• Press Report 28th April 2008


     
    Ilford AC had 3 runners performing well in Hyde Park's Last friday of the month 10k organised by Serpentine running club. Malcolm Muir running at 5min 19 miling was 4th home overall in a time of 16.32.  Nicola Hopkinson was 2nd in the Female 45 category returning a time of 22.41. However it was Pam Jones' performance as first over 70s woman home that caught the eye registering an excellent 92.9 per cent on the age graded table. This would undoubtedly have been the performance of the afternoon were it not for the appearance of Cecilia Morrison of Portsmouth AC whose 22.22 clocking equated to a staggering 96 per cent as a woman over 65.
     
    Meanwhile on Sunday racewalker Micky Sutton built on his recent success in the London Marathon by once again rewriting his personal best at Blackpool over the same distance. On a very cold and wet 2 lap course Sutton finished with an excellent time of 3hrs 19 minutes. He was delighted to have now completed 2 back to back marathons in which he hasn't had to resort to his more favoured discipline and indeed his splits were impressive enough showing the 2nd lap slightly faster than the first. Sutton remarked afterwards "Conditions were so bad that runners couldn't see the top of the tower". 
     
    NO STOPPING ZATAT - report by Paul Cheal
     
    Ilford Athletic Club began its 2008 young athletes track & field campaign with a trip down the A127 to Gloucester park the home of Basildon AC for Round 1 of the EYAL. The other clubs competing were Ipswich Harriers, Watford Harriers, Thurrock Harriers, Harlow and St Albans. Ilford were able to field 27 young athletes.
     
    Youcef Zatat in the U/15 Boys is going from strength to strength in the throwing disciplines.  Firstly in the hammer, a new event in the EYAL this year, he broke a 20 year old CLUB RECORD with an impressive PB of his own, 26m 19cm, followed by a shot putt of 10m 38cm. Youcef then surpassed this with a massive 4m extension to his own discus club record going over the 40m mark with 40m 26cm. This extends his distance as the country's leading thrower in discus for U/15 and has now gained the National Standard for English schools, a competition in which he would hope to qualify from the Essex schools event later in the year.  In the same category Alex Richards returned to something like his old self running the 800m in 2m 29.7s, chipping in with a PB of 1m 20cm in the high jump and finishing the 200m in 33.0s. Taiwo Ademola ran the 100min 14.8s, recorded a PB in the 200m with: 31.9s and the threw the discus 11m 34cm.
     
    In the U/13 Boys George Hadler ran a very impressive 800m leading all the way to finish with: 2m 44.6s and earlier on smashed his PB in the 75m hurdles with 14.6s. He also competed in the High Jump for the first time with a height of: 1m 25cm. George Seaton making his debut for Ilford in the league also ran the 800m with a PB of: 3m 12.4s, a 200m in 37.1s and threw the discus 10m 45cm. Jordan Akisanya was in fine form with 3 1st places recording 13.7s in the 100m, 4m 31cm in the long jump and a PB of 28.2s in the 200m. Finally Nnamdi Anyika marks were 14.8s in the 100m, 3m 60cm in the long jump and 5m 47cm in the shot. The boys rounded this of with a 4x100m Relay finishing well in 1st place with 60.0s.
     
    In the U/17 Men Liam Leddy Ran 2 good PB's in the 800m with 2m 24.5s and the 200m with 30.5s He also gained points in the Long Jump with 2m 86cm. Jack Webb ran 2.21 in the 800m, 29.3 in the 200m and cleared 1m 45cm in the high jump. Ayokunle Adekeye ran the 100m with a PB of 12.5s and showed some talent by doing the Triple Jump for the first time with 12m 54cm. Rob Legon was happy with his performances of 10m 36cm in the Shot (PB), the Discus, 27m 49cm, and also threw the Javelin over 16 metres. Chris Dawe threw the Discus: 29m 40cm Putt the Shot 9m 17cm and was not 
    disgraced by coming home with 13.1s in the 100m. Lastly Kurtland Martyr threw the Javelin 29m 10cm, was a Non-Scorer in the discus and unfortunately had no throws in the Hammer. A make shift 4x100m Relay team made up of Adekeye, Legon.Leddy & Webb made creditable effort but were unlucky to be disqualified.
     
    In the U/13 Girls, Tamara Chambers ran well in the 70m Hurdles with a time of 12.8s which equalled her PB and finished the 100m in 14.2s. Unfortunately due to slight injury she rested for the remainder of the day as a precautionary measure. Ashley Joseph making her debut for the club performed in 3 events registering the same time of 14.8s in both the 70m Hurdles and 100m and also ran in the 200m.
     
    In the U/15 Girls, Clare Rodway ran the 75m Hurdles with 15.4s and achieved 2 PB's in the 300m 51.2s and the Long Jump 3m 90cm. Kehinde Ademola also ran the 75m Hurdles with 16.8s and the 300m with 54.6s. Corina Bryce-Arnold was in fine form with a PB of 13.5s in the 100m, 28.8s in the 200m and 3m 41cm in the Long Jump. Nkiru Anyika PB'd with 14.1s in the 100m and 16m 70cm in the discus, whilst Mika Martson putt the Shot with a distance of: 7m 05cm and came home first in the 200m with a PB of 29.3s. Two athletes making their debuts were Simran Johal, 3m 32.3s,  and  Shana Sandhu, 3m 49.9s, both in the 800m. Shana also threw the discus 4m 62cm. Corina, Nkiru, Mika and Clare also finished off with a 4 x 100m relay.
     
    In the U/17 Women Lydia Hall ran 44.8s in the 300m and 28.2s in the 200m. It was very much a surprise when she decided to also take part in the High Jump, an event she has not done for sometime, and then finished 1st equalling her PB 1m 40cm. Mishka Lumsden achieved a PB in the 100m with  14.4s and also competed in the Javelin and Shot. Laibah Malik did the Long Jump and Javelin, while new debutante Alisha Cox did the 100m in 15.0s, the discus with 13m 58 and also the Long Jump. Finally Rochelle Kaur did the 200m in  32.0s, the Discus, 9m 68cm and the Shot. Alisha, Rochelle, Laibah and Mishka rounded this off with a 4x100m Relay finishing 4th in a time of 57.8sec.