• Press Report 6th August  2007


    Sir Andrew Catton - London Triathlon Corporate
    "Went well in view of recent rib injury and tight hamstring. Suffered big time in the heat and wind but so did everyone else. Ran about 38.10 - somehow !
    The best was we finished 14th out of 420 teams & won the insurance challenge."
     
    Sir A 
     
    No news received from Pauline Tester re her event.
     
    Karen Sindall - London Triathlon Elite Event
    Karen had a mare of a swim - Unbelievably in the hot conditions she found the water too cold and came out exhausted. She ended up in the St Johns Ambulance after wobbling thru transition. Her body temp had dropped a couple of degrees and they had to warm her up with cups of tea wiv plenty of sugar.
    She's ok now but badly needs to sort out her nutrition and put on a bit of body fat
     
    SML Hastings

    You will not be surprised to learn that the best story from this weekend was not actually on the track but involved a mainly naked high jumper waiting in the corridor as his 5000m specialist room mate scaled a ledge above a 40 foot ledge to climb in through their window and recover their clothes (and key).  Meanwhile the cream of Ilford's young athletic hopes were shocking the goodly crowd of Hastings as they skinny dipped in the English Channel and cleaned out an Italian restaurant of ice cream.  Although the camping didn't work out quite as intended, it was an enjoyable fitting denouement to an exciting season when promotion has been fought for from the first event in May to the last few in August and I would very much recommend Hastings, especially on a hot sunny carnival weekend.

    End of season promotion (well nearly)

    Ilford Athletic Club narrowly missed the promotion places to division 1 in the final Southern Mens League match at Hastings last weekend.  Defeat of Portsmouth who were just 11 points ahead would've guaranteed that hallowed spot.  However, the fact that the team got so close and managed an excellent 3rd place was the result of a superb all round effort in a superlative match which contained 5 of the top 8 clubs in the league.  

    Star of the match was Malcolm Muir who defied the south coast heat to record two incredible personal bests in the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase.  With a field full of sub 16 minute 5k runners, the pace was always going to be hot, and yet Muir tracked the early pace, headed by Cambridge star Dean Lacey to pass the 1 kilometre mark in 3 minutes and record a personal best at the 3000m mark in 9.08.3.  The last mile took its toll as Muir slipped from 2nd to 3rd but he held on with his characteristic grittiness to beat a 7 year old personal best in 15.40.0.  With many of the same athletes competing in the steeplechase, Muir struggled to keep up with the early pace and was back in 6th place at halfway in 5.08.  Muir's strength is his stamina and he steadily worked through the field up to 3rd with a faster second half to record a personal best time by 9 seconds in 10.14.7, despite using a unusual straddle technique at every water jump.

    The other star of the team was Aaron Balogun, fresh from his successful outing at the windy World Trials the previous week.  Balogun demonstrated his form and ability with 21.8 and 11.0 into headwinds in the 200m and 100m respectively.  As usual there was excellent back up from the other sprinters with Gary Madigan powering to 2nd in 11.3 in the 100m and Marvin Touffour strolling to victory in an elegant 22.9 in the 200m.  Sam Malekout inched further towards the 50 second mark with an excellent personal best in the 400m in 51.1.  Touffour was again in the action in the quarter mile with a personal best time of 51.9.

    With highly competitive fields in all of the sprints, Ilford were up against it in the 4x100m but made light of the challenge, winning in 44.6 with the team of Malekout, Touffour, young Simeon Stuart and Balogun.  With Madigan pulling a hamstring at the end of his 100m, the 4x400m team was forced to make a late change, bringing in the talented young middle distance runner, Mo Swamad into the team.  Portsmouth and Cambridge were too strong and streaked ahead later in the race, but Ilford acquitted themselves well with Malekout (52.1), Swamad (56.8), Touffour (53.4) and an outstanding anchor leg by Balogun (49.2) to record 3.31.5.  The team was happy to find out that they had been elevated to 2nd due to the disqualification of the Cambridge team.

    The throwers were hit by the loss of top hammer thrower, Wes Clarke, who was the victim of an interminable queue on the A21.  Craig Burrow led the charge well with an outstanding shot putt of 12.08m and an equally excellent discus of 35.67m for 2nd as well as good quality throws in the javelin (39.95m) and hammer (32.64m).  Malekout was never resting for long and fitted an excellent javelin (42.77m), shot putt (9.37m) and discus (24.01m) between his busy schedule on the track.

    Joining Muir in the long distance events to record excellent times were two relatively experienced athletes, Iain Macdonald who is coming back to fitness, who recorded an excellent steeplechase time in the heat of 11.33.4.  Anthony Marsh is more usually found on the high jump run up but has great potential as a long distance runner, recording a hard earned 19.26.9 in the 5000m.

    Marsh had already gathered valuable points with 3rd in the high jump with 1.50m and seemingly much to come as he hones his technique.  His colleague, Elijah Collins set pulses racing as he left the crowd waiting for the final jump on his opening height of 1.60m, finally recording 1.65m.  Nathaniel 'Phillips' Senior was a little down on his best but has reached such an exceptional standard that he was still able to record 12.29m, while Simeon Stuart warmed up for the inter-counties on the Sunday with a good quality long jump of 6.08m.  Malekout was a little down on his best with 5.98m.

    Middle distance specialist, Rob Nixon battled well in the 800m against a 1:50 standard Cambridge runner to record a battling time of 2:02.2, while John Macdonald ran a wiley tactical race to come through to 2nd at the end of the race in a time of 2:08.3.  Mo Swamad warmed up for his relay leg with a creditable time in the 1500m of 4:27.1, while Nixon was a little down on his best in the longer race to record 4:21.1.

    Team captain, Matt Maple was restricted by injury but was delighted to finally get his stride pattern right in the 400m hurdles to record a seasons best 66.3s and 2nd place.

    The final team scores were Cambridge 151, Portsmouth 114.5, Ilford 103.5, Hastings 85 and Guildford 77.  With Winchester, Newbury and Bournemouth all recording strong scores in easier matches elsewhere, Ilford were left high and dry in 6th place in the league with 5 to go up.  Although slightly disappointed, 2007 has been a thrilling year fighting for victories and promotion and with a young team must surely rise in the coming years.  The result was not enough to dampen spirits as the team went for their customary end of season jamboree as they joined in with the Hastings carnival until late into the evening.

    Other results: Sam Malekout: pole vault - 2.20m; Matt Maple: pole vault - 1.20, 110mh - 26.9; Pete Whiting: hammer - 19.90m, 110mh - 26.0; Mo Swamad: 400mh - 70.2; Simeon Stuart: triple jump - 10.74m.

     
    NETHANEEL'S FAREWELL ENDS IN RELAY VICTORY
     
     
    On the hottest day of the year so far Ilford Athletic Club again took a small field of athletes to Cambridge for the final round of the EYAL Meeting, the final scores as follows:
     
    1) Peterborough-               646
    2) Cambridge & Coleridge  614
    3) Milton Keynes                556
    4) Southend                      438
    5) Ilford                            265
    6) Braintree                      204
    7) Barnet & District             75
     
     
    Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake last competitive match for Ilford before he emigrates to Jamaica ended in triumph in the U/15 Boys relay (Nethaneel, Aaron, Joshua & Ayokunle) coming home in style with an impressive win. He also did the 100m & 200m in a time of - 12.4s and 26.0s accordingly. Ayokunle Adekeye also did the sprint double with good times of - 12.7s in the 100m to equal his PB and 26.3s whilst his Long Jump of 5m 06cm was good enough for 2nd. Joshua Daly did the Long Jump with a leap of - 4m 25cm the 400m - 70.3s and the Discus - 11m 40cm. Jack Webb ran very well in the heat with a PB in the 800m with - 2m 21.5s equalled his PB in the High Jump with - 1m 35cm and the Discus - 14m 22cm. Aaron Akisanya did the Javelin with a PB of - 31m 29cm. The final athlete in the age group was Alex Richards, he ran the 1500m in a time of - 5m 03.1s and the Javelin with - 13m 27cm.
     
    In the U/13 Boys Ciaran Rodway ran the 75m Hurdles with - 16.5s the 800m in - 2m 55.1s and the Shot with a distance of - 4m 20cm. Jordan Akisanya continues to do well with a 13.8s in the 100m, 28.4s in the 200m and a Long Jump of - 4m 39cm. Nnamdi Anyika did the 100m in a time of - 14.8s for a PB, the Long Jump - 3 65cm and the Shot with another PB of - 5m 31cm. Debutant Taiwo Ademola completed the team with - 33.7s in the 200m and - 3m 07.7s in the 800m.
     
    A depleted team in the U/17 Men due to injury and holidays saw Simeon Stuart compete for the last time in the young athletes league as he is too old next year. He did the 100m in - 12.2s, the 200m in - 25.2s and continued to show who is boss in the Long Jump with a 1st place with - 6m 05cm. Kurtland Martyr threw exceptionally well with 2 PB's. His Discus throw of - 26m 48cm was over three metres further than his previous best and a PB in the Shot with - 8m 39cm whilst throwing the Javelin - 29m 10cm. Rob Legon did the Shot - 8m 31cm and the Discus with - 21m 72cm.
     
    The U/13 Girls Mika Martson had company this time with Kenny Ademola making only her 2nd appearance for the club. Mika did the 200m with a time of - 29.4s for and excellent PB over nearly a second and this continued with a PB in the High Jump with - 1m 25cm, whilst putting the Shot - 7m 05cm. Kenny Ademola did the 1500m in a time of - 7m 04.2s and the 100m in - 16.1s.
     
    Corina Bryce-Arnold in the U/15 Girls did the 100m in - 13.7s and the 200m in - 29.4s whilst doing the Shot for the first time with - 5m 30cm. Aimee Jones ran a very good 300m coming home 1st with - 46.7s, the Long Jump - 3m 87cm and the Javelin - 7m 85cm. Laibah Malik recorded a PB in the Javelin with - 8m 84cm, and the Long Jump with - 2m 50cm. Rochelle Kaur competing for the first time for a few meetings did the Shot Putt with a distance of - 5m 29cm. Clare Rodway was the only other athlete in this age group with the 75m Hurdles in a time of - 15.2s and the Discus - 11m 42cm. They rounded it off with the 4x100m relay (Aimee, Corina, Laibah & Nkiru) finishing 4th with a time of - 57.6s.
     
    The only athlete in the U/17 Women was Lydia Hall. She ran very well again both the 200m and 300m coming home 1st in the 300m with a time of - 43.7s and 28.4s in the 200m.
     
    Well done to the athletes that took part today they all did GOOD. The season has now finished for the leagues meeting next stop is the Open meeting at Newham on August 26th sponsored by Tate & Lyle and then Day 4 & 5 of the Essex Champs at the end of September in Colchester.