Ilford Athletic Club were firing on all cylinders this week sweeping all before them at the Newman Hilly 5 multi terrain race held at Hainault Forest on a cool Wednesday summers evening that provided ideal conditions for over 200 runners. A massive turnout of 34 runners from the host club helped both the men and women secure top places in the team competition, although pushed hard by new recruits Orion Harriers, in the first of the 5 match East London Five Interclub Series (ELVIS) held at various venues in East London throughout this summer.

Malcolm Muir, holder of the record for this demanding 2 lap course, was always going to be up against it with Billericay's Crispian Bloomfield already entered and then the arrival of Rob Warner of Havering Mayesbrook. Although Muir produced a gutsy run the race went to form with Bloomfield romping home in 26.50, well clear of  Warner 27.35 with Muir 3rd in 27.47 but still having the consolation of his course record intact. Veteran Neil Crisp had a blinder in 10th place missing out on the top 40 spot by the narrowest of margins (30.05) and getting the better of Robin McNelis in 14th (30.26). Darren Bottrill was delighted with his 30.30 for 15th having not raced much recently. With 3 veterans needed to complete the team scoring Crisp was joined by Rohan Alexander producing an excellent run (33.12) for 33rd with Abdi Berleen just one place behind (33.40).

The women's race had a strong field with race favourite Debbie Appleton of Havering Mayesbrook powering through in 32.38 for 27th overall and 1st lady home. She was followed by Karen Levison of East London in 34.30 with Lisa Geffen of London Frontrunners completing the top trio.

Ilford's Karen Sindall marked her return to competitive running with 35.57 which was good enough for 5th place although clearly a long way from her best. Breege Nordin chased her to the line, placing 7th in 36.15. Next home was Dianne Crisp 11th in 38.06. Nicola Hopkinson and Vanessa Burns had a see-saw battle during the lat mile with Hopkinson finally proving the stronger clocking 39.17 for 17th and Burns 18th in 39.26. Sally Gillam closed the team to victory with 41.46 and 28th place. 

Ilford's race organisers were delighted with the success of the event which was held in memory of Newman Sargeant and raised a significant amount of money for St Francis Hospice.

 

 

Other Ilford times and positions were:-

Ilford men: Iain Macdonald 16th (30.36), Kevin Newell 24th (32.10), Matt Maple 28th (32.49), Chris Togwell 35th (33.41), Liam Leddy 42nd (34.35), Steve Allen 52nd (36.05), Ray Rawlinson 81st (38.42), Henry Ricketts 88th (39.18), Martin Clarke 93rd (39.31), Alun Jones 108th (40.25), Leslie Hislop 116th (40.56), Billy Green 151st (45.30), Satha Alaganandasundaram (153rd) 45.52, Pathrose Louis 175th (48.14), Owen Phipps 183rd (49.210),  Robin Davis 190 (52.51), Steve Port 202nd (58.18).

Ilford Women: Pam Jones 30th (42.25), Lydia Hall 31st (42.43), Claire Harrison 42nd (46.12), Joan De'ath 50th (48.50) Carol Muir 56th (52.15)

 

Team competition:-

Men: Ilford 107pts, Orion 150pts, Havering 90 191pts, Barking 306pts, Dagenham 88 498 pts

Women: Ilford 86pts, Orion 124pts, Havering 90 187pts, Barking 266pts, Dagenham 88 332 pts

 

Ilford ladies squad also had 3 members competing at the Great Bentley 5 mile race on Friday night. The race will be remembered by a hiccup at the start whereby the race organisers announced a 15 minute delay and then reverted back to the original start time causing many runners to either miss the start completely or arrive there ill-prepared. Ilford's Mel Jones and Sally Gillam were both on their warm-up when their sole team supporter greeted them down the road with news of the revised arrangements. Nevertheless both overcame the difficulty to run well with Jones clocking 35.43 and Gillam 39.20. Carol Muir with her more conservative warmup was unaffected by the mayhem and was pleased with her finishing time of 48.21. 

Elsewhere Rohan Alexander represented  Ilford AC in the Run the River 5 mile yesterday, organised by Edmonton RC, and came 11^th in a time of 32:40.

Track and Field

KIrby-Polidore wins bronze at English Schools

Ilford AC's Jordon Kirby-Polidore represented Essex in the English Schools National Championsips held at the Don Valley Stadium,Sheffield, this weekend.  After running 22.22 and 22.13 respectively in his heat and semi-final of the Intermediate boys 200m Kirby-Polidore ran exceptionally well in the final winning a superb bronze medal in a time of 22.14.

Ilford Athletic Club rise to victory

Ilford AC responded to the disappointment of the last match in style to record a magnificent win in the fifth Southern Mens League at Chelmsford last Saturday and guarantee another year in the top division. For the second match in a row, the star of the show was junior star Healson Ihuoma who surpassed the under 20 mens long jump club record by 19 cm for 7.09m, a distance that would have won him the national English Schools Championships going on over the same weekend.

Healson’s performance was one of many outstanding achievements.  The day starting off well with Sam Malekout making a rare appearance in the 400m hurdles for an excellent 59.9s, accompanied by an equally impressive performance by Elijah Collins of 63.4s.  Collins had to juggle this event with the high jump, which he handled well for a leap of 1.75m, a height which was matched by the equally busy Ihuoma who survived an early last attempt scare as he sprinted over from the long jump.  Nathaniel Senior was also on outstanding form as he triple jumped out to a mighty distance of 13.78m, just 3cm off his best.  To maintain the triple jumper’s near perfect season, Collins won the ‘B’ string in a new personal best and ‘Athletics Weekly Standard’ distance of 13.05m.  Simeon Stuart was disappointed with his 6.11m long jump but was struggling through a debilitating long term injury to record the impressive 2nd place.

The high hurdles has traditionally been a problem event for the club but with Antoine Green on fine form and the welcome return of Polish star Konstanty Bakowski, the pair recorded a fine 1st and 2nd place in the A and B strings with 16.8s and 16.0s respectively.  With Jordan Kirby on County duties, Green stepped up to the plate in the 100m to join Aaron Balogun.  Balogun was imperious running 11.1s into a strong headwind, while Green made it a win double with 11.6s.  Balogun again cruised to victory in the 200m with 22.6, joined by Ihuoma with 24.1, while Sam Malekout was put under great pressure in the 400m but held off a late effort by the Milton Keynes athlete to win in 51.5s.  Green, Collins, Ihuoma and Balogun ran to a fine 2nd place in the 4x100m with 44.2s.  In the 4x400m, Green was replaced by Malekout (51.4) who anchored the team of Ihuoma (54.0), Collins (54.8) and Balogun (52.2) to 2nd place, chasing down Reading for a time of 3.32.4.

Ilford 5000m athlete Paul Dobson set off at a fiery early pace, trailing local Chelmsford rival James Williams.  After going through 3k in 9.32 the group started to break up with Herts Phoenix athlete Paul Grieves racing away and leaving Dobson struggling to maintain form.  Fellow Ilford athlete, Mark Crook began to reel Dobson back but Dobson held fast to record a fine time of 16.11.9, with Crook not far behind finishing fast for 16.19.9.  Debutant Gary Chandler was taking to the track for only the 2nd time but showed great professionalism in a lightning quick race.  The group settled after a fast opening before Chandler took off with 300m to go.  Despite being overhauled towards the finish the veteran athlete held on well to record a fine time of 4.19.0, just behind Malcolm Muir in 4.18.5.  Muir was in action 20 minutes later in the steeplechase, and despite starting off steadily, he stormed through the field to record 10.37.1.  Peter Clinch recorded a new season’s best in the 800m with 2.04.2 in a fast race.

Wes Clarke recorded a season’s best in the hammer with 41.24m and a fine 2nd place, while Sam Malekout continued his busy day with a 41.09m javelin and 29.89m discus.  Craig Burrow was again in fine form with a 12.36m shot, 39.31m javelin, 36.36m discus and 30.39m hammer.

The final result left Ilford 9 points ahead of Reading and 40 points ahead of local rivals Chelmsford and Woodford Green with Essex Ladies.  With only one match to go on 1st August at Battersea Park, Ilford AC will be looking for another win and a deserved high place in the first division.

Other results:-
Peter Clinch: 400m – 57.0; Malcolm Muir: 800m – 2.21.7; Matt Maple: 3k SC – 11.24.4; Sam Malekout: PV – 2.60m; Healson Ihuoma: PV – 2.40m; Nat Senior: SP – 8.58m, LJ (n/s) - 5.83m; Chidi Muoghalu: 200m (n/s) - 26.1.