• Press Report 12th May 2008


    Essex Track and Field Championships - Days 2 & 3 - combined report from Tony Nixon, Paul Cheal and Martin Clarke
     
    Ilford AC's Robert Nixon proved a popular winner when fulfilling his lifetime athletics dream to become Essex Senior 1500m champion in an Ilford vest when competing in Days 2 and 3 of the County Championships at Basildon's Gloucester Park on Sunday. Nixon  was brought up on Ilford glory days and keeps a copy of a picture from the 1974 championships of  father Tony who won that year, and Andy Catton  who was third, which has always been an inspiration for him.

    The race itself was perfection, a tactical affair that the Ilford Athlete always controlled. Chelmsford AC's Ed Messer was the danger man having won the 800m the day before. When Messer hit the front with 250m to go Nixon covered the move and then just took him apart in the final straight. He ran the last 400m in 57 seconds finishing in a time of 3mins 58.11secs.

    The Essex 1500m (previously Mile) trophy is the oldest trophy at the championships and was first won/presented in 1909. Scott Sterling, the winner of 4 years ago was told it was insured for £35,000. The last Ilford athlete to win it was Ilford's CEO Andy Catton in 1977. Tony and Robert are the first father and son to have won the trophy which has 91 names on it and around the supporting plinth. The name above the space where Robert's name will go on the trophy is coincidentally Tony's

    Giwa - Queen of the sprints 

    Also shining out among many notable performances was Rachel Giwa's exceptional sprint double in the junior women events. On Saturday Rachel ran in a straight final of the 100m and blitzed to the gold in a personal best time of: 12.2sec. Things only got better when she returned on Sunday posting her intentions in her heat with a very fast 24.81sec, a time just outside the Championship record.  With the added adrenalin of the final, however, both the club and championship records fell with Rachel coming home in fine style for another gold in a superb 24.27sec which now ranks her in the top 10 in the country. Tamara Chambers is another one of Ilford's highly talented young sprinters and building on her success of Day1 blasted her way to the U13 girls 75m final with a fine personal best of 10.46sec. This made her favourite for the final in which she took gold in a slightly slower time of 10.48sec.
     
    Aaron Balogun competed in  the Senior Men's 400m, and  was first in his heat with  50.70sec. The final was even faster and in a tight competitive race was able to come home with a 50.41sec for silver. A further siver came his way in his more favoured event of  the 200m where in a straight final was just clipped to the line by 3 hundredths of a second with a very good time of 21.93sec. Jordan Akisanya ran well in the 100m boys final taking a deserved bronze with a personal best of 13.46sec
     
    In the U/13 Boys 800 metres "The Three Amigos" of Thomas King, George Hadler and Ciaran Rodway put in some brave performances. Thomas King led the way in yet another straight final and was unlucky to miss out on a medal coming home 4th with a PB time of: 2m 39.91sec, whilst George was not far behind in 5th in  2m 42.9 and Ciaran completed the trio finishing 6th with an excellent PB of  2m 43.4sec.
     
    In the field events further success went to Kurtland Martyr whose recent improvement in technique was rewarded with a PB hammer throw of 35m 55cm in the  U/17 men which earned him an excellent silver medal. Youcef Zatat  collected yet another medal for his fast growing collection, this time the bronze in the U/15 Boys Shot Putt with a PB of 11m 36cm. Simeon Stuart, Nathaniel Senior and Ozi Nzeako competed for the Junior Men in the Long and Triple Jumps. Stuart jumped much better than he did last week but was just pipped to the gold by 1cm with 6m 40cm claiming silver. Senior came 4th with 5m 86 and Nzeako 5th with 5m 73. In the Triple Jump Senior was not able to successfully defend his title this year even with a PB of 13m 25cm but still took away a bronze medal, whilst Nzeako jumped over 12 metres.
     
    Craig Burrow, a veteran of these championships certainly knows his way around the throwing areas these days and achieved 3 excellent bronzes in the senior mens competitions with 41m 46cm in the javelin, 11m 94cm in the Shot Putt and  37m 07cm in the discus.
     
    Other results: 
    Junior Women 200m Laura Townsend (29.41ht) 
    U/17 Women 100m Alisha Arrowsmith (14.53 - 8th in final) ,Junior  Women 100m Leanna Headlam  (13.48 - 8th in final)
    U/15 Girls  100m Gloria Alabi(13.32ht, 13.59 s/f - 3rd)), Mika Marston (14.09htPB), Rochelle Kaur(17.76ht), Rochelle Blenman 100m(14.01ht)
    Junior Men 100m   Gary Madigan(11.60ht), O'real Mcallister(11.96ht), Evan Dewa Reza(13.09ht) & Nathaniel Senior (12.80ht)
    Junior Men 200m   Gary Madigan(23.83ht), O'Real McAllister (23.84ht)
    Junior Men 400m    Ozi Nzeako (53.68 - 7thin final)  with: 53.68 for a PB and did the Javelin with 3rd and BRONZE with a distance of: 14m 31cm. 
    Junior Men Javelin  Ozi Nzeako (14m 31cm - 3rd).
    U15 Boys  80m hurdles Kofi Gibbons-Jeffers(12.96ht - 5th in final)
    U15 Boys 100m Kofi Gibbons-Jeffers(11.78ht,12.18 - 4th in final)
     
    Road News
     
    Meanwhile back on the roads Ilford AC's Abdi Berleen hit a running career high when he placed 3rd in the Rhys Daniels memorial 5 miles held at Epping on Sunday. Berleen's time of 29.57 was also an excellent PB for the likeable and fast improving personal trainer. The race was also noteworthy for being the first competitive victory for Woodford Green's snooker ace and Ilford AC 2nd claimer, Ronnie "the Rocket" O'Sullivan who also got the better of seasoned veteran campaigner and clubmate Matt Flannelly. Ronnie would undoubtedly have enjoyed this victory as much as his 3rd world championship although the prizes this time were more of an aesthetic nature and rather less lucrative. "The Rocket" had also been in action the previous day when he put up the 2nd fastest time of the day in Orion Harriers summer yacht handicap race held over 5 miles of Epping Forest, sailing past Ilford's own Peter Spelman towards the end. Spelman for his part managed a very good 19th placing.  
    On a scorching hot day given over to mad dogs and Englishmen the road race fraternity were also sparing a thought for those taking part in the Halstead marathon. A gruelling course at the best of times Billericay's Crispian Bloomfield must have been rueing his decision for a first marathon outing as he woke up to the Sunday morning sun. Ilford's sole running representative was Bhagesh Katechia who put in a solid 3hrs 40mins 47secs to come home in 83rd position - a good run under the circumstances. Ilford's Olly Browne also racewalked the event in 4hrs 58mins 4secs. Bloomfield managed 2nd place in 2hrs 48.06, an unimpressive time for his standard, being solidly beaten by SouthendAC's South African Hendrik Zietsman by nearly 10 minutes.