Press Report. August 14th  

South of England Champs
Lee Valley
Saturday and Sunday 11th/12th August

Saturday 11th August

Three  Ilford Youngsters competed in the South of England Champs over the weekend.
First up on Saturday was Farris Patel in the 800m, there were three heats and qualifying was tough with only the first two going into the final. Farris was in heat three and positioned himself in a great position the whole way, but unfortunately, in the home straight was unable to get a qualifying spot  and his time of 2.01.58 was not one of the fastest losers.
Aaron Samuel was in the 1500m which had two heats , Aaron was up with the leaders for the first two laps, but was slightly boxed in, but as the bell approached he got himself out and kicked with 300m to go, which took him clear of the field and enabled him to ease up down the home straight and qualify in second place

Sunday 12th August
Next day saw Anthony George defending his Triple jump title, he started well with a very good jump of 12.88, but unfortunately could not improve on this as the competition went on and had to settle for 5th place.
Later in the day Aaron was back for the 1500m final. Will Mahoney of Norwich shot into the lead and Aaron went with him, Mahoney set a fast pace and by the end of the  first lap reached in 63 secs only 7 athletes were in contention. The pattern remained the same as they approached 800m, but one further athlete had dropped away. Approaching the bell  the Norwich athlete and Aaron had opened up a slight gap on the rest of the field. Aaron left it slightly later than the heat and kicked with 250 to go and opened and gap, he continued to apply the speed and moved away to claim his first southern title in a winning time of 4.04.