Press Report 17th August 2021  

Southern League Race 3

 Ilford competed in the penultimate Southern league match of the season and a number of outstanding performances were achieved, with Ilford coming a credible fourth position

 It’s difficult to define the best performance of the day as Ilfords young sprinters and middle distance runners were outstanding. Starting with the sprints Hakin Mohamed stormed through to victory in the Men’s 100 with a superb 10.80. with Oliver Blainey coming 4th in 12.01. Oliver came 3rd in the 200 in 23.93 whilst Farris Patel took a rest from his normal 800 races to compete in the 200 and 400. Both performances were Pbs with 24.04 in the 200 and 51.49 in the 400

In the women’s sprints , Krystle Balogun stood out as usual. I don’t remember Krystle missing a southern league match over the last 5 years and  it was great to see her achieve 2 Pbs. In the 100 She broke 13 seconds for the first time in a superb 12.83 and in the 200 broke the 26 second barrier in 25.85 for 2nd place. Krystle deserves these performances for the great work she constantly does for Ilford AC for many years.
In the 100 Efe Adjarifo came 5th in 13.11 and Aleena Lawrence came 2nd in 13.22, whilst Ellie Wright ran very well for 26.87 in the 200 for second place.

In the women’s 400/800 ,Gemima Massamba and Jordan Hinds both doubled up in a very tough combination of events and as usual competed well. Jemima ran 60.36 for 3rd in the 400 and 2.30 in the 800 for 2nd. Jordan ran her best times of the year ,winning the 400 in 63.42 and 3rd in the 800 in 2.22. Jordan even came back later in the day to run the 1500 for 4th in 5.14.
Our other longer distance ladies were also outstanding . Sameena Ahmed and Anna Crawley ran superbly to win the A and B 3000 in 11.33 and 11.46 respectively. Anna came back to get 2nd in the 1500 in 5.27 to bring valuable points for the club

As usual Ilford long list of outstanding  young middle distance runners competed across many events

Best performance of the middle distance was from Jak Wright. Jak took the lead from the very start and pushed at the bell to come home  first in a  big personal best of 1.57. On a better day with better weather and more competition, Jak could definitely get this PB down much more . Jak was back in the 400 coming 2nd in 54.04 and also ran storming legs in the 4 x100 and 4 x 400.

Another Pb in the 800 for first in the B string was Dylan Harrod. Dylan has been breaking his 800 pb all season and came so close to finally breaking the 2 minute barrier with 2.00.04. I am sure that will come soon. Dylan also ran the 400 in 54 seconds and ran a great 4x 400 relay leg. Mungo Prior was back for his first southern league of the season and ran close to a personal best for second in 4.06 whilst Ryan Holeyman , who is coming back from injury battled round for 5th position.In the 5000 Danny Holeyman ran his first ever Southern league for 5th position in 18.17

Rhys Edwards had a very busy day competing in many field events and also the mens 400 hurdles. Even though Rhys made a few mistakes on the hurdles, he ran another personal best of 62.37 and if he can iron those mistakes out he will be close to breaking the 60 second barrier

Fidunu Abidekun concentrated on the jumps and was 1st in the Long jump with 6.31 and 2nd in the High Jump with 1.80

Special mention must also go to George Marshall Childs, Pete Whiting,Paul Grange and Natt Senior for competing all the various throws and jumps and bringing home valuable points for the club

In the Men’s 4x 100 Ilford’s team of sprinters and middle distance runners came 3rd but the middle distance boys saved the best for last in the Men’s 4 x 400.Rhys and Dylan ran well in first 2 legs but Jak ran an outstanding  52 seconds to make up about 60 metres from the Havering athlete , passing the baton  to Farris Patel, who stormed home in 50 seconds to win the relay

Eastern Young athletes league

 Ilford joined up with Orion to take part in the latest Eastern Young athletes league.
Due to holidays Ilford Representation were reduced but the young athletes who did compete, competed at a very high standard

Ilfords stand out athletes on the day were U15s Joseph Grange and Lucas Emeagi. Joseph raced against the Essex 1500m Champion and with 2 laps to go really pushed the Chelmsford boy and actually got a lead but the Chelmsford boy dug in and eventually beat Joseph over the last part of the race. However Joseph got an outstanding time of 4.30 for second place.
Lucas competed in the 300, 200 and 4 x100 relay and was absolutely superb. He came 2nd in a  strong field in the 300 in a pb of 39.6 and also ran a stunning 200 to win in another pb of 25.6. Finally he brought home the 4 x 100 team into 4th position.

Eva Whalley was our only female representative to run her  second  ever 1500m U15  race and competed very well. Eva went with the other athletes for the first few laps but just tired on the last lap but did 6.00 mins. With a little more training I am sure we can see that time come down very quickly

Aaron Hick was a busy u15 athlete as well , doing 4 events on the day. He ran the 1500 and came 4th but threw the javelin 14 metres for 6th  and  5.10 in the shot putt for 4th.He joined Lucas in the relay and ran a great first leg for the team to come home 4th

In the u17s 100 Oliver Blainey battled for 12.03 for 6th position and ran 54.6  secs in the 400 for 3rd place. Jacob Emeagi ran 26.2 for 6th in the 200

Ryan Holeyman, coming back from injury battled round for 5th in the 1500 in 5.03

Finally Ronan Edwards ran 2 PBs over the 800 and 400 in 2.13 and 58 seconds and gets better with every race

SCVAC match 2

The second match in the Vets League was held on  Monday 26th July at the Banister Outdoor Sports Centre, Harrow.

3 athletes represented Ilford for the evening. Malcolm Muir ran the M35 800m finishing third in 2.24.05. He followed this up with a M35 200m time of 30.5 for sixth and won the M35 3000m in 10.13.70.

Henry Ricketts achieved 4m 62 in the M50 long jump for second and unfortunately felt a hamstring pull in the first few strides of the M50 200m and was not able to finish. This didn’t stop him from throwing the discus 24m 06 in his one attempt for fourth.

Peter Whiting launched the hammer 19m 09 in the M50 age group for third and also ran 33.46 for fourth place in the M60 200m.

Thanks to Claire Levey who officiated track events on behalf of IAC.

The final match of the season is on 6th September at Lee Valley.

 

ROAD

The Lydd 20 Miles Road Race

On Sunday in Swelteringly hot and Sticky Conditions, Terry Knightley Smashed The Male Veteran Over 60 Ilford AC club 20 Miles record by 16 Minutes and 30 seconds in the Lydd 20 Miles Road Race.

On a Flat out and back course on the exposed country lanes of Kent, Terry found the heat Tough but finished in 2 Hours and 22 Minutes and 23 Seconds to come in 28th position out of 353 runners and Win the First Male Veteran Over 60 Trophy.

His time also puts him currently Number 1 on the UK Rankings for 20 Miles for The Male Veteran Over 60 Age  Category for the year 2021.

Burnham Joggers 40th Anniversary 10k and HM

The Burnham Beeches Half Marathon and 10K offers a choice of two distances, both on a mix of closed roads and hard-surfaced paths through the cool shade of the Burnham Beeches ancient woodland in South Bucks. This year 2 Ilford Athletes took part, Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham in the Half Marathon and wife Wendy in the 10k.
Both runners enjoyed the occasion with Ray finishing 381st in the Half in a time of 2h 18m 56s and Wendy finishing 335th in the 10k in a time of 1h 18m