Press Report 27th August 2024  

Southern Athletics League 4 (SAL)

16/08/24

Going into the final league match of the season Ilford AC were at real risk of relegation. The whole club came together from first year under 17s to seasoned veterans to pull off a brilliant result of equal 4th place on the day which meant that we stayed in the 2nd division for another season.

Thanks must go to team managers Wayne Hick and Gary Floate who have done the job for ten years built the team, gained promotion and kept us up.

In the league athletes who are willing to go above and beyond, do multiple events and try new events make a real difference to the squad. 

Five athletes who have done this, this season and scored over 35 individual points across the season are Sam Malekout, Jordan Hinds , Anna Crawley, Krystle Balogun and Dan Wheeler. Sam scored an excellent 14 points in this match including a valuable 5 points with 2.15 in the pole vault. Jordan had another excellent day in middle distance the highlight being her 2nd place in the 1500m after already doing the 400 and 800.Finally Anna Crawley again went above and beyond her highlight being 3rd in the 1500m on the day. Krystle and Dan were unavailable on the day but we are very grateful for their contribution this season

Eight more athletes finished the season with 20 or more individual points. Peter Whiting again filled in for throws and jumps with an excellent 3rd in the b string hammer on the day to score 29 points across the season. James Thake was disappointed with his 800m but returned with a PB (52.67) and third place in the 400m to finish his season with 27 points. Matching this points total across the season was Josh Adler who came 3rd in the steeplechase and Nat Senior who although injured completed in the shot put for third place. Also in the 400m Oliver Blainey came 2nd and finished the year with 20 points. Adaeze Oyem had a brilliant second year in the team, Adaeze has an excellent attitude scored 25 points across the year and improved in every discipline her highlight of the match being her win the 100m hurdles b string. She was ably supported by Clare Thake in the throws who scored a valuable 21 points over the season. Finally Dylan Harrod was unavailable in the day but scored a very helpful 22 points across the season.

On the day we had many senior and veteran athletes making their season league debuts. Highlights were club captain Alison Sale track debut and the return of Zuzana Sinalova in the 5000m. Fabrizio Stefanoni won the b string steeplechase, Sam Rahman broke 10 minutes in 3000m and threw the Javelin. Versatile Rhys Edwards made a welcome return and ran a brilliant 65.35 in 400m Hurdles. Ellie Wright and Aleena Lawrence also had strong runs in the sprints

A massive contribution to the seasons has come from our development group. Regulars Stacey Kwarteng-Amaniampong and Marissa Osas-Bavis as usual performed well. They were well supported by excellent debuts from Renee Chissell (400m and Javelin), Bineta Keita (high jump and 100m), Victoria Ananwa (discuss and 100m), Sam Horsley (1500m), Jochebad Asante Antwi (100m and long jump), Mya Ward (800m and long jump) and Leron Kwame who ran a brilliant 11.48 in the 100m and had a great long jump.

Over the season 47 different athletes scoring the team, two great managers and fantastic officials and supporters thanks to everyone for their hard work.