27 secs.
In the Olympic Park 10km on Saturday 16th July Aaron Brown was Ilford’s sole runner and came in 14th place in a time of 41.03