- Southern Mens League - Norwich - Report by Matt Maple
Clarke hammers the opposition
Super veteran Wesley Clarke displayed a dominant performance in the hammer competition in the 5th Southern Mens League match at Norwich. No-one came within 17 metres of his top class season's best performance of 45.93m. Both Clarke and fellow thrower Sol Anwar were applauded by their sporting opponents for their superlative performances. Anwar neared his best with a winning putt of 13.40m despite a worrying achilles problem, which had rendered him hobbling earlier in the week. Anwar completed a successful day with a personal best 37.20m to come second in the discus.
The star of the track was Sam Malekout, who competing for the first time ever over hurdles, narrowly missed a victory with a classy time of 59.7 seconds. Malekout, has become an indispensable part of the team, excelling at a wide range of events. He neared his best form on Saturday with 51.8s in the 400m, 2.60m in the pole vault and 39.98m in the javelin. He rounded off his day with 28.65m in the discus.
Ilford's success in the sprints is being maintained with two new sprinters, Layi 'Jamal' Abiola and Marvin Tuffor. Tuffor narrowly missed a 'B string' double with 1st in the 100m (11.7s) and 2nd in the 200m (23.3s), both into a strong headwind. Jamal took on the mantle of the 'A string' and excelled with 11.7s and 23.2s in the 100m / 200m respectively. They were also the mainstay of the 4x100m, coming home in the 3rd place in 46.4s, the team being completed by solid performances by Simeon Stuart and Osi Nzeako. Tuffor finished his day's work with an excellent 54.1s first leg in the 4x400m.
Iain Macdonald is lopping chunks of his 3000m steeplechase best as he continues to find fitness and improvements in his technique. Macdonald removed 17 seconds from his best with a gritty performance to record 11:27.7, narrowly missing a victory over rapidly tiring Malcolm Muir by 2 tenths of a second. Muir's performance was affected by an excellent 1500m 20 minutes before in 4:23.5.
Nathaniel Senior is presently heading the crop of talented horizontal jumpers and performed well to record 5.65m and 11.71m in the long jump and triple jump. Gull-Hassen Ditta continues to improve and produced an outstanding leap of 1.65m in the high jump. Simeon Stuart is struggling to find his early season form after a heavy programme of competitions but still performed well to record 5.45m in the long jump, while debutant in the mens team, Osi Nzeako held up well to record 10.61m in the triple jump.
Young middle distance runner, Mo Swamad hauled an injured knee around the half mile to record a creditable 2:18.4 while there was a welcome return for a determined but out of form Rob Nixon who recorded 2:07.6. Bakr Al-Akku struggled with a rapid pace in the quarter mile and was unable to maintain the 24 second first 200m in the second half, but still recorded an excellent 55.7s.
Despite excellent individual performances, a few weaknesses in the squad and improved opposition from last season left Ilford with a defeat in the match and a precarious position with one match to go. The team will be strengthened when it goes to Exeter in a week's time to grab valuable league points.
Other performances include: Andy Catton: 5000m - 19:20.1; Wesley Clarke: shot - 8.24m; Pete Whiting: 110mh - 31.5, pole vault - 1.50m, hammer - 16.95m, javelin - 29.53m; Matt Maple: 400mh - 70.0, 5000m - 18:10.7, 110mh - 26.4s, 1500m - 4:39.2, high jump - 1.10m; 4x400m (Marvin Tuffor, 54.1, Simeon Stuart, 60.2, Bakr Al-Akku, 58.7, Matt Maple, 59.1); Non-scoring 100m - Nzeako - 12.7s, Stuart - 12.8s, Ditta - 12.8s, Senior - 12.8s; non-scoring triple jump - stuart - 10.14m, Ditta - 9.93m.
Super veteran Wesley Clarke displayed a dominant performance in the hammer competition in the 5th Southern Mens League match at Norwich. No-one came within 17 metres of his top class season's best performance of 45.93m. Both Clarke and fellow thrower Sol Anwar were applauded by their sporting opponents for their superlative performances. Anwar neared his best with a winning putt of 13.40m despite a worrying achilles problem, which had rendered him hobbling earlier in the week. Anwar completed a successful day with a personal best 37.20m to come second in the discus.
The star of the track was Sam Malekout, who competing for the first time ever over hurdles, narrowly missed a victory with a classy time of 59.7 seconds. Malekout, has become an indispensable part of the team, excelling at a wide range of events. He neared his best form on Saturday with 51.8s in the 400m, 2.60m in the pole vault and 39.98m in the javelin. He rounded off his day with 28.65m in the discus.
Ilford's success in the sprints is being maintained with two new sprinters, Layi 'Jamal' Abiola and Marvin Tuffor. Tuffor narrowly missed a 'B string' double with 1st in the 100m (11.7s) and 2nd in the 200m (23.3s), both into a strong headwind. Jamal took on the mantle of the 'A string' and excelled with 11.7s and 23.2s in the 100m / 200m respectively. They were also the mainstay of the 4x100m, coming home in the 3rd place in 46.4s, the team being completed by solid performances by Simeon Stuart and Osi Nzeako. Tuffor finished his day's work with an excellent 54.1s first leg in the 4x400m.
Iain Macdonald is lopping chunks of his 3000m steeplechase best as he continues to find fitness and improvements in his technique. Macdonald removed 17 seconds from his best with a gritty performance to record 11:27.7, narrowly missing a victory over rapidly tiring Malcolm Muir by 2 tenths of a second. Muir's performance was affected by an excellent 1500m 20 minutes before in 4:23.5.
Nathaniel Senior is presently heading the crop of talented horizontal jumpers and performed well to record 5.65m and 11.71m in the long jump and triple jump. Gull-Hassen Ditta continues to improve and produced an outstanding leap of 1.65m in the high jump. Simeon Stuart is struggling to find his early season form after a heavy programme of competitions but still performed well to record 5.45m in the long jump, while debutant in the mens team, Osi Nzeako held up well to record 10.61m in the triple jump.
Young middle distance runner, Mo Swamad hauled an injured knee around the half mile to record a creditable 2:18.4 while there was a welcome return for a determined but out of form Rob Nixon who recorded 2:07.6. Bakr Al-Akku struggled with a rapid pace in the quarter mile and was unable to maintain the 24 second first 200m in the second half, but still recorded an excellent 55.7s.
Despite excellent individual performances, a few weaknesses in the squad and improved opposition from last season left Ilford with a defeat in the match and a precarious position with one match to go. The team will be strengthened when it goes to Exeter in a week's time to grab valuable league points.
Other performances include: Andy Catton: 5000m - 19:20.1; Wesley Clarke: shot - 8.24m; Pete Whiting: 110mh - 31.5, pole vault - 1.50m, hammer - 16.95m, javelin - 29.53m; Matt Maple: 400mh - 70.0, 5000m - 18:10.7, 110mh - 26.4s, 1500m - 4:39.2, high jump - 1.10m; 4x400m (Marvin Tuffor, 54.1, Simeon Stuart, 60.2, Bakr Al-Akku, 58.7, Matt Maple, 59.1); Non-scoring 100m - Nzeako - 12.7s, Stuart - 12.8s, Ditta - 12.8s, Senior - 12.8s; non-scoring triple jump - stuart - 10.14m, Ditta - 9.93m.
- UKYAL - Parliament Hill - Report by Paul Cheal
In what can only be described as an event day when someone accidentally got hit with a hammer (Fortunately all is well), Ilford AC took 29 athletes to Parliament Hill for the final round of the UKYAL meeting.The final results have not yet been announced when we left and due to there only being one copy of the field event results there are many gaps. At present I have counted that there was 1 Club Record outright, 1 equal Club Record, 9 PBs and an equal PB (There may be more to come when everything is in).
Star of the show must go to Fionnuala Crowe in the U/17 Girls. You certainly can't say that Fionnuala does not persist with her hurdling and this was evident today when she recorded 2 PBs in the 300m & 80m Hurdles respectively. The 300m was a good result coming home in 54.3s a full 2.5s off her previous time and what made it sweeter was the fact that she beat someone that she had never beaten before. This was rounded off with a new PB in the 80m hurdles with a time of 16.0s.
In the U/13 Girls Corina Bryce -Arnold equalled a CLUB RECORD in the 75m with a very impressive time of 10.5s and 3rd. She also did the 150m in a time of 21.2s for 3rd and a further PB in the 75m Hurdles for 13.7s and 4th. Mika Marston ran along side her with a time of 11.4s in the B-String 75m and 4th, then 22.1s in the B-String 150m and 3rd, she also competed in the shot putt. Paris Rhodes competing for the first time for Ilford jumped a very good height of 1m 25 in the high jump for 1st, a putt of 6m 68 in the shot and also did the long jump.
Aimee Jones ran her first 100m in the U/15 girls to come home 4th in a time of 14.1s and recorded a time of 29.5s in the 200m for 4th as well, she also did the long jump. Rochelle Rhodes like her sister was competing for the club for the first time. She also did the high jump coming 2nd with a height of 1m 35, leaped 3m 82 in the long jump and putt 8m 57 in the B-String shot. Charlotte Deacon competed in 3 throwing events and was mightily relieved when she eventually broke the 9m barrier in the shot with a distance of 9m 12 for 1st a full 17cm better than before. She also threw the javelin 18m 09 and the discus over 16m.
In the U/17 Girls Rachel Giwa was in fine form completing a sprint double, this also resulted in her being announced the ATHLETE OF THE MATCH FOR GIRLS TRACK for her 100m. She ran 26.9s for 1st in the 200m and followed that up with 12.5s for 1st in the 100m and threw the javelin over 15m. Sarah Kigozi wasn't to be out done by Rachel and also completed the double. Sarah ran a solid time of - 27.8 for 1st in the 200m and was just outside her PB in the 100m with a time of 13.2s, she again also did a throwing event where she threw over 14m in the discus. Laura Townsend ran in the 300m and came home 1st in the B-String with a time of 46.7s, whilst also taking part in the shot putt and discus. Shanise Anderson was the A-String in the 300m and was also first past the post with a time of 45.7s, she jumped 3m 85 in the long jump and threw the javelin over 17m for another PB but distance hasn't been rectified yet. Julianna Dougan threw 5m 78 in the shot putt and also took part in the long jump. The last competitor was Fionnuala Crowe who recorded both a PB in the 300m & 80m Hurdles. There was a very impressive 4x100m relay team (Rachel, Laura, Sarah & Julianna) who powered there way home in first place with a time of just over 52s.
Nethaneel Mitchell Blake recorded a PB in the 200m with a time of 26.5s and 2nd whilst also competing in the long jump. Joshua Dally who competed as the B-String ran 14.5s for 2nd in the 100m, 31.4s for 4th in the 200m and jumped 4m 09 in the long jump. Ben Jones threw and leaped well. He set a new PB in the shot with a distance of 6m 58 and had a go at the high jumped an even surprised himself when he cleared a height of 1m 10. Rohan Anderson completed the line up with a putt of 5m 19 in the shot B-String. Unfortunately due to Nethaneel injuring himself slightly there was no relay team.
Liam Leddy persistence paid off in the 800m when he finally come home with a new PB in 2nd place time of 2m 31s which was 1.1sec better than before. Mohammed Swamad equalled his PB in the 400m with 57.9s and 2nd and ran a new PB in the 800m A-String with 2m 11.2s and 3rd. Aaron Akisanya ran a good 100m for 2nd in 13.0s and leaped over 4m in the long jump. Jerrell ran the sprint double and came 2nd in both, the 200m gave him a time of 26.4s and the 100m was 12.8s, he also did the long jump. In the throws Chris Dawe scored another PB in the shot putt with a distance of 8m 40 and 3rd, he threw 23m 82 in the discus for 1st and again 1st in B-String hammer with 15m 10. Andrew Townsend recorded a new PB in the shot putt with 5m 48 and 3rd whilst also doing the javelin. Kurtland Martyr was another debutant and was in impressive form doing well in all the 3 throwing events he took part in. He threw 20m 72 in the discus, threw the javelin but more outstanding was his hammer throw over 21m which was just short of the club record set nearly 20 years ago, not bad for someone who has only had a go at this event for the first time. In the 4x100m relay (Mohammed, Liam, Jerrell & Aaron), they came home well in 2nd place.
In the U/17 Boys Bakr Al-Akku recorded a post 2004 CLUB RECORD in the javelin with a distance of 23m 52 and 3rd, he ran a sound 800m in a time of 2m 15.9s and 2nd and came 2nd in the 400m with a time of 55.8s. Simian Stuart did the 100m in 12.4s, the 200m in 25.8s and 3rd then rounded of with a leap of 5m 09 in the long jump. Ozi Nzeako ran a 100m in a time of 12.5s, the 200m in a time of 25.7s for 5th and the triple jump of 11m 01. Nathaniel Senior was also in action in the long jump coming 1st with a leap of 5m 52, and he putt 8m 16 for 2nd in the shot. Gull Hassen Ditta wasn't to be outdone by Bakr in the javelin and although like Bakr slightly unorthodox threw 22m 28 for 2nd, shot putt was 3rd with 9m 26 and he also did the high jump. Elijah Collins was the last U/17 boy who took part in the high jump and discus throw but unfortunately there are no results yet for his 2 events. The end of the day was rounded of for Ilford in the shape of the U/17 Boys 4x100m relay (Bakr, Simeon, Ozi & Nathaniel), time not known yet but it was over 48s and they finished 4th.
Well done to them all today and hope to see them any many more next week Sunday 30th July for Round 4 of the EYAL meeting which is our home meeting being held at Walthamstow due to Ilford's track being resurfaced.
