• Press Report 19th January 2009

    Whilst the Ilford AC young sprinters opened their indoor season 4 Ilford athletes interrupted their cross country season returning to "terra firma" of road racing  on a very wet and windy Sunday morning. Malcolm and Carol Muir produced the brother and sister act at the Dartford Les Witton Memorial 10 mile race where Malcolm finished in an excellent 4th place. After going through 5 miles in 28 minutes the Ilford athlete was delighted not to fall off the relentless pace battling the tough course and blustery winds to finish strongly in 55.23. Carol was slightly off her previous best in 1.43.48. The race was won by P Tucker in 53.37 from Bilericay's Crispain Bloomfield in 53.53.
    Meanwhile Abdi Berleen led home a small Ilford contingent at the Fred Hughes Memorial 10 miles held over the country roads of  St Albans. Berleen placed 56th in a time of 65.23 with Ennis not far adrift in 69.27 for 114th. Newcomer Gursch Pabla was 544th in a large field of 831 finishers. Bedford and County's James Lawler was first across the line in a good time of 51.55.
    The club returns to Cross country action next week competing in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Uxbridge and the Essex Cross Country Relays at Hadleigh the following weekend.   
     
    Hadler Hurdles to Bronze - Report by Paul Cheal
     
    Saturday & Sunday signalled the start for athletes preparations for the forthcoming track & field season including many athletes from Ilford AC as Lee Valley Athletic Centre staged  Day 1 & Day 2 of the South Of England Indoor Track & Field Championships.
     
    On Saturday George Hadler in his first year U/15 Boys produced a fantastic performance bringing big smiles from both his coach and his very supportive dad, John, who is his earlier athletic days was a hurdler himself. George's time of: 10.14sec was good enough for bronze. In the U/20 Men Antoine Green ran in the first heat completing it in a time of: 9.26sec which was adequate for a semi final place. In that race he bettered his time to: 9.06sec finishing 6th but did not qualify for final. Kofi Jeffers-Gibbons U/17 Men first year ran in heat 2 of 2 but with strong opposition he finished in 5th with: 9.12sec. Away from the hurdles it was time for the 200m's and first up was Aaron Balogun & Sam Malekout in the senior men's. Aaron was in heat 5 of 7 running: 22.48s for 3rd whilst Sam 23.96sec in last heat, both qualified for next round. Aaron ran: 22.52sec and Sam: 23.80sec but neither progressed to final. Ken Nwosu competing for Ilford for the first time also did the 200m in the Under 20's finishing in a time of: 23.72sec but did not progress any further. Rachel Giwa on the other hand in the U/20 Women ran well in the 200m's heat with: 25.56sec to qualify. The semi was: 25.59 and 2nd to qualify for final. In the final Rachel produces a fine performance and even though given the same time as her opponent of: 25.20sec had to settle for silver. There were 2 competitors in the field with U/20 Men's Long Jump Simeon Stuart & Healson Ihudma. Simeon coming back from injury leaped well to finish 4th with: 6m 40 and Healson 6th with: 6m 22.
     
    Sunday arrived at lee Valley with another day of Ilford athletes competing. This time it was the turn of the 60m sprint. Rachel Giwa U/20 Women started it of with: 7.91sec in her heat to qualify for the next round. In the semi final Rachel finished well in 2nd place with: 7.77sec and proceeded to final, results not known yet. In the U/20 Men Dewa Evan Collier, Antoine Green & Ken Nwosu ran against some very strong opposition. Antoine 7.35sec in heat 3, Dewa: 8.14sec in heat 5 and Ken: 7.29 but unfortunately none of them were able to progress any further. In the U/17 Women Gloria Alabi & Melodie Ihuoma also competed. Melodie ran a time of: 8.36sec to finish 4th in her heat but did not progress whilst Gloria finished 3rd in her heat with: 8.23sec to qualify. Gloria ran in the next heat but did not progress any further. Last to compete was Kofi Jeffers-Gibbons in the U/17 Men 60m's and he ran: 7.42sec in his heat to qualify. In the next round he ran a slightly slower time of: 7.49sec which wasn't good enough to go any further in the competition.
     
    The Ilford AC athletes did well over the weekend against some strong competitiors in the South of the country but all looks good for the rest of the season both indoor and outdoor.