A top 10 position now guarantees Karen a
place in the Salford World Cup race on the 31st July which
is likely to be the trial for the Commonwealth Games.
Following an unsuccesful period training in Scotland all
seems to be well now for the Ilford Athlete who is
undoubtedly a lot happier training with her coaches at home.
Young Athletes -
EYAL Stevenage
The Heat was on yesterday,
literally, as Ilford competed in round 3 of the Eastern
Young Athletes @ Stevenage. With the temperature
reaching unbearable levels our team of 25 athletes, yet
again depleted by injury, sickness and other commitments
took on hosts: Stevenage then Luton, Vale of Aylsbury,
Chelmsford, Cambridge & Coleridge & Trent Park.
Star performer of the day was Shanise Anderson. Shanise
Scorched to success in the u/15 girls 300 metres and for
the second successive meeting has lowered the
CLUB RECORD.
Her time of 44.9
sec was a 0.5 sec of the previous best that she took
only 2 weeks prior at Ilford.
In the u/13 boys Aaron Akisanya was a very creditable
stand in for the sick Natheneel and won his B-string
100m in a time of 13.8sec, this was quite amazing, as it
was 1.2sec of his
previous best, surprises all round. He
continued this rich vain of form in to the long jump,
setting another PB
to come second in the B-String with a distance of - 4m
31cm, also his discus was a
PB with a
throw over 20metres, the future is certainly bright
there. Fellow u/13 Jerrell Alleyne coming back from
missing the last meet @ home, continued where he
left before coming first in all his 3 events, 100m, 200m
& LJ a talent to watch out for the future.
In the u/13 girls & u/15 girls, Aimee Jones, Zena Uppal,
Madeline Thompson & Maria Whitfield took part in hurdle
races, this has been something we have missed out on
before. They have only had minimal coaching at the
moment but did themselves proud. None of them hit the
hurdles or fell over. Aimee, Madeline & Maria came in
third in their respective races and Zena was fifth. Zena
although disappointed redeemed herself in the 800metres.
The race was fast and some tough opposition in u/13
girls, but the didn't put her off. Her finishing time of
- 2m 43.8sec for 2nd place was an astounding 11 secs
better than she has ever run before, what more can be
achieved, who knows.
Disappointment struck Lydia Hall in the u/15 girls high
jump. Going for a 1m 35cm jump to equal PB she
unfortunately spiked herself. Not to give in she tried
in vain to compete in the 1500m in socks but had to
pull-out after only 1 lap, unlucky Lydia. On the other
side of the coin there were more PB's to shout out
about. Sarah Kigozi in the U/15 girls ran a blistering
run in the 200metres to record a time of - 28.2sec
beating her previous time by nearly 2 sec's, what a
race. In the same event Laura Townsend wasn't about to
let Sarah have all the limelight, she to successfully
negotiated a PB to come home in a time of - 28.7sec,
which is 0.2 sec of her PB.
There was only 1 debutant, but even so the very
nervous Madelyn Thomas u/13 girls did herself proud and
overcome her earlier nerves. She ran a good 100m in a
time of - 15.0sec, 200m in a time of - 31.0sec and was
the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay, well done Maddy keep
it going.
We only had 2 u/17's, 1 in the boys & 1 in the girls.
Jessica Manning not feeling totally right made a go of
it. She ran the 100m, LJ, this was only 7cm of her best
of 4m 87 and javelin. Gull Hassen Ditta was in good form
in the shot putt with a PB with distance of - 9m 10cm.
Triple Jump was 9m 39cm and was near to his PB in the
high jump clearing -1m 45cm. They both done credit and
justice to themselves.
Other PB's were as follows: Chris Dawe u/15 boys discus
- 21m 02cm nearly 2m better than before. Michael Hughes
non-scorer in u/15 discus - 13m 76cm. Sarah Kigozi u/15
girls discus - 18m 14cm, Simeon Stuart u/15 boys long
jump - 4m 93cm, Gull Hassen ditta u/17 boys triple jump
- 9m 39cm. Maria Whitfield u/15 girls shot putt - 5m
14cm. WELL DONE TO ALL.
As the side was depleted there some athletes
who were taking part in events that they wouldn't
normally do, competing for the club to gain valuable
points. This was very much evident in the u/15 boys
200m. Throwers Chris Dawe & Michael Hughes ran them to
the best of their ability, probably for Michael 150m too
long but with all the team and his parents cheering him
on he didn't stop until he had to, good on him for that,
that's team spirit if ever I witnessed it.
To crown of the day, the u/15 girls 4x100m relay
(Townsend, Kigozi, Giwa & J.Dougan) pounded home in
relentless style to win an exciting race in a time of -
52.9 sec their fastest of the season by over 2 secs.
Again not to be out shone the mix and match u/15 boys
4x100m relay team with only one regular member, 2
throwers and a 1500 metre runner (Stuart, D.Hughes,
Carle & Whitfield) ran a creditable race finishing in a
time of around - 56.5sec.
Overall, the boys and girls made good of themselves out
of a difficult position at the start of the meeting with
the low numbers. The position of the team with some
results still to come was a position of 5th out of 7.
The next meeting is the following Sunday 26th June @
Ashford for round 3 of the UKYAL, hopefully some of them
unwell and injured athletes will be there to help the
team along.
