Press Report 6th May 2025  

May 062025
 

MAY DAY 10 (incorporating the Essex 10 mile Championships)

The Essex 10 mile championships was incorporated into the May Day 10 this
year. The race is run over a rural rolling course on the country lanes from
Witham to Terling and back. Ilford AC had 17 runners in the event

First home in 18th place was Steve Philcox in 61 mins 01 secs to win the
M55 age category Essex gold medal. Next over the line, just 27 seconds and
3 places later was Sam Rahman who also won a gold medal in the M40
grouping .
Chris King came 33rd in 62 mins 52 secs and Dan Holeyman, who will be
running in the Essex Marathon Championship at Halstead next Sunday,
recorded 65mins 34 secs for 47th place. Richard Woolterton ran a new
personal best for the distance of 67mins 06 secs in 57th place. Dave
Thomas placed 62nd with 67 mins 43 secs winning the silver medal in the M65
category. Anna Crawley was the best of the Ilford ladies, running a new
personal best over the distance with 72 mins 17 secs for 100th overall and
14th female in the event.
The fourth Ilford medal winner was Andy Catton in the M70 category, taking
the bronze award with 89 mins 48 secs in 223rd.

Also running for the club: Terry Knightley 64th in 67.49, Steve Chissell
78th in 69.47, Diarmuid Mac Donnell 81st in 70.04, Bradley Brown 89th
in 70.57, Jim Tilbrook 125th in 78.03, Tony Young 158th in 83.01, Rob
Sargent 297th in104.29, Frieda Keane 305th in 108.16 and Julia Galea
315th in 110.41

 

  Press Report 29th APRIL 2025  

Apr 292025
 

LONDON MARATHON
27th April 

Among the record finishers of 56640 at this year’s London Marathon were 6 runners from Ilford AC. The warm spring sunny weather slowed many runners in the final few miles of the 26.2 mile course.

First home for Ilford was Richard Morris who finished in 3 hrs. 12 mins and 43 secs after passing the halfway point in 1hr 30mins 06 secs. Next in was Steve Chissell in 3 hrs. 31 mins 29 secs with Tarik Qirem recording 3 hrs. 51 mins 36 secs. Steve Lacey ran the course in 4 hrs 35 mins 24 secs The club also had two runners tackling the distance for the first time with Shahnaj Begum finishing in 4 hrs 38 mins 02 secs and Daniel Wheeler in 4 hrs 47 mins 17 secs

 

Friday Night Under Lights
Battersea Park 
25th April 2025

 Two of Ilford’s middle distance group took the roads for The Friday Night Under the Lights 5k race recently.

 The FNUL series is a high quality series of races set around a fast course in Battersea Park.  Samuel Crane and Ryder Islam both took part in the latest edition. 
Both athletes were placed in the B Race.  Samuel who has hit a rich vein of form recently continued this with an excellent 7th place in a time of 16.30, knocking almost 25 seconds off his best. This was his 3rd pb in recent weeks.

 Ryder who has missed a bit of training recently, due to flying around the world with his marathon running mother, was not expecting too much, but maybe having some time off works as he came in 44th in a time of 17.30, which knocked almost 35 seconds off of his previous best and smashed the 18 minute barrier for the first time.

  Press Report 21st April 2025  

Apr 212025
 

Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL),
Thurrock
13/04/25

Ilford sent a large team of 40 Athletes to the first fixture of the year.

It was a very successful day for the throwers in the group with victories for Sophie Burrow and Dhanusshan Ponnambalam in the hammer and discus respectively. Sophie threw an impressive 34.80m in the hammer, setting a new u15 club record and moving to 6th place in the UK rankings for 2025. Sophie then returned to record new PBs in the discus and shot. Dhanusshan threw a new PB in the shot of 11.04 to win the competition, cement his place in second on the club all-time list and rank 25th in the country. He was a little under par in his javelin and discus but showed maturity to alter his technique in his final throw to get a strong distance recorded for the team.

Very impressive on debut for the club in the field events were Max Andrews, Azaria Penny-Feather, Charis Ojewunmi, Zachariah Gayle, Troy Harris and Brian Bonsu. Max came second in his strongest event, the high jump with a leap of 1.45m. He then performed well beyond expectations to finish second again in the long jump (4.91m) and fourth in 100m (13.4secs). Azaria had only picked up the discus 2 weeks beforehand but showed her natural talent to throw 17.84m for 3rd place. She also jumped 1.35m in the high jump and ran the 300m. Charis has great potential in the u15 throws, her shot put of 8.87 for 2nd place and javelin throw of 22.07 for fourth both place her 50th in the UK rankings for the year. Troy also showed great potential in the Javelin with a debut throw of 30.61 for 4th place. Zachariah has also recently joined the u13 ranks, His performance of the day was a very good long jump of 3.41m and strong sprinting in the 100m and 200m. Finally Brian had another good debut with a Long jump of 5.22m, triple jump of 10.19m and a lactic inducing 400m just under 60 seconds.

We had 8 further club debutants on the day. In the u13 boys Cohen Hylton, Antoni Sroka, Ewan McKinstry and Danilo Reina competed over multiple events. Danilo again epitomised the club spirit by trying the javelin and high jump for the first time and performing well in both. Oluwadarasini Daramola is probably the most improved athlete since starting training, she ran a brilliant 100m of 13.9secs for the u15 girls and also tried the 200m and Javelin. In the u17s we had three further debutants, Fabio Reina ran under 5 minutes in the 1500m for the first time and threw the discus, Robert Stanciu competed in the long jump and 1500m and Osawhese Suma showed good promise with 13.6 in the 100m.

For our more experienced athletes there were girls PBs for Drissialemoy Majen Akande (17.8secs in the 100m), Sofia Crane (19.36m in the hammer, 8.12m in the discus), Gloria Ananwa (13.7 secs in the 100m) Marissa Osas-Bavis (1.30m in the high jump) and Victoria Ananwa (29.0secs in the 200m) For the boys Hasim Khan ran a brilliant 2.41 in the 800m and 34.4 secs in the 200m for 2 PBS in a day. Luke Thake broke 2.20 for the 800m for the first time. Olatoye Oguntoye showed the benefit of a more serious training gaining PBs in both sprints of 13.0 in the 100m and 26.45 in the 200m. Barney Perkins, Khalif Ali were just outside their bests in the middle distance but had good season’s debuts and Stephen Amoli ran PBs in the 300m and 800m, whilst Elias Furreedan ran a PB in the 300m also. Finally Jayden Kyle Mcdermott ran a PB in the 400m in 60.8secs.

Andre Mullings Roache (100m and Long jump), Hawaa Patel (800m and High jump), Iris Wan (1500m), Kenina Nkrumah (100m and Javelin) and Mya Ward (300m) all performed well in track and field season debuts.

Finally the club is building a very strong group of sprinters in the U17 boys. Jaydan Roberts- Edwards, Damien Kwarteng-Amaniampong, Leron Adjei, Kelson Avebaun, Donnell Lucky-Oligie all broke 12 seconds in 100m. Jaydan and Damien ran PBs of 11.5 and 11.6 and Kelson broke 12 seconds for the first time. Joshua Babalola was just outside this time but is pushing his team mates hard. All the boys also ran in the 200m.

The u17s boys joined their female team mates in the 2 4x100m relays to finish the day off with 2rd and 3rd place in the a and b mixed relays.

An all-round very promising day for the club’s youngsters!

Lee Valley Open Meeting

Ilford Athletes continued to show good early season form at Lee Valley in another open meeting on Easter Monday. 

Rachael Obeng, ran in the first round of the 100m, clocking 13.76, she came back an hour later for round two and won  her heat in an impressive 13.22. Wanya Williams also ran the 100, and clocked a time of 13.82, just outside his seasons best. 

James Houghton ran the 800m, and unfortunately it was a slow early pace, which meant really fast times were out the window, but despite getting cramp in his calf at 600m, James hung in to finish 4th in 2.19.4, which was an outdoor pb. 

James Thake ran the 600m  to check his 800m fitness, James led the whole way and finished in a time of 1.28, which he was a bit disappointed with. 

Most impressive performance came from Ellie Wright, who was 5th in a very good quality 200m. Ellie broke 25 seconds for the first time clocking 24.88, which is the 6th fastest ever by an Ilford Lady. 

  Press Report 15th April 2025  

Apr 152025
 

ROAD

Essex AA and Suffolk AA County Road Relay Championships
Saturday 12th April
Colchester

Due to injuries and holidays, Ilford AC were only able to enter one team, Male Vet 50, in the prestigious County relay Championships on a very windy and blustery but sunny afternoon in Colchester at the weekend.

The team however delivered in style, finishing 2nd place and bringing home a well deserved county Silver medal. Steve Philcox was first off in the 3 x 3m relay with a time of 16:54, handing over to Berekhet Berakhy who clocked in at 17:02, handing over to Fabrizio Stafanoni who finished in 16:28 to secure 2nd spot in a combined time of 50 minutes 24 seconds to bring the Silver medals back to Ilford

EUROPEAN ROAD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP
Brussels
Sunday 13 April

The European Road Running Championship were held over the weekend in Leuven, a town not far from the Belgium capital of Brussels. The races, marathon, half marathon and 10km were open to all runners not just those selected to represent their countries. Ed Skinner and Rob Sargent travelled over and took part in the 10km. This race was on a dull and damp Sunday morning after 2 hot, sunny days although the rain held off while the race was in progress. Ed  finished first of the pair in 58 mins 43 secs while Rob cane home in spot 3015 out of the field of 4130 in 64 mins 20 secs, 2 ½ minutes faster than in ran in the World Masters 10km a couple of weeks ago.

 

TRACK

With summer and the warm weather fast approaching, several Ilford athletes have recently been hitting the early season track events.

First out of the blocks was Rhys Edwards who competed in a pre British Universities (Bucs) meeting at Stratford, Rhys took part in the 3000 steeplechase and showed that his winter training has gone well by knocking 22 seconds off his pb with a time of 10.58.03.

At the same meeting Jordon Duncan ran 400m pb in a time of 52.56,  two weeks later Jordon improved his time to an impressive 50.87 at Lee Valley.  It is hoped he will break 50 seconds at the Bucs champs at Manchester next month.

Many middle distance runners look to Watford for fast times and Samuel Crane and Jordan Hinds both attended the first open meeting of the season. Samuel placed 10th in his race, but knocked 3 seconds off his best in achieving 4.25.79. Jordan was a bit disappointed with her run in clocking 5.09.78

James Houghton who has recently moved to Ilford competed in the Havering AC Warm up meeting, James mainly an 800m runner dropped down to the 300m, and recorded a pb time of 41.18 in placing 3rd.

 

Samuel Crane was back on track at Woodford last Saturday setting his second pb of the season over 800m, after a fast early start, Samuel held second place reaching the bell in 62 seconds (probably  a pb) the second lap was a bit slower, but he held onto second place in a time of 2.12.46. Rhys Edwards competed in the 2000sc and had a good run out, placing in 4th in 7.00.98.

Young Sprinter Donnell Oligie competed in both the 100m and 200m at Woodford and produced pbs in both events , clocking 11.92 for the 100m and 24.32 for the 200m.

  Press Report 8th April 2025  

Apr 072025
 

St Clares 10k
Essex

The St Clare Hospice 10k starts and finishes at the Hospice in Hastingwood, Essex, tackling a route along roads through the beautiful Essex countryside and raises much needed funds for the Hospice.
Ilford Julia Galea is a regular at this event and was pleased with her time of 1 hour 4 minutes 26 seconds which placed her 19th in her age grouping on the day.