Press Report 31st May 2023
Southern Counties VAC League
The first match in the Vets season was held at Lee Valley on Monday
The men’s team finished 3rd and the ladies team of three athletes did well to finish 5th.
The first track event was the 2000m walk where Neringa Aidietyte debuted as a Vet and comfortably won the V35 age group in 10.04.94. Lesley Morris backed this up with another win in the V50 age group in 14.29.59. Stuart Bennett also won the V50 age group in 12.09.98. Unfortunately Steve Crane was disqualified.
In the 100m, Sam Malekout returned to Vets competition and placed 3rd in 12.65 running as a V35. Henry Ricketts placed 5th in V50 with a time of 13.68. James Lambden placed 3rd in V60 timed at 14.8 and Dave Butler placed 4th in 18.74 as V70.
The age groups in the 400m were V35, V40 and V50. Sam Malekout ran really well to hold on for the win in the first age group in 57.61. Berekhet Berakhy debuted in the next age group placing 4th in 64.23. Henry Ricketts placed 8th in the final age group in 70.33.
Neringa was persuaded to run the 400m as a warm up for the middle distance event and won the V35 category in 73.77.
In the 1500m Neringa and Gaye van der Vyver competed as V35 and V50. Neringa topped off her fine evening with another victory in 5.23.79. Gaye battled to 4th place in 6.32.16.
The men had several athletes competing over 1500m but missed a trick in not fielding a V35 – a similar situation over the V40 100m. Danny Holeyman (V40) was pipped at the line to finish 6th in a time of 5.15.17. Berekhet as a non-scoring athlete finished in a time of 4.56.17. Fabrizio Stefanoni won V50 crossing the line in 4.52.67. Neil Crisp competed as V60 placing 3rd in 5.40.34. Dave Butler was a comfortable V70 age group winner in 5.45.55. Richard Woolterton and Andy Catton, both running as non-scoring athletes finished in 5.28.62 and 6.39.33 respectively.
In the field events Akwasi Nkrumah – another debutant – placed 4th with 7m in the V35 shot. Henry Ricketts placed 3rd in the V50 shot with 8m 20. Peter Whiting placed 3rd in the V60 hammer with 18m 99.
Closing the evening the men’s 4 x 100m of Akwasi, Henry, Fabrizio and Sam placed 3rd in 54.45 with Sam running well to hold off London Heathside
Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL)
Ilford AC sent a team of 20 young athletes to the second EYAL match of the year in St Albans. Each event had two selected runners scoring points for the team along with races with non-scorers hoping to gain experience.
Three runners competed for in the under 13 girls age group two Neriah Anderson and Nora Nzurike were making their club debuts. Neriah came 3rd in the 100m and 4th in the 200m and 3rd in the Long Jump. She was backed up by B string runner Nayla Mills Ugoh who performed well coming 4th in the 100m in a new personal best, 4th in the 200m and 2nd in the long jump. Finally Nora, whose future may be in slightly longer distances came 5th in the 100m, 2nd in the 200m and also competed in the shot put.
In the under 15 girls we had regulars Kenina Nkurumah and Stacey Amaniampong. Stacey was 6th in the 100m and 5th in the 200m in a new personal best showing the value of her regular attendance over the winter training. She also had a great shot put, throwing 7.26m for second place. Kenina came 5th in the 100m in a new PB and then continued this form in the field jumping 4.14 in the long jump and competing in the Javelin, 6th in the 200m and 4th in the long jump only 2cm from 3rd place.
Finally for the girls was Anika Sharma in the under 17s who achieved new PBs in the 300m and 800m and also competed in the long jump.
The club had only one athlete in the Under 13 boys but he covered two difficult events. On his debut for the club and debut on the track Barney Perkins ran 2.38 for the 800m to finish 3rd and then a few hours later came 4th in the 1500m. Great endurance and great promise for the future.
The under 15 boys were well represented. In the sprints Danthika Hennadigecame 3rd in the 100m and 2nd in the 200m. Jaydan Roberts Edwards showed his speed finishing 4rd in the 100m, 5th in the 200m in a new PB and also jumped 4.66m for a new long jump PB. They were well supported but strong performances from Damien Amaniampong who ran a 100m PB to win the non-scorer race and Jaskirat Singh who on debut came 2nd on the 100m and competed well in the shot put
Jayden Mcdermott and Luke Thake continue to show their range over a number of events. Both ran big PBs in the 800m and performed well in the 300m and shot put.
Sam Horsley had his debut 1500 and moved to 7th on the all-time list for the club with a fantastic time of 4.26.7 to finish in 2nd place. He was well supported by Aron Berhe and Ryder Islam who also ran PBs for the distance. Sam and Aron also competed in the Javelin with Aron throwing a best of 22.81m
In the under 17s Ian Johnson ran 11.3secs in the 100m and 23.4 in the 200m to win and break his personal best in both events. Like Sam this puts Ian in the top 30 all-time club times for his age group.
James Thake gained further experience over the shorter distances after a busy weekend coming 3rd in the 400m.
Aaron Hick had a really strong race in the 1500m coming second in new personal best after staying with the lead group all the way and showing his customary strong finish. Samuel Crane came 3rd in the B string for this event
Another great day for all the club! Thanks to the coaches, parents and volunteers who help the youngsters to show their best.
