Press Report 14th May 2024  

Essex Track And Field Championships 11th and 12th May – Chelmsford

Ilford had a team of 18 athletes competing in the annual Essex Championships in Chelmsford. It proved to be a very successful weekend for the club with nine medals won. The club was well supported by officials, coaches, parents and new presidents Diane and Neil Crisp who came to show their support on both days.

Gold medals were won by Oliver Blainey and Jordan Hinds. Oliver had a superb race to win the U20 men’s 400m in a season’s best time of 50.44. Jordan followed this on Sunday to win the 800m senior women’s race again in a season best time.

Ellie Wright had a fantastic weekend picking up silver medals in both the senior women’s 100m and 200m. To add to her success both performances were personal bests, 12.49 in the 100 and 25.07 in the 200m. Alex Richards also won two medals in the middle distance events. He was second in the 800m and returned the next day to gain a bronze in the 1500m in a personal best of 3.59 his first time under 4 minutes.

Worth noting that Oliver, Alex, Ellie and Jordan have all competed for the club since being under 15 athletes and show the commitment and resolve needed to gain these medals.

Two under 15 athletes starting out on their athletic journey also gained medals. Damien Amaniampong jumped brilliantly to gain a silver in the long jump and returned the next day for a PB of 24.54 in the 200m just missing out on the final. His sprinting team mate Jaydan Roberts Edwards had another successful weekend with a bronze in the 100m in a PB of 11.66 and a seventh place in the 200m in another PB of 23.93.

Finally adding to her extensive medal tally was Krystle Balogun with a silver in the vets 100m and a 4th place in the women’s 400m.

Along with the medals there were PB performances in the under 15 age group from Barney Perkins (2.35 in the 800m and a brilliant 5.07 in the 1500m), Luke Thake (300m in 42.99) and Justice Okereke (24.41 in the 200m). In the Under 17 events James Thake just missed out on a medal with a best of 2.02 in 800m and Ryder Islam claimed new PBs in the 800m and 1500m, closely followed home by teammate Aron Berhe. Finally Josh Adler came 13th in the men’s 3000m in his first major competition.

Also competing over the weekend were Samuel Crane and Tom Gardner (3000m), Wanya Williams and Jordan Duncan (200m) and Toyin Olufemi who came 5th in the women’s 100m final.

Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL) 5th May 2024

Ilford AC sent a team of 34 young athletes to the second EYAL match of the year in Hornchurch. It was another great weekend for the club with many debutants competing for the first time, 29 personal bests and a 5th place finish in the match.

Performance of the day was the victory of the boy’s u15 4x100m relay squad with a time 48.16 placing them second on the clubs all-time list.

Three athletes competed in the under 13 girl’s age group. Nayla Mills Ugoh competed in 100m, 200m and long jump and achieved 2 PBs in the 200m (30.93secs) and the Long Jump (3.48m). Drissialemoy Majen Akande jumped a PB of 2.44m in the long jump and ran the 100m and 800m. Iris Wan made her debut with strong runs in the 100m and 1500m showing great potential for the future.

In the under 15 girls we had 8 athletes competing. Kenina Nkrumah and Jasmine Shaer both came 6th in their 100m events and Jasmin Returned to jump a new PB of 3.89m in the long jump and also competed in the hurdles. Gloria Ananwa and Hawaa Patel both came 3rd in the 300m and 800m respectively in new PBs. Gloria also threw the shot with support from Nora Nzurike, Sophie Burrow (on debut) and Sofia Crane. Nora 6.61m was a new PB and shows real promise in this event. Sophie also competed in the discus and 100m along with Nora. Diya Kaur continued to show promise and versatility in the 200m, long jump and 1500m.

The U17 Women had 3 athletes. Chison Chijioke set a new PB in the triple jump of 7.92m and competed in the shot and 100m. Marissa Osas-Bavis made her debut in the long jump and showed good promise over the longer sprints, competing in the 200m and coming 4th in the 300m.
Adaeze Oyem had another great competition setting PBs in the 80m hurdles (14.29secs) and competing in the shot and 100m. Finally the 3 girls joined with one athlete from Orion Harriers to come 6th in the 4x100m relay in 57.86.

Five athletes competed for the Under 13 boys. Elijah Muirhead and Andre Mullings Roache continued their improvement with PBs in the 100m and long jump. Andre also jumped a new PB of 1.25 in the high jump for his third 3rd place. In the middle distance there were personal bests for Elias Furreedan in the 800m (first time under 3 minutes), Khalif Ali in the 1500m (second place) and Arnav Rathi in his debut 1500m.  All three boys also jumped or sprinted. 

The under 15 boys were as always well represented. Highlight was the debut made by Dhanusshan Ponnambalam who threw the shot, discus and javelin. He came third in the shot and discus, his shot put of 8.58m puts him in the top 25 for the club all time. Justice Okereke, Damien Amaniampong , Jaydan Roberts, Matthew Ayers and Olatoye Oguntoye all continued their improvement in the sprints and jumps, the first four boys making up the successful relay team and all going under 13 seconds for the 100m. Jaydan and Justice won the 100m and 200m.  In the middle distance Luke Thake set new PBs in the 300m and 800m, Barney Perkins a best in the 1500m and Stephen Amoli made his debut over the longer distance.

In the u17 men Jas Singh and Jayden Mcdermott set new bests over 100m and Jayden jumped 1.40m in the high jump. James Thake, Samuel Crane, Aron Berhe and Ryder Islam from the middle distance group also competed over multiple events in preparation for the upcoming county championships. Jas, Jayden and James formed part of the 4x100m relay squad which came 5th.