Press Report 16th July 2019
TRACK
Samuels storms home at English Schools championships
ESAA English Schools’ Championships
Birmingham
13th July 2019
Ilford AC had 2 athletes compete in the prestigious English Schools athletics championships 2019, held at Birmingham. The English Schools is seen as competing at the highest level achievable at school level, as every top athlete in the Country competes and Aaron Samuels and Marion Dobrescu were the Ilford AC athletes in the Essex team
Due to GCSEs Aaron Samuels has had to try and combine his studies with his training , which has obviously reduced the amount of time he has been able to train. Aaron decided about a month ago to compete in the 1500 steeplechase at the Essex Schools , an event he had never done before. In the Essex Championship Aaron won the race in 4.33, after falling at the waterjump, missing out on the National standard. However Essex Athletics still picked Aaron to compete in the finals. An intense few weeks of Practising jumping the hurdles and especially the water jump, prepared Aaron for the finals in Birmingham.
Aaron, in his second ever Steeplechase race went with the leaders in the race and there was break away of 3 athletes with a lap to go. Aaron made his move with a lap to go and move 5 meters clear of the field. Coming into the final waterjump, which Aaron successfully jumped, he pulled away from the field to win by a large margin. Even better for Aaron, he ran 4.20 to not only run the fastest time in the UK in 2019 by a long way, he broke the Ilford AC club record and will win his first England vest this coming weekend when he will run for England against Wales, Scotland,and Ireland
Mario was picked to run the 200m.The 200m involved a Heat, semi and Final over 2 days. Mario ran 22.07 in the heats, 22.06 in the semifinal and then ran a storming 21.90 in the final, to come a great 3rd position. He was also part of the Essex 4×100 relay which achieved a gold medal in a championship best performance.
For a club like Ilford to have 2 athletes not only compete at the English schools but to bring home 3 medals is an amazing achievement
Grange excels at InterCounties
Senior 8 Counties Inter County Match
Ashford
14th July 2019
Ilford AC had 3 athletes compete for Essex in the senior intercounty championships on Saturday.
2 of the athletes competed in the 800m, Paul Grange and Alex Richards.
Paul competed in the senior team as a V40 and amazingly won the 800 in 1.55.06, which is the 2nd fastest time by a V40 in the world in 2019. This is an amazing achievement for an athlete that has recently come over to Ilford to train and race. Alex Richards, in the same race, is coming back from injury, but as usual ran at a very high level to finish 5th in 1.57.56
Paul’s time is also an Ilford AC V40 club record and he is currently ranked no.1 for run Britain for 2019.
Unfortunately things did not go so well for club stalwart Krystle Bolagun who’s pulled up injured in the 400m
Ilford AC finish 4th in Southern League
Southern Athletics League
Walthamstow
13th July 2019
Ilford AC sent a team to Walthamstow for the penultimate league match of the season. With a number of athletes competing at English schools, inter counties, holidays or just unavailable, Ilford athletes all performed to a high standard to come a credible 4th position. Many athletes were willing to do many events and try events they have never done before
In the Mens Sprints Ilford had Dan wheeler and Sam Malekout , who both came 3rd in 100m and 2nd in the 200m in very credible times. Dan also came 2nd in the 400m hurdles and High Jump and brought the 4 x 100 relay team home in 3rd. Sam had a busy day also , running in the 4 x 100 relay, , coming 5th in the Shot and Discus, as well as third in the javelin and high jump. Pete whiting , always reliable did the hammer, discus, shot and Triple jump to gain Ilford valuable points
Jack Halil came 3rd in the 400m hurdles, 5th in the 400 and 5th in the long jump and the other jumpers were Mungo prior and Jak Wright in the Triple jump and Long jump respectively.
In the womens sprints Krystle Balogun came 2nd in the 100m but also came 5th in the shot putt and 3rd in the discuss.
Eshimu Massamba Gemima was one of the 4 winners for Ilford on the day running 60.1 for the 400. She also came 2nd in the 100 m and competed in both 4x 100 and the mixed 4 x 400 where Ilford came 3rd and 2nd respectively
Ellie Wright ran very well in the 200 to come third in 27.5 and also did the high jump
Busiest lady of the day was Jordan Hinds, coming back after her studies. Slowly getting back to her best Jordan ran 2.28 in the 800 for third,3rd in the 1500 with 5.20 and ran in both relays . Zuzana Sinalova ran the womens 1500 to come 4th and then ran the womens 4x 100
Amie Harrison, also a busy athlete came third in the 400m hurdles, 4th in the 800m and competed in the shot, discus and high jump.Anna Crawley competed for the first time for Ilford on the track and ran very well for 5th place in a time of 21:31
Another winner on the day was Farris Patel, who ran the mens 400m. Farris ran 52.2 to win quite convincingly and ran in both relays. Mungo Prior was hoping to break 2 mins in the 800 and came very close to achieving this in a very competitive race with 2.01
Best event for Ilford of the day was the mens 1500m. This was the first race back for Ahmed Abdulle, who rejoined Ilford recently. Ahmed ran the race out on his own to run an excellent 4.01. Bradley Deacon , who seems to get better with every race ran a big PB of 4.21 to break his best by a long way and win the B string 1500
Jak Wright went off very fast in the 3000m and looked very comfortable during the whole race but just got beaten in the last lap to run a very good time of 9.40. Gary Coombes ran an outstanding 3000m to come second in 10.06 and then run his first ever steeplechase in 12.46 and win for Ilford, despite providing the comedy on the day by falling into the water on one of the jumps.
Malcolm Muir ran the A string in 11.47, winning very comfortably
John Crawley also competed for Ilford on the track for the first time coming 4th in the 800m
A great performance from all the Ilford athletes
Ryan makes Dad Danny proud as both achieve PB’s
Woodford Open track meeting
9th July 2019
6 ilford athletes traveled to Woodford for last Tuesdays ‘open meeting’, including father and son team Danny and Ryan Holeyman.
In the 1500m Ryan smashed his PB at the distance to finish 7th in a time of 4:40:36 to place 2nd U15..
In 9th place was Joseph Grange who finished in a time of 5:04:30 to place 2nd U13.
In the 3000m two of Ilfords U17 team members, Jak Wright and Bradley Deacon, finished in 2nd and 4th places with impressive times of 9:27:10 and 9:40:37 respectively.
2nd Senior male over the distance was Danny Holeyman who finished 13th in a time of 10:59:95, and like his son just before him achieved a new PB over the distance.
Earlier in the afternoon Bradley Brown competed in the 400m and finished in 8th place, and first V40 in a time of 1:29:58
ROAD AND CROSS COUNTRY
VAC 5km Championships
Battersea park
10th July 2019
The Veterans Athletics Club, which is a London based club that organises events for athletes over 35, 5km championship took place on a muggy night last Tuesday over a fast flat 2 lap course in the picturesque Battersea Park.
A strong line up for the race, included 6 runners from Ilford AC.
First home for the club in 6th place and winner of the gold medal for the M35 age category in 17 mins 05secs was Sam Rahman, a few seconds off his personal best for the distance.
Also winning gold was Carlie Qirem in her first race in the masters finishing 5th female but taking the F35 title in 21 mins 45 secs.
All the remaining Ilford runners posted improved times than in recent races. Steve Philcox finished 17th in 17 mins 48 secs, Tony Young 46th with 22 mins 52 secs.
Julia Galea took the bronze medal for the F60 category in 26mins 25 secs and Rob Sargent recorded 27 mins 03secs for 58th spot
Thorndon Country Park 10k
13th July 2019
The Essex Cross Country Series takes is a 5 event 10k series that takes place annually between April – September, with one race per month. Taking place in 5 different spectacular country parks in Essex, these races offer an opportunity to get away from the road and experience trail running in the summer months.
In todays race Danny Holeyman ran a great time of 42:13 to finish 11th on the day and 3rd V40
Hexham Half Marathon
14th July 2019
Another Ilford athlete to place well at the Weekend was Tony Young, who travelled back to his native North East to compete in the Hexham Half Marathon.
The course is all on road. It runs from Hexham, through Acomb and along to Corbridge then back to Hexham. Along beautiful country roads
Tony placed a magnificent 12th on the day finishing in a time of 1:47:41
West Bergholt 5m
13th July 2019
Saturday saw the first running of the West Bergholt 5m race, so all runners were guaranteed a course PB!
A 5 mile race along the Colne Valley & Essex Way, taking in the beautiful countryside around West Bergholt, with some challenging hills en route.
Ilford athlete Billy Green traveled up for the race and was looking forward to meeting ‘Eddie the Eagle’ who was advertised as starting the event.
Billy was slightly disappointed though when ‘Eddie the Eagle’ turned out to be the Colchester United mascot, basically a man dressed as an Eagle, and not the former Winter Olympic Ski jumper!
Overcoming the disappointment Billy went on to run a fine race on the tough course, finishing 34th in a time of 40:44.
Shoreditch 10k
14th July 2019
Billy Green ran his second race of the weekend, competing in the Adidas Shoreditch 10k.
Taking place in one of London’s most creative and diverse boroughs, the Shoreditch 10K is a flat route that takes part on the closed streets around the Borough of Hackney.
In a field of 3,800 runners Billy finished in 863rd place in a time of 48:19
