Road

Ilford ACs John Batchelor missed out on a bronze medal by the slenderest of margins in the British Masters 5k Road championships held at Horwich on Sunday. 65 mph gales were forecast for the region at the time of the race, but although it was very windy, with barriers blown over etc, and times were generally slow, the wind during the race wasn't too bad. 4 men contested for the male 65 spoils at the sharp end of the race with Pete Cartwright of Clydesdale eventually securing victory in 18mins 47 seconds. Batchelor always knew he was behind the Bingley duo of Michael Smith and Les Haynes for the minor placings but was having his own struggle with some of the leading 60 year women. Male pride elicited a speedy finish whereby he tore up the last hill (200m in 37 sec) to the finish passing several runners and running into the back of Les Haynes on the line, with Mike Smith just ahead of him. The ilford man clocked 19.17 just 1 second behind Haynes finishing 4th and just outside the medals. Next week Batchelor moves on to the 10k championship where he will be out for revenge.  

In the Serpentine's Last Friday of the Month 5k held in Hyde park the Ilford women's pairing of Pam Jones and Nicola Hopkinson both won their age categories. Nicola was 1st over 45 lady home in 22.08 while Pam's 24.32 for an over 70 also topped the age gradings with a massive 93.4 per cent. 

 

 

Track and Field

Giwa wins silver

Ilford's top young athletes have twice been in action over the last two weeks, competing against the country's best athletes.  First of these was the South of England championships held at the national stadium in Crystal Palace on the 14th and 15th June.

Rachel Giwa is gradually moving up to the senior ranks showing all the potential that she showed as a youngster to be one of the country's top sprinters.  She came into the event as the 3rd fastest under 20 woman at 200m with 24.27 and was optimistic of getting a medal.  In the heat she powered to a comfortable victory in 25.32 but was only 4th fastest to make the final and had had the advantage of a strong following wind.  Fastest qualifier was international Milton Keynes athlete, Joey Duck.  In the final,
Giwa came out of the blocks fast and was hard on the heels of Duck with Croydon's Twinelle Hopeson close by.  Duck pulled away in the straight but Giwa fought hard to hold for an excellent silver medal, 7 hundredths ahead of Hopeson in 24.82 seconds, into a strong head wind.
Giwa had earlier competed in the 100m and facing many of the same athletes as the 200m, again had high hopes of a medal.  Her heat was a hard foughta ffair with Giwa fighting neck and neck with Elaine O'Neill from neighbouring Woodford Green to be separated by only 1 hundredth with Giwa coming off second with 12.11 and a new personal best.  Duck was again in the
final but this time, Giwa got the better of her rival but was pushed into bronze medal position with a revised personal best of 12.04 in a very tight affair with 6 hundredths separating the first three.

Aaron Balogun also has the potential to reach the top of the tree of British sprinters and competed in the 200m with some good form.  The heats proved tough with only two to qualify automatically and with 4th place with 22.09, Balogun had a nervous wait before being awarded the 2nd of the fastest 'losers' spots.  In the semi final, Balogun made no mistake to qualify for the final with an excellent time of 21.56.  He couldn't quite repeat this time in the final but was happy with an outstanding 5th position in 21.67. Balogun also competed in the 100m but was unable to get past the semi final despite recording an outstanding time of 11.07 into a strong headwind.

Sam Malekout has also been showing great form in recent months and was hoping to edge towards the 50 second mark in his chosen event of 400m.  The young athlete had an outstanding race and was unlucky to miss out on a spot in the semi final, which he missed by only 4 tenths of a second with a time of 50.78.  Finally, Simeon Stuart, who has been out of sorts recently was disappointed with his distance of 5.96m in the long jump but will surely bounce back soon.

Balogun, Giwa and Stuart were back in action the following week in the national junior championships, combined with World Junior Trials.  Aaron ran his favoured 200m but was not in the same form as the previous week and while his time of 22.24 in the final was good, it would not get him close to the medal positions.  Balogun again ran well in the 100m to record 11.02 in his heat into a headwind, but with the likes of Leevan Yearwood in his race, the competition was too great and he did not progress to the final.  Giwa was also not firing on all cylinders and despite rallying well to get to the final in both the 200m (26.07s) and 100m (12.28s), she would like to have run at her full potential to get in the medals. Stuart improved from the previous week with a distance of 6.14m in the long jump.
 

UKYAL - Ilford - Report by Paul Cheal

 

KING GEORGE CONQUERS HIGH JUMP RECORD

 

On a very breezy Sunday Ilford AC played host to Round 3 of the UKYAL Divison 2SE and they achieved a well earned 2nd place behind runaway leaders Southend AC.

 

In the U/13 Boys George Hadler produced some fine performances none more so than the CLUB RECORD in the High Jump with: 1m 41cm to eclipse a 3 year record and he went on to do a PB in the 75m Hurdles with: 13.7s and the 800m in: 2m 39.1s. Jordan Akisanya proves why is a very talented athlete again in the 100m: 13.8s, the 200m 28.8s and rounded of his 3 in a role 1st places with: 4m 78cm in the Long Jump. Ciaran Rodway did the 800m in: 2m 59.0s, 31.9s in the 200m and a time of: 16.6s in the 75m Hurdles. Nnamdi Anyika: 14.4s in the 100m, a good solid PB in the Shot: 6m 19cm and the Long Jump: 4m 07cm, whilst newcomer Matthew Watson did the 1500m in: 6m 54.0s and Thomas King coming from a morning of football to record a time of: 6m 07.6s which he openly admitted was due to him being very tired from the morning excursions on the football pitch. The relay of (Nnamdi, Ciaran, Jordan & George) did produce a fine 1st place in a time not far outside the club record with: 55.8s

 

Kofi Jeffers in the U/15 Boys ran the 100m and 200m with: 12.8s and 25.2s whilst clearing: 1m 55cm in the High Jump. Youcef Zatat did the Discus with: 35m 14cm the Shot Putt: 10m 97cm and claimed the CLUB RECORD in the Javelin with a superb throw of: 41m 63cm, whilst Dean Ulla ran the 800m in: 2m 32.7s, the 100m in: 15.2s and the Long Jump with: 4m 07cm.

 

PB's were had in the U/17 Men with Kurtland Martyr claiming a massive PB in the Javelin by over 8 metres with: 38m 31cm whilst a hammer throw of: 33m 27cm. Chris Dawe also did well with a PB of: 10m 23cm in the Shot, Hammer: 20m 46cm and a throw of: 31m 77cm in the Discus. Rob Legon did the Shot: 9m 80cm and the Javelin: 23m 54. Michael Wong ran well in the hurdles with a PB in the 100m with: 20.7sec and the 400m: 67.8s then did the 100m in: 13.4s. Jacob Ansong ran the 200m: 24.5s and the 400m: 55.3s. Jack Webb and Liam Leddy did the 800m and steeplechase with: 2m 25.3s and 5m 54.3s for Jack and 2m 27.4s and 5m 49.7s Liam although the Steeplechase was run without the water jump due to technical problems and finally Liam did the Long Jump with a distance of: 3m 01cm. There was also a debutant Jordan Kirby who ran well and looks good for the future with: 24.6s for the 200m, 12.1s for the 100m and a Long Jump of: 4m 87cm. The relay (Kirby, Ansong, Webb & Wong) came home in a time of: 48.7s.

 

In the U/13 Girls Tamara Chambers did the 150m in: 20.5s, the 70m Hurdles: 13.1s and the 75m with: 10.7s, whilst Ashley Joseph ran a PB in the 70m Hurdles: 13.4s, the 150m: 21.8s and the Long Jump: 3m 89cm. Tiffany St Lewis made her debut in this age group and coped very well with: 11.7s in the 75m, Shot Putt: 4m 35cm and 3m 11cm in the Long Jump. Another newcomer was Sian Connelly who did the Shot Putt with a creditable distance of: 5m 81cm to come 1st. The team finished with a relay (Chambers, Joseph, Connelly & St Lewis) with a time of: 60.6s.

 

Mika Marston summed up the team spirit in the U15 Girls even though unable to run with a leg injury she did the Shot Putt and recorded a PB with: 7m 31cm. Corina Bryce-Arnold did the 100m and 200m with: 14.3s & 29.6s respectively. Georgia Laudat ran the 200m in: 31.5s and the Long Jump: 2m 59cm. Clare Rodway the 75m Hurdles: 14.5s and the Long Jump as well with: 3m 45cm, whilst Rochelle Blenham did the 100m in a time of: 15.0s and this was finished of with debutant Shynelle Devaux who did not shame herself at all in the Discus with: 19m 55cm and the Javelin: 11m 01cm. Relay 4x100m was going well but unfortunately they were disqualified for running out of the change over area.

 

In the U/17 Women Lydia Hall and Rochelle Rhodes lead the way. Lydia Hall ran 300m in: 46.0s and a PB in the High Jump with: 1m 45cm. Rochelle Rhodes not to be out done after coming back to compete for Ilford after netball commitments produced some fine performances. Rochelle also did the High Jump with a PB the same as Lydia: 1m 45cm and extended her own CLUB RECORD in the Triple Jump with: 10m 25cm. Liabah Malik did the 100m in a time of: 15.9s and a PB in the Long Jump: 3m 67cm. Alisha Cox also did the 100m in: 15.4s and the Discus: 13m 55cm and finally Mishka Lumsden the Javelin: 7m 04cm and 200m: 30.5s. The 4x100m Relay (Malik, Hall, Cox & Lumsden) finished in 2nd with: 57.0s.