Press Report 9th June 2008

Southend Half Marathon

 

Soaring temperatures greeted competitors on the 12th anniversary of the Southend half marathon as over 1300 runners toed the line at the start at the East Beach Car Park at Shoeburyness on Sunday. Neil Crisp led the Ilford squad home on a new course this year  comprising 2 flat and near traffic free loops and taking in the famous Southend sea front. Crisp is getting stronger with every race and should be happy with his time of 1hr 23 mins 30 seconds which gave him a highly placed 27th spot in the large field. Steve Allen is beginning to find something near his old form and used his local knowledge to scoot around the course in a very good 1.28.57 entertaining the crowd with his Union Jack shorts. Steve Parker (1.31.27), Micky Sutton (1.36.35)  and Peter Spelman (1.36.54) also enjoyed their day at the seaside as did Tony Partridge who clocked 1.39.29. New recruit Chris Evans completed the scorers with 1.58.29.  Dianne Crisp and Pam Jones flew the flag for the women with with Dianne getting an excellent time of 1.43.57 and Pam still good enough to take the women's 55 plus prize 1 month before her 72nd birthday. Another of the "Union Jack" brigade was Ilford's Olly Browne who cheerfully racewalked the course in 2.14.39.  

The men's race saw an early battle between Southend's Hendrik Zeitsman and Charles Coleman of Windsor, Slough Eton & Harrow with Paul Molyneux of Springfield Striders chasing them hard. The early pace and heat finally took its toll on Zietsman and with Coleman pulling away to victory in 71.13  Molyneux came through to overhaul him in the latter stages for 2nd.The women's  race was won by Southend's Claire Donnelly in 1.26.25, a good 5 minutes clear of Benfleet veteran Julia Palmer. 

 

Ilford Sprinters are Relay Good

Ilford Athletic Club came a commendable 2nd equal place in the 3rd meeting of the Southern Mens League at Dartford on Saturday despite being faced with a cripplingly long injury list including some of the club’s top stars.  The match turned out to be a high quality thriller with seven and a half points separating the top 4 teams, exemplified by two captivating relays closing the day’s events.  

Earlier in the day, Ilford’s two top sprinters, Aaron Balogun (11.0 in the 100m and 21.9 in the 200m) and Marvin Tuffour (11.3 in the 100m, 22.8 in the 200m) had had to work hard against some top quality competition to gain near maximum points in their individual events and with strength in depth, Ilford were favourites against the strong teams of Luton and Dartford.  First leg expert, Simeon Stuart led off ensuring that the squad was up with the leaders and with O’Real McAllister handing over to Tuffour still in contention, victory seemed assured as long as the team could maintain their text book changeovers.  Balogun took over with a stride over the star Luton sprinter, which he maintained to record an excellent time of 43.9 seconds for victory.  

Half an hour later, half the team was back on the track for the 4x400m relay.  The team was led off by the injured Sam Malekout who had landed badly during a pole vault effort earlier in the day.  Malekout ran through the pain and was evidently a class above the rest of the field as he gained 20 metres on the opposition for a time of 51.5 seconds, a time which would have been at least half a second quicker, were it not for a badly fumbled changeover.  Osi Nzeako (54.5) ran a strong leg but was gradually closed down to leave Marvin Tuffour (53.1) a few strides down on the leaders, Luton.  With the rest of the field 20 metres back, Tuffour held on well to the Luton competitor, making the last leg a two horse race.  With the national championships / Olympic trials approaching in 2 weeks time, Balogun was under orders to run as economically as possible but with every point being absolutely vital and a strong Luton athlete well within his sights, he set off at a rapid pace.  Balogun stepped up to the Luton athlete quickly and with a 3 metre lead over his rival coming up to the half way mark, the Ilford athlete looked to be the favourite for the victory.  But the Luton athlete had other ideas and gradually closed down a tiring Aaron Balogun in a scene reminiscent of the match against Luton last year, with the Ilford team being beaten to the line by a stride.  Balogun was however, rewarded with an outstanding split of 48.8, a time that he described as ‘slower than he had thought’ but providing ‘valuable speed stamina’ in advance of the national championships.

Sam Malekout’s injury had left two young sprinters to step up a position in the quarter mile.  With no easy points available in a high quality field, Osi Nzeako had to work hard to record his fourth place in 54.1.  Gary Madigan would normally have stepped into the 400m as first substitute but he had also strained a muscle during a non-scoring 100m, which despite the injury represented an excellent return to form for Madigan with 11.6.  This resulted in some intense reorganisation of the team and no small amount of pleading, and so it was that O’Real McAllister made his debut in the quarter mile race.  McAllister showed great discipline during the race and came strongly through the field for an excellent time of 56.0 seconds and 3rd place.

Ilford’s usually powerful throws squad had been badly affected by injuries to star hammer thrower, Wes Clarke and a broken arm to the multi-talented Craig Burrow, so it was with great joy that the club was able to welcome back Sol Anwar to the team.  Anwar has been out of action with injuries for many months, and so was not in top form, but was able to gain a valuable 2nd place in the shot putt with 11.72 metres and a 1st place (B string) in the discus with 30.64 metres.  John Hadler recorded a new personal best in the shot with 9.82 metres for 2nd place, while Sam Malekout’s busy day included an excellent javelin throw (43.62 metres) and discus (31.02 metres) as well as a 2.60m pole vault.  Completing the throws squad was the ever reliable veteran athlete, Peter Whiting who managed to score an unprecedented 8 individual points, including 20.26m in the hammer and 28.88m in the javelin as well as an equal third place in the pole vault (1.20 metres).

The middle distance squad was also affected through injury, exams, holidays and work commitments and so it was with great pleasure that Ilford was able to recruit three new second claim members to the club.  David Dickinson has been having an excellent season with 2nd place in the County Championships and some key victories on the road and so he was expected to battle well against tough opposition.  It became apparent very early on that in contrast to most other events, the opposition would not be of a quality to challenge Dickinson as the race became more of a time trial.  Starting off at sub 15 minute pace, by the 3000m mark, Dickinson was beginning to pay the price for his exuberant early pace with a time of 9.18 minutes.  With no-one to run with he maintained his pace well to record a time of 15.48.4, just outside his best, but obviously with more time to come off if he finds the right race.  With Darren Bottrill’s knocking 30 seconds off his best last match, there were few who would have bet against him doing the same again.  Darren ran a similar race to last time, which included a lightening fast last 1000 metres of 3.11 for a final time just outside his best of 16.55.0, which indicates that he can improve more if he can manage his pace better in the middle of the race.

Darren Bottrill was back in action with the steeplechase and was required to work very hard to catch a rapidly slowing Dartford runner.  Unfortunately, the Dartford runner was obviously more used to sprint hurdling and rallied himself over the last 200m to retake the hard fought 3rd place by a stride.  Bottrill’s tremendous efforts were rewarded with a new personal best time of 11.40.2, in an event which he will surely improve rapidly at if he can get the hurdling technique right.  Muir was also given a hard fight with a Hastings athlete taking an early lead of around 40 metres.  By halfway, Muir had worked his way back, but still trailed the leader by 20 metres and with his slower ‘straddle’ technique over the barriers was unable to close the gap further, finishing in a time of 10.31.5.  Muir had earlier been rewarded with a new personal best of 2.09.4 in the 800m, while his race partner, Jack Webb again demonstrated great talent and reliability to finish in 2.17.3.  Ilford welcomed two new runners to the club for the 1500m, one making his debut on the track and the other returning for the first time in 21 years after an illustrious junior career.  Darren Sutton is no stranger to the metric mile having won titles as a schoolboy but has only recently come back to training. He later described feeling ‘the years fall away’ as he took off with the leaders at 4 minute pace, but by the second lap, he was beginning to feel the early pace in his legs and began to slow.  He described his final time of 4.54.5 as disappointing, but he will surely improve rapidly with specific training and get close to his target of being competitive as a veteran athletes in a couple of years time.  Andy Mason is more used to ultra running and fell races so he found the race a little short for his liking but battled well to record a good time of 5.26.6.

Star of the jumpers was Nathaniel Senior who reached the magic mark of 13.00m, which represents the standard of quality in the triple jump.  Senior also recorded a B string victory in the long jump with 5.59m.  Simeon Stuart is struggling for form in his favoured event, the long jump and despite winning the event with 5.90m, was disappointed with the distance.  Stuart has the ability to jump a metre more than this and will be hoping to find this form in two weeks time when he goes to the national championships.  Stuart also leapt 10.91m in the triple jump for valuable points. Completing the jumps were Nat Senior and Osi Nzeako in the high jump.  Both were a little below their best with leaps of 1.60m and 1.50m respectively.

The club’s two 400m hurdlers continue to impress although were up against some classy competition in their respective races.  However, Michael Wong and Evandewa Reza can feel rightly proud of their performances of 69.7 and 72.9 respectively.  The 110m hurdles has been the club’s bogey event this year with falls being a regular occurrence. New member, Jason Prout is aiming to make the event his own and demonstrated his ability well for most of the race, but unfortunately hit the 9th hurdle hard to record a time of 36.4 seconds.

The team was ultimately disappointed with its placing, particularly in such a tight competition but must take heart that the points gained keeps them in the promotion hunt with three matches remaining.  Final positions were: 1st Luton 116.5, 2nd Equal Dartford 111, Ilford 111, 4th Hastings 109.5, 5th Royal Navy 88.  The next match is on 28th June at Thurrock and is likely to be competitive with some of the division’s top teams present.

2nd Round of the EYAL at Basildon.

 

Ilford AC took a small squad of athletes to Basildon Athletic Club for Round 2 of the EYAL

 

LEDDY LEADS THE WAY

 

Liam Leddy in the U/17 Men was in fine form and recorded 3 PB's. He ran a good 800m with a time of: 2m 20.1s and continued this on with a 200m sprint time of: 29.3s and a Long Jump of: 3m 25cm. Chris Dawe shows that the training is paying off now as he is increasing his distance in the Discus all the time which culminated in all three throws today over his previous best with a final distance PB of: 33m 74cm, he also did the same a PB in the Shot Putt with: 9m 95cm and the Javelin: 21m 39cm. Kurtland Martyr had a good Hammer with a PB of: 38m 53cm which extends his CLUB RECORD, Javelin: 29m 72cm and non scoring in the Discus with: 25m's. Andrew Townsend competing in his first league meeting this season and in the U/17 did a PB in the Discus: 25m 37cm, the Shot Putt: 7m 28cm and the Long Jump: 3m 23cm.

In the U/15 Boys Youcef Zatat after his Essex Schools success of yesterday competed again in the throws with: 30m 48cm in the Hammer, 10m 22cm in the Shot Putt and the Discus with: 35m 48cm, whilst Dean Ulla did the Long Jump and a PB: 4m 10cm but was unable to compete in the 800m & 100m as he felt unwell. The U/13 Boys George Hadler is riding on cloud nine at the moment. He equalled his PB in the 75m Hurdles in: 13.8s and a very good Long Jump of: 3m 96cm whilst at the end of the day was unlucky just to miss out on the club record in the High Jump with an attempt of 1m 41cm but had to be settled with an equal PB of: 1m 35cm. Jordan Akisanya recorded a PB in the 100m with: 13.2s, the 200m of: 27.0s and a Long Jump of: 4m 69cm. Ciaran Rodway ran the 75m Hurdles as well with a time of: 15.7s, the 800m: 2m 43.4s and a PB in the 200m: 29.7s. Thomas King ran the 1500m with: 5m 28.1s, equal PB in the High Jump: 1m 20cm and a PB in the Shot Putt: 4m 47cm, they finished of with a relay finishing 2nd with: 58.1sec. Clare Rodway was the only girl to compete today and in the U/15 Girls she did the 75m Hurdles in: 15.0s, the Long Jump: 3m 45cm and a good PB in the 300m: 50.4s.

 

 

Essex Schools Track and Field Championships - Chelmsford

 

Ilford AC were well represented via the various local schools in the Essex Schools Track & Field Championships at Chelmsford on Saturday with some  performances good enough to qualify for the English Schools loater in July.

 

Youcef Zatat led the way for Redbridge Schools in the Junior Boys discus and although being one of the last events he showed great determination to produce his 2nd best throw of  39m 22cm to claim gold and now goes onto represent Essex Schools in the English Schools at Gateshead. Kurtland Martyr in the Intermediate boys was also pleased with a PB in the Hammer with a distance of  36m 79cm to win the bonze medal. George Hadler and Thomas King competed in the Year 7 boys 800m with Thomas coming home with 2m 41.59s for 7th in heat 2  whilst George ran  2m 35.75s in heat 1 finishing 5th and qualifying for the final. In the final George found it tougher going and looked a little tired finishing in  2m 40sec. Also in the Year 7 boys Nnamdi Anyika  produced a magnificent performance in the Long Jump with a massive PB of 4m 55cm to finish 1st for yet another gold medal. Kofi Jeffers ran the 80m hurdles Junior Boys but was unable to qualify for the final finishing in 5th place.

 

Tamara Chambers in the Year 7 Girls ran a time of  12.72s in the heat of the 75m hurdles which qualified her for the final in which she claimed silver, whilst Ashley Joseph ran a PB in her 100m heat with 14.08s to qualify for the final in which she fininshed in silver medal position. Corina Bryce-Arnold ran the 200m for the Junior Girls and a time of 27.24s was a PB and good enough to qualify for the final in which she finished just outside the medals in 4th. Clare Rodway ran the 80m hurdles but did not qualify for the final. Gloria Alabi ran the 100m and finished in 13.2s for the final in which she finished in 3rd place for bronze.

 

Lydia Hall competed for Havering schools in the Intermediate Girls running a steady pace in the 300m and managed to finish 2nd with 46.04sin her heat after limited training due to exams. Unfortunately she was unable to step up another gear in the final and finished 8th with 46.8s. Rochelle Rhodes competing for Barking & Dagenham schools Intermediate girls did the Triple Jump and recorded  9m 96cm for 1st place and gold.