Press Report 16th May  

Essex Track and Field Championships
Thurrock
13^th / 14^th May 2023

Ilford produced some impressive performances, in gaining 10 (2 gold 5 silver and 3 Bronze) medals at the Essex County Championships held over two days at Thurrock this weekend.  The weather, although dry, was windy which affected a few of the recorded times.

Ellie Wright who has come through the Ilford junior ranks, won Ilford’s first medal of the weekend, in the senior women’s 100m, a reward for all her hard training this winter. She finished 3^rd in a time of 12.48, which would have been a pb, but unfortunately the wind was over the legal limit. Toyin Olufemi also had a good run in the final finishing 6^th in a time of 13.20.

Ilford had runners in the Senior Mens 800m, Farris Vakil, Paul Grange, and Alex Richards. All three were content to sit off the early pace set by Jake Hume of Basildon.  Farris moved to the front with 250m to go with Paul close behind, coming around the last bend, Paul drew level, but Farris just held on to win his first senior title in a time of 1.55.89. with Paul 2^nd in 1.56.11 and Alex 4th in 1.58.61.

Jordan Hinds made it a 800m Gold double for Ilford by winning the senior women’s 800m in a time of 2.22.09.

It was great to see Farris and Jordan picking up their first outdoor senior titles, both have been with Ilford since the under 15 age group and have trained hard over the years to gain senior county track titles, an achievement not reached by many.

New member Akwasi Nkrumah had a very good run in taking the silver medal in the veterans 300m. In a time of 41.01. Oliver Blainey took 2^nd place in the u20 men’s 400m in a season’s best time of 51.60 seconds.

Ilford had three runners in the Veteran men’s 3000m, and Tom Gardner stuck with the leaders until 600m to when he fell off the pace, but still hung on to claim the silver medal in a time of 9.09.25. Malcolm Muir and Sam Rahman had their own personal battle with Malcolm just outsprinting Sam over the last 100m for 4^th place and Sam taking 5^th

In the U15 100m heats Jayden Roberts Edwards ran an impressive time of 11.98, to finish second in his heat and qualify for the final, in the same heat Danitha Hennadige was 4^th place in a time of 12.52. Unfortunately the wind was over the legally permitted speed.

In the Senior Mens 100m both Elijah Mayindu and Jordon Duncan qualified for the final with times of 11.44 and 11.50, the latter being a pb for Jordon. In the final Elijah finished 6^th with Jordan close behind in 7^th place.  In the women’s U20 100m Aleena Lawrence took a very good 4^th place in a time of 13.57.

Day 2

Day 2 was much brighter, and the wind of Saturday had completely disappeared, first up were the 800m heats, where Ilford had two athletes in both the U15 and U17 races. New member Sam Horsley in only his second race for the club, won his heat in a time of 2.14.10, just outside his pb.  Aron Berakhy came 6^th in his heat and missed out on a final place by one spot but was rewarded with a pb of 2.17.66. Three hours later in the final, Sam ran a stunning pb of 2.09.30, but unfortunately had to settle for 4^th place.

In the u17 men’s 800m James Thake and Aaron Hick had just moved up to the age group, so it was always going to be tough.  James had a great run in heat 1 setting a new pb of 2.09.98 to finish 4th and qualify for the final.  In heat 2 Aaron was 6^th in a time of 2.19.37.  Like Sam in the u15’s James also ran a pb in the final, but again had to settle for 4^th place.

Samuel Crane decided to take on the longer 3000m and ran a pb of 10.07.27 to take 5^th place in the u17 event.

Several of Ilford new Development Squad were competing in their first County Championship and Kenina Nkrumah acquitted herself well with 4^th place in her 200m heat in a time of 30.20, and 9^th in the U15 girls long jump with 4m 25. Jayden Roberts Edwards and Danitha Hennadige placed 4^th and 5^th in their 200m heats, but unfortunately did not progress to the final.

Ian Johnson ran a very impressive pb 23.30 in the U17 200m, but unfortunately was Ilford’s 3^rd 4^th place athlete on Day 2.

Wanya Williams and Jordon Duncan competed in the heats of the senior men’s 200m, Wanya was unlucky not to make the final placing 4^th in his heat in 23.87, whilst Jordon, also placing 4^th in his heat progressed to the final where he finished 6^th in 23.26, just outside his pb. Oliver Blainey and Jeremiah Brown were in U20 200m and came 2^nd in his heat to qualify for the final with Jeremiah 4^th in his heat.  Yet again the curse of 4^th place struck as Oliver finished just outside the medals in the final.

Ilford had 2 ladies in the senior women’s final with Krystle Balogun stepping down from the veteran category to mix with the youngsters and take yet another medal to her collection with 3^rd place. Ayshah Lawrence has battled back from illness over the last few years and was rewarded for all her recent hard work, in both making the final and setting another pb of 28.57, for yet another 4^th place.

The 1500s were the final events of the day, with first up the senior men’s, with Alex Richards being Ilford’s Sole competitor, after a 4^th place finish in the 800 the day before, Alex made no mistake in the 1500m taking second place in a pb time of 4.02.81.

The final event of the day was the Vets 1500m, in which Ilford had three competitors, the three Ilford athletes had their own personal battle for the medals after John Whittaker broke away early on. At the end Akwasi Nkrumah took the silver medal in a time of 4.40.68, closely followed by Fabrizio Stefanoni in 4.45.08 and then Malcolm Muir, with yet another Ilford 4^th place in 4.49.18.

Special mention should be made of Ilford busiest athlete of the weekend Akwasi Nkrumah, who not only gained silver medals in the Veterans 300m and 1500m, but also took silver medals in the senior Long and Triple jumps.  With jumps of 5.42 in the Long and 11.12 in the Triple Jump