Press Report 29th October 2018  

Essex League
Hockley
27th October 2018

JUNIORS

After some success with recent relays, Ilford young athletes were ready to go at the first cross country race at Hockley last weekend, with added incentive of the first six finishers being chosen to run for Essex at the Southern Inter counties.

First up were the U13’s, Ilford’s two runners were Joseph Grange and Aaron Hick, both of whom are U11 and therefore giving over two years to some of the other runners. In the circumstances that both had very good runs, Aaron started steadily and worked his way through to a very good 47th. Joseph was a bit more ambitious and despite a mid race fall came home in 19th place. Which we believe was first U11 competitor.

Next up were the U15 boys with Matthew Hick being the only Ilford runner, this was Matthews first run of the season and he struggled a bit with the early pace, but as the race got going he got into his stride and was moving through the field. He eventually finished 35th, but expressed some disappointment.

Jordan Hinds had a day off from her A level studies to compete in the U17/U20 women’s race and she maintained a steady pace throughout  and was picking off other runners the whole way to eventually finish 25th.

The final race saw four runners take part in the U17 men’s race, which was combined with the senior women. For three of the Ilford runners this was their first race over the longer 6k distance. After the initial charge a group of 10 athletes broke away and this include Aaron Samuel and Mungo Prior of Ilford, with Farris Patel and Bradley Deacon in the chasing pack. Over the rest of the first lap the gradually whittled down until there was only four left of which Aaron was one. On the second lap Aaron was still content to take his time, until eventually making a move with half a mile to go, which was decisive and earned him victory by 11 seconds from Leon Wheeler of Thurrock. After missing most of last season with injury Mungo’s 10th place finish was a welcome return to form. Farris was rewarded for his recent hard training with an excellent 12th place. Bradley who picked a bit of a niggle in training this week finished very strongly for a very good 22nd place.
The total team points of 45 were enough to win the team event.