• Press Report 30th June 2008

    Road Report
     
    Ilford AC's dynamic duo of Pam Jones and John Batchelor were once again proudly flying the club colours at the Prestwold 10k near Loughborough which also doubled as the British Masters 10k road championships. The race was held over  2 laps round an airfield, windswept and largely disused apart from a few microlight enthusiasts. The first lap took the field out onto a country lane for a while which gave some shelter from a strong wind  but the second loop was an inner lap which left runners very exposed  when turning back to the finish. Pam admitted to "desperately looking for a sturdy male to shelter behind between 7 and 9k but couldn't see one any where". Her finishing time of 49 minutes 44seconds easily took the W70 title with her nearest challenger Anne Martin back in a distant 53.01s.
    Batchelor likewise had a good race finishing 2nd in the M65 age group with 39.26s. Despite describing his own performance as "uninspired" the Ilford man moved from 4th to second at 4K as Mike Smith of Bingley, who had beaten him in two previous championships this year (10K track and 5K road), and Gordon Orme of Birchfield started to fade, but he couldn't catch Les Haynes, who won in 39:04. Both now move on to next Sunday 5000m Track Championships in Birmingham.
    Pam had already competed earlier in the week in the Vets AC 5 mile championships at Battersea Park where she also won her age group in 39minutes and 54 seconds.
     
    Track and Field
    Matt Maple reports:-
    These matches just keep on coming.  This time we came out top of the tree.  Without Craig and Wes and a few others, we are still managing to put out really good teams and we can only suppose that this bodes well for the future.  Usual thanks to the officials and supporters (some anticipated, some not) who all added valuable points to the team score.


    Sprinters at fore in four by four.
    Ilford AC’s mens team put the disappointment of the last match firmly behind them as they stormed to a glorious victory at the fourth outing of the Southern Mens League at Thurrock last weekend (28 June).  The sprinters completely dominated the match, winning every event from 100 to 400 metres and both relays with commanding performances.  With the scores uncertain as the team entered into the last event, the 400 relay, the team needed a good performance to guarantee victory over Aldershot.  

    Aaron Balogun (51.7) took off on the first leg and built up an early lead of around 10 metres after the first bend, which was extended to 30 metres by the end of the lap with Aldershot trailing last.  Marvin Tuffour (54.1) maintained this lead while Aldershot slowly made their way up to 3rd place.  With a solid run from Gary Madigan (54.6) extending the lead to 50 metres, victory looked certain and it was just left to Sam Malekout to reach his target of a sub 50 second relay leg, which he duly did with a dominant solo run of 49.9 and a win of around 100 metres over 2nd place Aldershot to seal the team victory.

    Sam Malekout has been making gradual improvements throughout the season and is aiming towards the magic 50 second barrier.  Running on the inside and with a breezy wind and a lack of competition of his ability, Malekout powered around the track in the early stages building up a huge lead on his opponents.  At 300m his time was 36.5 and while he tired towards the end, his time of 50.5 was an excellent new personal best, which will surely be surpassed soon in better conditions.  Gary Madigan has been concentrating on the shorter sprints this year, but with first choice Osi Nzeako unavailable, Madigan stepped into the breach.  His early pace was comfortable but as he powered away from the 200m mark, his lead started to grow and he eventually won the race by 4 seconds with a time of 52.8.  Aaron Balogun and Marvin Tuffour had shared the honours in the 100m and 200m with superb times and comfortable victories.  Marvin set a season’s best of 11.0 in the 100m, compared to Aaron’s time of 11.1, while Aaron had reversed the positions in the 200m with a quick time of 22.2 to Tuffour’s time of 22.7, again a season’s best.  

    Completing the list of sprints achievements, hurdling novices Antoine Green and Elijah Collins attempted the high hurdles with only one previous race between them.  Green took off well at the first hurdle, but crashed down hard on the second and his race seemed to be finished.  But with great skill and balance he managed to rise smoothly over the third and despite a few other shaky moments, he finished with an excellent time of 19.5.  Collins was midway through a triple jump but composed himself well to surpass Green’s time with 18.1 and a technique which, like Green has the promise of success in the future in this event.

    With a sprints squad of such talent, it was no surprise that Ilford were hot favourites for the 4x100m relay.  Despite a shaky second leg changeover, the team of Simeon Stuart, Madigan, Tuffour and Balogun won by a margin of around 30 metres in a time of 43.9.

    The jumpers also performed well with a total of 32 points gained from the maximum of 40.  Nathaniel Senior’s 13.06m in the triple jump is a step up from last match and gained him a well deserved victory while Collins matched the position in the B string event with an excellent jump of 12.29m.  The duo of Senior and Collins also pulled out the stops in the high jump, with both achieving 1.75 and looking every bit that they could go higher in the future.  Simeon Stuart is slowly working his way up to top form with a good distance of 6.23m into a blustery wind in the long jump, while Healson Ihuoma recorded a fine 2nd place in the B string with 5.94, which he later followed up with 11.98m in the triple jump, competing as a ‘non-scorer’.  Pole Vaulter’s Sam Malekout (2.60m) and Pete Whiting (1.10m) completed the successful day of jumping.

    Not to be outdone, the middle distance squad also performed well, boosted by their top runner, Rob Nixon.  County Champion Nixon is aiming to peak again in the later part of the season and is gradually working his way to form with fine victories in the 800m (1:57.3) and 1500m (4:07.5), the latter of which included a 60 second last lap, which belied his tiredness from the earlier event.  Darren Bottrill was stepping down from his usual event, the 5000m to do the 1500m.  With his aim of 4:30 starting to slip away at the bell, Bottrill launched into his now trademark lightening finish to challenge the Thurrock athlete ahead of him and record an excellent new personal best of 4:34.3.  Muir is also more used to the longer distances but was helping out the squad by doing an 800m which he completed in 2.09.9, just below his best.

    David Dickinson took off at a quick pace in the 5000m, leading local rival Crispian Bloomfield in the early stages at 15 minute pace.  Bloomfield regained the lead for the middle stages and by the 3000m mark Dickinson was never more than a step behind Bloomfield running at 15.35 pace.  With 400m to go Bloomfield looked like he had gained a conclusive advantage but Dickinson fought back well and by 200m to go, they were again fighting for the second place.  Dickinson launched into a lightening finish, completing the last half of the track in under 30 seconds to power away from Bloomfield for an outstanding new personal best of 15:39.4.  Ilford’s second string 5k runner, Mark Crook was aiming for 16.15 but found the windy conditions not to his liking and tired in the second half of the race.  He will still be pleased with his debut performance at this distance of 16:42.0.

    Ilford were in the unusual situation of having too many runners in the steeplechase.  Scoring competitors Muir and Iain Macdonald were joined by non-scorers Anthony Marsh and Andy Mason with a diverse variety of methods of traversing the barriers.  Muir seemed to tire dramatically in the second half of the race and finished with a time of 11:00.2, while Macdonald fought hard with a pair of borrowed spikes for a time of 11:41.6.  Mason’s unusual technique did not stop him running an excellent time of 12:53.7, while Marsh was the master of hurdling (which he demonstrated earlier in the 400m hurdles with 84.2) but lacked some fitness for 13:30.1.

    The throwers have been weakened by the loss of the squad’s top stars but John Hadler held the team together with performances of 9.30m (shot), 26.86m (discus) and 30.80m (hammer).  Malekout threw a good javelin (40.08m) but was struggling to fit the discus (21.30m) and shot putt (8.36m) into his busy day’s programme.  Pete Whiting completed the throws with 29.37m in the javelin and 16.94m in the hammer.

    Final team scores were Ilford 130, Aldershot 117, Thurrock 115, Croydon 89 and Guildford 79.  This victory keeps the promotion hopes well and truly alive as the squad approach their home match on the 12th July.

    Other results:  Matt Maple 400m Hurdles 78.4, Antoine Green 100m NS 11.9, Healson Ihuoma 100m NS 12.1

     
     
     
    KING CLAIMS TRIO OF PB's -report by Paul Cheal
     
    On Sunday Ilford AC took a small squad to Stevenage for Round.3 of the EYAL against some tough opposition and even though depleted in number still recorded 11 PB's and a CLUB RECORD.
     
    Thomas King in the U/13 Boys lead the way with 3 PB's. He finally was able to claim a improved time in the 1500m with: 5m 21.5s and he followed this with: 3m 62cm in the Long Jump and: 1m 25cm in the High Jump. George Hadler improved his PB in the 75m Hurdles with: 13.6s and with some technical coaching he is only sure to improve, he also did the High Jump: 1m 35cm and a 800m: 2m 34.1s. Ciaran Rodway: 800m with 2m 45.7s, the 200m: 31.1s and 75m Hurdles: 16.5s. Jordan Akisanya was the other remaining boy running against the best boy in the country in this age group was still able to run well in the 100m: 13.8s, the 200m: 27.8s and the Long Jump: 4m 58cm. The relay had (George, Jordan, Ciaran & Thomas) came home 3rd in around 58.0s.
     
    Youcef Zatat did the 3 throws in the U/15 Boys deciding to drop the shot putt. He threw: 34m 12cm in the Hammer, 38m 70cm in the Discus and extended his CLUB RECORD in the Javelin with: 43m 45cm. Dean Ulla continues to improve with a couple of PB's in the 800m: 2m 27.7s and the Long Jump with: 4m 31cm whilst he did the 100m: 14.6s. Taiwo Adebola did the 100m: 15.1s, recorded a PB in the 200m: 31.0s and the Discus: 9m 15cm.
     
    In the U/17 Boys Jack Webb ran the 800m: 2m 17.0s, a very creditable PB in the 400m with: 64.3s and the Long Jump: 3m 86cm. Kurtland Martyr competing just before he jets of for a holiday in the USA did the Hammer: 35m 44cm a non-scoring Discus: 27m 19cm and a PB in the Javelin: 39m 16cm. Rob Legon did three throws events as well: Shot Putt: 10m 25cm just shy of his PB, the Discus with: 23m 31cm and the Javelin with a throw over 23m's. Chris Dawe was the only other athlete competing in the Discus: 32m 54cm and the Shot Putt; 9m 59cm.
     
    The only girls competing were in the U/15 Girls. Clare Rodway a stalwart of Ilford AC did the 75m Hurdles in: 14.8s, the 300m in a good time of: 49.1s which was a PB and the Long Jump: 3m 69cm. Corina Bryce-Arnold did the sprint double with the 100m: 14.0s and the 200m: 27.6s whilst doing the Shot Putt: 5m 15cm. Kehinde Adebola ran the 100m in a time of: 16.2s, the 300m in: 55.0s and the Long Jump: 3m 39cm.
     
    Again overall even with the very small squad Ilford AC juniors coped really well and were able to produce some good performances. Next stop is Round 4 of the EYAL Meeting on Sunday 13th July at Thurrock.