Press Report

SEAA Aldershot Relays
Ilford AC fielded a weakened squad in the pretigious South of England 6 stage road relays held at Aldershot. Nevertheles a great team spirit saw the club home in 61st place out of 87 starting teams.

Ashley Pearce ran an excellently controlled 1st leg to clock 21.31 over the 6 kilometre 2 lap course. The clubs fastest runner 45 year old Jockie Campbell then made up several places with a fine 19.42 which would have been 7th fastest time overall in the acompanying veterans race. Campbell then handed over to acting Captain Matt Maple who matched Pearce's time to the second with another 21.31 clocking. Martin Clarke then chipped in with 24.15 handing over to debutante Darren Botterill 24.38. Malcolm Muir closed the team with 21.58.
HIdir Yildirim completed the 32nd running of the Berlin Marathon in a below par 3 hours 47 minutes 51 seconds.
Essex Relays - Thurrock as reported by Paul Cheal

On a changeable day at Thurrock, Ilford A.C took a squad of 23 athletes to the Essex Championship Relays. With the number of athletes we were able to field six relays squads, consisting of 5 teams of 4x100 and a team of 3x800. There were good performances, very good performances and heartache.

The stars of the show again went to the U/17 Boys 4x100m (Aaron Balogun, Gary Smallman, Ekow Quagrine & Joseph Perry). After there success @ the Dom Valley Stadium Invitation race where they picked up silver, working well as a team they powered there way in the straight final (no heats) to a very impressive time of - 43.7sec just over 0.25sec outside their previous best and club record. Joseph lead off with a solid run passing the baton to Gary in the back straight who quite simply blew his opponents away. A good change to Ekow who's bend was very good and by that time it was merely a question of how far Ilford were going to win by as he handed the baton over to Aaron. Aaron did what was expected and came home to a GOLD medal, WELL DONE BOYS.

In the U/15 Boys 4x100m (Bakr Al-Akku, Simeon Stuart, Chike Okonji & Osi Nzeako) there were heats with Ilford going in the first. It was a very competitive race and Bakr who was running the home straight leg was just pipped to the line for 2nd place. However the time of - 49.1sec smashed the previous CLUB RECORD by 1.5sec and they qualified as a fastest loser. It certainly was a race of two halves as the final was to show. All the boys went into the race in confident mood and wanted to try that bit harder, however this backfired and on the 1st change over it all went wrong, this continued to the 2nd change over but by that time the fate was already sealed, disqualification.

It seemed to be one of those days as the same fate happened to the U/13 Boys (Jerrell Alleyne, Nethaneel Mitchel-Blake, Aaron Akisanya & Ayokunle Adekeye) earlier on. Going into the race as a very good possibility of a medal, perhaps Gold, it was shown how their is a fine line between success and disappointment in sprint relays. Nethaneel started and went off well, however new boy Ayokunle just went off to early and the baton was passed outside the sector line. This was a shame as Aaron then Jerrell brought Ilford home to finish 2nd fastest only by 0.3sec and would have qualified for the final. Furthermore it would have been a CLUB RECORD by nearly 2secs. UNLUCKY BOYS, If it can happen to the best in the world, namely the American's @ the Olympics it can happen to you. I'm sure that they will all bounce back next year in fine form.

The U/15 Girls (Laura Townsend, Sarah Kigozi, Julianna Dougan & Fionnuala Crowe), had a hard time off it in their heat. Fionnuala lead off and did herself proud with a nice run. Sarah took over and was impressive with a good back straight. The change over from Sarah & Laura was ok but could have been better. Laura then ran a good bend despite that to pass to Julianna. Julianna by then had to much to make up and the girls finished in a time of - 54.7sec in the heat but didn't qualify for the final.

The last 4x100m was the U/13 Girls (Madelyn Thomas, Kirsty Nweze, Corina Bryce-Arnold & Mishka Lumsden). Mishka was competing for the first time in Ilford colours. There were three heats, so competition was tough. Mishka lead off passing to Corina, then Madelyn and finally Kirsty. It was a very fast heat and the girls tried in vain to keep in touch but could only trail in at the rear. This is where the Team Manager i.e myself made a mistake which I have not previously done before. As they finished it that position I just naturally assumed they hadn't qualified for the final. However to my astonishment, there heat was the fastest and they all qualified, the girls were the last fastest losers making it by 1 hundredth. Unfortunately, I only noticed this after two of the girls had left for home, OOPS, I will have to let it to them slowly.
The time that they recorded in the heats was - 56.9sec and this broke the previous club record that had stood since 1998.

Finally the U/13 Boys 3x800m - (Alex Legon, Liam Leddy & Alex Richards). This was a straight final, and might I add a very competitive one at that. Alex Legon led off and with the opposition running away from him did himself justice running a 800m split time of around - 2m 47sec his equalled best. Liam ran off but I think he was trying just too hard to catch up with the rest and although his first 400m was fast it took its toll and he burned himself out with a split time of around - 2m 49sec, nearly 10sec below his best. Alex Richards again tried in vain to do the impossible and try and catch some of the others but there lead was big. He still kept at it and came home with a time around his best of 2min 39. The overall finishing time was around - 8m 17sec (TBC), so well done there. For the boys to have finished in the top 3 they would have had to run between 10 to 15 secs better than there previous PB's each a lot to ask. Anyway they know how tough it is now and what they have to work on for the future.

This is the most teams Ilford A.C have put out in these Champs for along while, so we as Ilford A.C should be very pleased and excited about what we can do for the times ahead. It is a very big stepping stone to future glory and a chance for other clubs to look up to us again and see that we can be a force to be reckoned with, just like the old days, well not that long ago