Match 2 (Hosts- Biggleswade)
1) Biggleswade - 105 Points
2) Ilford AC - 90 Points
3) Chiltern - 24 Points
* Southend AC - Had withdrawn from the league*
The Light that shone out of the gloom was 2 PB's that Emma Light did in the younger age group of u/13's & u/15's. Emma a fairly new kid on the block with only one previous league experience in an EYAL Meeting jumped an impressive - 3m 40cm for 1st in the long jump, ran another PB in the 1500m with - 6m 25.4 and 2nd and did hurdles for the first time coming 1st with - 17.2s. Corina Bryce Arnold also in the same age group ran well in both the 100m & 200m coming home 1st in both with - 13.9s for the 100m just one hundredth outside her PB and - 29.3s for the 200m. She also ran the 75m Hurdles coming 1st with - 14.6s. Danila Morais competing for the first time for Ilford and the youngest member of the squad ran the 100m in - 15.4s and 1st, threw - 13.00m in the discus for 2nd and putt the shot - 3m 53cm for 1st as well. Aimee Jones completed the line up and jumped a below par - 3m 06cm for 1st in the B-String long jump. In the 800m she was going well but had to pull up at 500m. It was only later that it was realised she had a bad cut on her heal of foot which had been aggravated by running and opened up again, this probably explained her performance in the long jump, so rest now and hopefully get back to running again soon.
In the U/17's Rachel Giwa was again in fine form. Although the competition was not great Rachel still went about her races with the same precision as always. She completed a sprint double with - 12.7s for the 100m and 27.4s for the 200m. In the discus she can 1st in B-String with - 10m 61cm. Sarah Kigozi followed Rachel with a B-String sprint double finishing with times of - 13.4s in the 100m and - 28.0s in the 200m. Gutsy Sarah also tried for the first time the hurdles and although unorthodox and hoping that she realised she had to jump the hurdles and not plough through them in a straight line like a sprint she came home smiling for 1st in a time of - 16.1s. Shanise Anderson took on the long jump and recorded a superb PB with a leap of - 4m 09 and 1st in B-String. She also did the javelin with a throw of - 16m 95 for 1st. Clarissa Dougan competing for the first time in a while putt - 5m 14 for 2nd in the shot and threw - 12m 29 in the discus for 3rd. Jessica Manning was the senior athlete of the squad as an u/20 women. She jumped a solid - 4m 97 for 1st in the long jump, putt a distance of - 7m 65 for 2nd in the shot and rounded it off with a throw of - 25m 61 for 1st in the javelin. The final event for Ilford was the 4x100m relay (Jessica, Rachel, Shanise & Sarah). In an impressive display of running, Sarah got them of to a good start with an excellent first leg, she passed it to Shanise who ran a solid back straight to keep them in good order. The baton was passed to Jessica who ran a very good bend to leave Ilford in total control and Rachel then just went away from the field to cruise home in 1st place with a time of - 53.2s.
Well done to all the young ladies and girls that took part today. Ilford AC has as you can see a very young ladies squad which needs to mature and grow over many years. If this continues to do so at the rate it is going then in a few years Ilford Women's squad will be moving up the table and leagues to much greater and better things.
