Press Report 3rd June 2024
ROAD AND CROSS COUNTRY
Sudbury Friday Night 5
Friday 31st May.
Two Ilford athletes travelled up to Sudbury in Suffolk for the annual Friday night 5 mile race.
Held predominantly on the road, the course is one lap, featuring a long hill on mile 2 and attracts over 400 runners.
Finishing in 9th place, and 2nd in his age category was Malcolm Muir in a time of 29:02. Just 196 places later was Billy Green in 205th place in a time of 40:54.
The race also featured Jack Nixon, who runs 2nd claim for the club, who finished in 2nd place with a time of 26:01
Orion Forest 5
Saturday 3rd June
The Forest 5 is a series of 3 races in Epping Forest, held on the first Saturday in June, July and August, the 3rd of which incorporates the ‘Elvis’ race hosted by Orion Harriers.
The race was held on a warm sunny Saturday morning over a 1 lap 5-mile course which was dry and featured a few climbs.
Ilford AC had 9 runners representing the club. First home for the club in 4th place was Steve Philcox who claimed 2nd M50 on the day in 31:23. Next home in 16th place was Danny Holeyman in 34:11, followed by Dave Thomas in 22nd place in 35:56 and 2nd M60.
Adam Coals was next home in 49th place for 39:14, followed by the club’s first female, Alison Sale in 43:42 for 69th.
Jim Tilbrook came home in 89th place in a time of 47:29 before a trio of Ilford ladies all came in together, Beverley Thomas 106th 52:46, Frieda Keane 107th 52:47 and Julia Galea 108th 52:47.
Rayleigh 10
Sunday 2nd June
The Rayleigh 10k is a multi terrain, hilly course, through Hockley Woods in Essex.
Due to recent heavy rainfall the course was extremely muddy in places, which combined with the hills and the heat on the day made for tough conditions for the 400 runners, including 2 from Ilford AC.
Joanne Reeves led the pair home in 127th place in 55:52, followed just 21 seconds and 11 places later by Billy Green.
TRACK AND FIELD
Southern Athletics League
Saturday 18th May
After 9 years in Division 3, Ilford made an encouraging start to their Division 2 campaign at Dartford recently.
Almost every member of the team did more than one event to help the team to a great 3rd place, behind local rivals Havering and Kent AC.
The stand out athlete of the day was Dan Wheeler who returned to club competition after a few years away at university. In competing in 8 individual events, Dan totaled 37 points. This included victories in the A string High Jump (1m 75) and B string Shot Putt (9m 90), 2nd place in B String Javelin (34m 70), 3rd places in the 110m hurdles, A string 400m hurdles, A string Triple Jump, B string Discus, 4th in the A string Long jump, before finally anchoring the men’s 4x 100m team to 3rd place.
Sam Malekout was another busy athlete competing in 6 events including a very impressive 1st place in the B string 400m hurdles (65.5), 2nd in the B string Long jump (5m 24), 3rd in javelin (40m 68) plus 4th places in the discus and Pole Vault.
Pete Whiting at age 60 had a great jump of 1m 80 to come 3rd in the B string pole vault, as well as another 3rd place in the B string Hamer with a throw of 14m 97, he was joined in the hammer by another 60 year old in Wes Clarke who was second in the A string with a throw of 34m 42.
At the other end of the age Category, 3 youngsters were making their league debuts. Chisom Chijioke came 4th in the B string ladies 100m, 3rd in the B string Long jump, and produced a personal best of 8m 67 to gain 3rd in the A string Triple jump. Her day was complete by running a leg of the ladies 4x 100 relay, where the team came 4th. Joining her in the relay was her training partner Omoyewen Ojo. Who prior to the relay had jumped a pb of 3m 82 to take 4th in the A string long jump, together with another pb for 4th in the B string 200m with a time of 28.9, before finally gaining valuable points with another 3rd place in the womens 100m hurdles.
Another athlete who deserves a special mention was Launa Broadley, who responded to the managers call and grabbed very valuable points in the shot, discus and Javelin. Krystle Balogun continues to regularly turn out in the Southern League and finishing 4th in both the 100m and 200m, dipped her toe back in the 400m and came 3rd in the A string in a very good time of 60.7. She also ran a leg of the 4×100 relay and came 4th in the shot.
The ladies middle distance events were covered by Pauline Tester, Anna Crawley and Jordan Hinds. Pauline, like Launa Broadley, volunteered to help gain some valuable points in both the 3000m and 1500m. Anna had a very good run for 5th in the A string 3000m, but her run in the B string 800m was a tactical masterclass hanging off the fast early pace, and gradually working her way through to claim victory and smash her pb by over 5 seconds. Jordan was narrowly beaten in her favored 800m, but made up for this by winning the B string 400m and leading the whole way to win the 1500m.
In the men’s middle distance Alex Richards showed a return to form by coming second in the 800m in 1.58.1 and winning the 1500m in a second sub 4 minute timing of the season. Ronan Edwards knocked 4 seconds off his PB in winning the B string 1500m in 4.04. Joining Alex in the 800m was Dylan Harrod who finished in 3rd place, before going on to take 3rd also in the 400m and also gaining points in the triple jump.
Like ladies several youngsters were making their league debuts Jayden Mcdermott ran pbs in placing 4th in both the 100 and 200m, before also running a league in the 4x100m. Aron Berhe and Ryder Islam both ran pbs of 2.17 in the Non Scoring 800m. Aron later ran a scoring 400m and cleared 1m 25 in the high jump. Oliver Blainey covered the 100m and 200m, gaining second in the 100m in 11.3 and then third in the 200m. sprints coach Nat Senior had to pull out of the sprint events, but still managed to get points in throwing a pb in the shot 10m 33 to win the A string.
Tom Gardner and Josh Adler took on the longest event of the day, the men’s 5000m. Tom led for most of the rest but was just beaten into first place by the Havering athlete. Josh had a stunning run, prior to the race his pb was 19.09, placing second in the B string he knocked over 2 minutes off this time to finish in 16.48. Josh then went on to compete in the steeplechase where he was joined by Malcolm Muir, Josh was 3rd in the A string with Malcolm 2nd in the B string.
The final men’s events were the relays where Ilford were 3rd in the 4×100, before winning the 4x400m.
Woodford Open Meeting
Tuesday 28th May
Several Ilford athletes competed in the recent Woodford open meeting, unfortunately it was cold and wet all day which affected the times.
Faris Vakil had first race of the year after coming back from a serious foot injury, he looked strong in finishing second in a time of 1.56.47. Jams Thake who is in the middle of studying for his exams had a great run, knocking a further second of his best and edging ever closer to a sub 2 minute clocking. H finished 3rd in a time of 2.01.07
In the B 800m Samuel Crane, wo is also in the middle of exams, came an excellent 2nd place in a PB time of 2.14. 19. Ryder Islam was 6th place in a time of 2.21.4, a bit down on his recent pb.
Hercules Wimbledon 1500m Night
Wednesday 29th May
Again in far from ideal conditions, Alex Richards ventured over to Wimbledon to compete in the night of 1500ms. There were 15 races on the night and Alex was in race 14. Having broken 4 mins twice in recent weeks expectations were high of something even quicker. In a race where the pace was perfect Alex smashed his pb with a time of 3.53.94. This time moved him up to 12th place on all time 1500m list
OTHERS
Navy Race OCR is an obstacle race that is organized in maritime surroundings at Trondheim in Norway. The race is suitable for anyone who wants to test their limits, both on land, in water and in the forest. The trail is approx. 8 km long, with 30 different obstacles.
The race itself takes place in a military environment and the obstacles will have a military theme.
Ilfords Joel Dennis travelled over for the event, thoroughly enjoying it, entered as a team with his friend Paul Suett and completed the course in 1 Hour 44 minutes
