Great Baddow 10 – Sindall takes Essex Crown

 

Ilford AC’s Karen Sindall continued her fine run of form with a hard won victory in Sunday’s Great Baddow 10 mile Road race in Chelmsford which also doubled as the Essex AAAs 10 mile road championships.

Yet Sindall’s defeat of former champion and course record holder, Margaret Deasy of Colchester and Tendring  was comfortable enough  as she ground out the miles at a metronomic 6 minute mile pace. She had originally hoped to challenge the record of 59.53 but the very warm conditions coupled with an unforgiving course eventually began to take their toll as she slipped to a finishing time of 60mins 43 seconds. Nevertheless the Ilford triathlete declared herself to be extremely satisfied with the outcome considering this was her first outing over the 10 mile distance.

 

It was double delight for the Cricklefields based club as Malcolm Muir ran an impressive 55.02 in 3^rd place to take the Essex men’s silver medal by virtue of the winner Bertie Powell of Woodford Green not being Essex qualified. His performance was even more remarkable after competing in the Southern League in both the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase only the previous afternoon. Terry Knightley ran just outside the hour for a top thirty position and Neil Crisp also ran strongly to record 64 minutes. Matt Maple had a late and flustered start but still managed 65.48. With exact times still to be confirmed other Ilford AC finishers were Abdi Berleen and Nicola Hopkinson in 68 and 78 minutes respectively.

 

 

Further afield Pam Jones has been competing in the 10^th European veterans non stadia championships held in Rengensburg, Germany, and despite limited training due to a recent fall, finished third in her age group in the 10k with a time of 51mins 4seconds after running 9 laps of a 1.1k course in torrential rain. The half marathon followed on Sunday which turned out to be a
"scorcher" and Pam finished 2nd in 1.56.04.The Polish athlete who pipped her for silver in the 10k decided to tuck in behind her, ran on her shoulder until 10 miles until pulling away.  Pam later confessed I “I felt so hot at this point I lost the will to mentally to keep pushing on. I was in no mans land after 10miles trying to stave off cramp so was pleased with 2nd place “. Pam finished with 1.55.04. The only other Ilford member to compete was Peter Ryan, a recent convert from the racewalking fraternity, who ran the 10k in 44mins.

 

Southern Men’s League  - Ilford Athletes bask in glory

Ilford Athletic Club men's team stormed to a resounding victory on Saturday in the Southern Mens League to take them to a commanding 3rd position in the overall division 2 league table.

The victory was all the more impressive as the team was missing several of their regular athletes.  Athlete of the match goes to Nathaniel Senior who got personal bests and won both the triple jump (13.20m) and a surprise victory in the high jump (1.75m), a feat that club CEO, Andy Catton suggested hadn't been achieved in as much as 10 years.  

The team was anchored by the usual impressive throwing quartet of Craig Burrow, Sol Anwar, Wesley Clarke and Sam Malekout, who achieved the remarkable feat of winning 7 out of the 8 throwing events.  Main honours go to Craig who won his four events, discus (38.12m), shot (12.27m), javelin (37.53m) and hammer (32.95m).  Sol's excellent work in his main event, the shot putt (13.09m) was surpassed by his steadily improving discus for which he achieved another personal best of 36.43m.  Sam and Wes completed the successful afternoon with performances of 43.22m javelin and 40.95m hammer respectively.

Sam also scored maximum points in the half mile with a mature debut of 2.09.5, which included a dogged battle down the home straight to record a half second victory.  Sam's victory was made all the more difficult as he was simultaneously competing in the pole vault (2.40m) and long jump at the time he started the race, the latter of which included an excellent personal best of 6.16m. Mo Swamad refused to be intimidated by the pack of more experienced and supposedly more talented 1500m runners in his field and led them through a fast first lap of 64 seconds.  His final time of 4.22.8 was a personal best and demonstrated excellent strength off a fast pace.

Ilford's sprinters (Aaron Balogun, Marvin Tuffor and Gary Madigan) mixed it up well with some of the British League clubs' (Enfield and Haringey and Harrow) better athletes.  Aaron recorded excellent and consistent times of 11.2s (100m) and 22.2s (200m), while Marvin won the b string in 22.4s (200m) and was dipped to the line in the 400m with 53.8s.  Gary was in a tight run race in the 100m, recording 11.5s and showed well in the 400m with 54.3s.  The relays were tight affairs with Ilford going head to head with Enfield and Haringey in the 4x100m and losing out by the narrowest margin to record 45.0, one tenth behind their rivals.  Better changeovers would have given them a comfortable victory over the pre race favourites.  Later, Enfield and Haringey narrowly outran a tired 4x400m squad by 3 seconds, with Ilford recording a good time of 3.33.7.

Malcolm Muir's tactical nous was well on show in the 5k and 3k steeplechase, the former of which slowed dramatically midway as the pack tussled for who would make the running.  In the last 1000m burn up, Muir pushed for an unassailable lead but was tracked down by 1500m specialist, John Hamblen, finishing just outside 16 minutes in 16.00.9.  In the chase, Muir let the leaders go off at a suicidal early pace and gradually pegged them back to record an excellent victory in 10.37.2.  Muir's young colleague, Iain Macdonald found the rapid pace and the short break between events gruelling but availed himself well with times of 18.16.8 and 11.38.7 respectively.

Final points scores were Ilford 137.5, Enfield and Haringey 113, Walton 111, Bracknell 83 and Harrow 71.5.

With a promotional place now up for grabs, the tension will be cranked up for the third match, which will be at home on 2nd June.

Other performances: Simeon Stuart triple jump - 11.54m; long jump - 5.89m; high jump - 1.50m; Pete Whiting pole vault - 1.10m; Mo Swamad 400mH - 68.3; Matt Maple 400mH - 74.8, 110mH - 25.0; 1500m - 4.33.7; 800m - 2.13.2; Craig Burrow 110mH - 26.

 

UKYAL – Cricklefields, Ilford  - Report by Paul Cheal

 

On Sunday Ilford AC hosted the first round of the UKYAL Meeting and they had 41 athletes competing against, Ashford AC, Newham & Essex Beagles, Bexley AC, Thurrock, Eton Manor & VPTH. The match results are as follows:

 

1) Ashford AC -                       541.0 Points

2) Newham & Essex Beagles - 484.5 Points

3) Ilford AC -                           456.5 Points

4) VPTH -                               403.0 Points

5) Bexley -                              356.0 Points

6) Thurrock -                           317.5 Points

7) Eton Manor -                       232.5 Points      

 

 

There were many excellent performances with PB's and an Equalling of a CLUB RECORD, plus some debutants. The stars of the show had to be Simeon Stuart in the U/17 Boys Long Jump with a fabulous leap of - 6m 43cm edging nearer to the club record only 17cm's away. Youcef Zatat in the U/15 Boys Discus threw an impressive 29m 57cm an improvement of over 3m's and the U/15 Boys 4x100m relay team who equalled the CLUB RECORD in a time of 49.1s.    

 

In the U/13 Girls debutant Tamara Chambers ran the 70m hurdles and recorded a time of - 14.2s, whilst Ceris Burgues ran - 15.5s. In the 75m Mika Marston finished in style with a new PB with - 10.8s. Another two debutants competed in the 800m, Sophie Pinner and Kehinoe Adenola did well coming home in a time of - 3m 23.5s & 3m 21.6s respectively. Mika Marston put the shot - 6m 89 for 2nd and Ceris Burgues - 3m 78 for 3rd. Mika Marston also did the 150m with Tamara Chambers with a time of - 21.4 for Mika and another PB and Tamara - 21.9s. Tamara also did the long jump with a leap of - 3m 50cm.

 

The U/15 Girls was slightly depleted but they still did well. Aimee Jones ran 29.5s in the 200m. Corina Bryce-Arnold ran the 100m with a good time of - 13.9s and continued that with - 29.0s in the 200m. Debutant Laibah Malik did the 100m and come home in - 15.9s. Rochelle Kaur did the long jump and recorded a PB with - 3m 59cm and the shot putt with - 5m 45cm.

 

Sarah Kigozi was in fine form in the U/17 Women sprint double with a PB in the 100m dipping under the 13.0s mark for the first time with - 12.9s and equalled her PB in the 200m with - 27.0s. Laura came back to some form in the 200m with a time of - 28.8s and the 100m with - 14.2s and the shot - 6m 37. Lydia Hall shrugged of her disappointment of last week to produce a fine run in the 300m coming first with - 43.9s. Zena Uppal saw improvement in her 800m with a PB of - 2m 36.1s and Clarissa Dougan jumped - 3m 19 in the long jump and threw 11m 93 in the discus. Charlotte Deacon is continuing to improve in the throwing especially the shot with - 8m 35, the discus - 15m 91 and javelin - 18m 43. Charlie Clements shrugged of her injury worries to finish 2nd in the javelin with - 23m 09, whilst Jamie Smith came first in the hammer with - 23m 26. They finished of with a 4x100m relay (Townsend, Kigozi, Uppal & Hall) coming home 3rd in a time of - 54.3s.

 

The U/13 Boys were in fine form filling nearly all the events and it reaped the benefits as well. Jordan Akisanya did exceptionally good with a PB in the 100m in a time of - 13.5s and 28.5s in the 200m and another outstanding PB in the long jump with - 4m 57. In the hurdles Ciaran Rodway and George Hadler completed the task with - 16.5s and 17.2s respectively. George was very diverse on the day as he did the 200m in - 34.4s and a PB in - 3m 06.4s in the 800m. Ciaran also had the same kind of day whilst doing the 1500m in - 6m 13.4s and the shot with - 3m 14. His friend and debutant Thomas King did the 1500m as well in a good time of - 5m 52.1s and the shot - 3m 78. Duncan Whitfield cleared - 1m 05 in the high jump and did the 800m in a time of - 3m 00.1s, whilst another debutant Nntambi Anyika did the long jump in - 3m 85. The other debutant Jordan Ricketts was unlucky in the 100m falling short of the line and was unable to compete anymore, will pick himself up and be better for it next time.. They did the 4x100m relay (Akisanya, Whitfield, Anyika & King) in - 61.6s.

 

In the U/15 Boys there were good performances all round. Jerrell Alleyne did a PB in the 200m with - 24.9s and did the 400m for the first time with a good solid run with - 57.1s. Ayokunle Adekeye did the hurdles in - 14.3s a PB in the 100m with - 12.7s and another PB in the long jump with - 5m 29. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran the sprint double with times of - 12.3s and 25.7s. Alex Richards ran a 400m in - 72.3s and in his preferred event of 1500m with - 5m 03.9s. Liam Leddy did the 800m in - 2m 34.4s and showed he can put his talents to anything throwing the javelin - 6m 72 to finish 1st B-String. Debutant Kofi Jeffers ran superbly in the hurdles finishing 1st with - 13.1s which is only 0.3s outside the club record 36 years ago. Joshua Daly came back to some form in the long jump with - 4m 21 and did the 1500m in a time of - 5m 45.2s. In the throwing Youcef Zatat did the hammer with - 19m 42, the shot - 9m 97 and the discus in an impressive - 29m 57 for a PB. Andrew Townsend showed his consistency in the discus with another throw over 20m with - 20m 42, the shot with - 6m 15 anf the javelin - 17m 35 and a PB. Last was an excellent equalling of CLUB RECORD in the 4x100m (Jeffers, Mitchell-Blake, Alleyne & Adekeye) with - 49.1s and first by over 1 second.

 

The U/17 Boys had Simeon Stuart improving all the time. He recorded a PB in the 100m with - 11.9s and a fantastic PB in the long jump with a leap of - 6m 43. Bakr Al-Akku ran the 100m in - 12.1s, the 400m in - 55.2s. Like Simeon, Mohammed Swamad is thriving in his running with a PB in the 800m with - 2m 07.7s and a good 1st in the 1500m steeplechase in a very good time of - 4m 48.3s. Nathaniel Whitfield did the 800m in - 2m 42.2s and Sam Burgues the 1500m in - 6m 16.1s for a PB. Rob Legon did the hammer and recorded a PB with - 21m 22 and the shot putt with - 8m 59. Chris Dawe also had a PB to shout about with - 27m 31 in the discus and - 8m 05 in the shot. Andy Carle threw a distance of - 41m 88 for 1st in the javelin and - 22m 63 in the discus whilst Kurtland Martyr also had a PB in the javelin with - 28m 79 and a distance of - 21m 32 in the hammer.

 

This was a good day for Ilford juniors and they can now look forward to the next meeting in two weeks time whilst some of the athletes will be competing in the South of England Championships for U/17's this coming weekend at Ashford in Kent.