Press Report – Essex County T+F Championships
Essex Champs 14th/15th May 2022
Ilford had a fine weekend at the Essex champs recently, picking up 11 medals. ( 4 gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze ) Unfortunately a breakdown in the results system meant that a week later some results are still missing.
Day 1
First Ilford involvement on day one was the heats of the U15 1500m, Samuel Crane was in heat and produced a great run to finish 6th in a pb time of 4.51.88, his time was so good that he qualified for the final later in the day. Ryder Islam was in heat two and finished in 9th in 5.17.42, which was again a pb. Later in the day in a very fast starting 1500m final, Samuel worked his way through the field to finish in a very creditable 6th place and ran another pb of 4.49.66.
Next up were the 100m heats, and this is an area where results are still missing, in the U13 women , both Laila Charles and Ruby Moffat Virik ran pbs, but unfortunately did not progress to the final. Jadyn Charles also ran a pb of 14.39 in the U17 women’s heats. In the U20 women’s heats Alenna Lawrence who picked up an injury mid week, ran a season best of 13.30 but was clearly hampered. Toyin Olufemi came 6th in the senior ladies final.
In the men’s U15 100m both Tyran Pabla and Jaydn Kyle Mcdermott secured pbs, both were unfortunate not to progress to the final. Defending Champion Hakim Mohammed breezed through the heat and he was joined in the final by training partner Elijah Mayindu. Unfortunately the final was delayed by over 40 minutes. Both Hakim and Elijah made great starts, but as did Lee Dollard of Basildon, as the race progressed Hakim and the Basildon athlete pulled clear, and the Basildon just got the victory on the dip. Elijah ended up in 5th place.
In the 300m Krystle Balogun gained an Essex Gold in a time of 42.93 seconds
Oliver Blainey was Ilfords sole 400m runner and strolled through the heats of the U17 men’s 400m easing up considerably down the home straight to ease through in 53.08. In the final the same day Oliver went from the off and established a lead which he maintained the whole way to win by a clear second in a PB time of 50.84.
Farris Vakil completely dominated the U20 men’s 800m, leading from gun to tape to win in a time of 1.58.45
Day 2
First events on day 2 were the U15 800m, Ilford had runners in both heats. Samuel Crane ran his third pb of the weekend in placing 5th in heat one. Aaron Hick had a great race in heat 2, clocking a pb time of 2.16.56, but agonisingly missed out on a place in the final by 1/10th of a second. Ronan Edwards was Ilford’s only representative in the U17 800m, and he produced a pb of 2.03.5 to qualify for the final. He went even better in the final improving his best again to 2.01.73 in taking a bronze medal.
Joseph Grange had a great run in a high quality u 17’s 3000m finishing 3rd in a time of 9.06.06. Ryan Holeyman did likewise in the U20 3000m finishing 3rd in 10.07.46.
Ruby Moffatt Virek improved her pb by over 2 seconds in the heats of the u13 girls 200m as did Laila Charles. Reianne Dowdridge had a fine run breaking 30 seconds in her heat of the u13 200 and a feat also achieved by Jadyn Charles in the u17 heats. In the u15 boys 200m Jaydn Kyle- Mcdermott ran a fine time of 29.26. In the u17 men Oliver Blainey won his heat in a time of 23.09 and Mohammed Zergouatran a pb of 26. 28 in the same heat. Oliver returned 2 hours later for the final and produced a great run in a PB time of 22.68, to take the silver medal. Wanya Williams ran 2 seasons bests in making the senior men’s 200m final in which he placed 7th.
Paul Grange had a great run in the Vets 1500m, adding the vets title to the senior title he won last year.
Toyin Olufemi was Ilford’s sole field event competitor and produced an excellent throw of 9 metres 27 to take 2nd place in the senior ladies shot.
Ilford have a fine history in the walking events and this was continued with Rachel Lawless in a comfortable gun-to-tape winner of the 3,000 Metres walk at clocking a respectable 18 minutes and 14 seconds.
In the men’s race over the same distance, Ilford’s 2nd claim member Stephen Crane completed the frame with a spectacular 3rd place finish in a personal best 14.33, with club colleagues John Arthur and Stuart Bennett 4th and 5th respectively timed at 17.52 and 18.04.
Notable performances for some of the youngsters who’s results unfortunately are not yet online – PB’s for U13G Reianne Dowridge 100m, U13G Stacey Amaniampong 100m and U17M Mohamed Zergouat 100m.
Anika Sharma also ran well in the 100 and 200m for the U15 girls
