Press Report 8th August 2023  

Aug 082023
 
10,000m Essex Championships
Braintree

The Essex 10000m Championships took place last Friday in Braintree with 4 Ilford Senior males battling for honours.

In cool conditions ideal for track racing, all four run well, with 3 bringing home medals.

First home for the club was Tom Gardner in 8th place in a time of 34m 41.2s, winning Gold in the V40 Category. Next home, just 2 places behind was Malcolm Muir in 35m 59.6s who gained a Bronze medal in the V40 Category.

Richard Woolterton ran a personal best of 39m 52.7s for 14th place, a time that won him a Silver medal in the V50 grouping.

Although just outside the medal positions Danny Holeman ran a season’s best time of 41m 02.9s for 16th place.


Orion 5
Epping Forest

The sixth round of the 2023 Elvis league was held in the forest at Chingford on a very wet and windy Saturday morning, over a 1 lap 5 mile challenging hilly course.

Nineteen Ilford runners braved the conditions, all putting in good performances.

First home for the club in 7th place was Sam Rahman in a time of 31m 34s, which placed him 3rd in the V40 grouping. Just one place and 4 seconds later was Stephen Philcox who was first in the V50 grouping. Next home for the club was Joshua Adler in 33m 08s for 23rd Place. In 4th place for the team was Sebastion Parris in 26th Place in 33m 11s.
Completing the team of 6 were Diarmuid MacDonnell 30th 33:50, Danny Holeyman 34th. 34:07


The Ilford men were 1st on the day and currently sit 3rd in the table with two matches remaining.

Complimenting the scoring runners were Steve Chissell 52nd 36:19, Raymond Dzikowski, who won the M60 series prize 81st 38:11, Dennis Briggs 93rd 39:37, Tarik Qirem 119th 41:39, Anthony Young 134th 42:57, Sean Costello 165th 46:07 and Joe Ramen 199th 49:14

 

Due to injuries Ilford AC ladies could only put out 6 runners, but all represented the club well on a tough course.

First home, also claiming 1st place in the F40 grouping was Joanne Reeves in a time of 38:33 for 84th place and 10th female overall.
Next home was Carlie Qirem in a time of 39:50 for 97th place and 17th female followed by Alison Sale in 101st place in a time of 40:15 and Mandy Reid who came home in a time of 45:26 for 159th place. 5th and 6th for the scoring team were Sharon Honey in 48:09 for 190th and Doris Gaga who was 239th in 67:05

The ladies were 5th on the day and currently sit in 3rd place in the series.

  Press Report 1st August 2023  

Aug 012023
 

Southern Counties Veterans Athletics Club (SCVAC)

A huge turnout resulted in the Mens Vets finishing first on the evening and now top the league by 1 point going into the last match.

The track events started with the 200m hurdles where Chris Scott crossed the line in first. 

The 100m for all age groups closely followed
Sam Malekout placed 3rd V35. Akwasi Nkrumah was also 3rd in V40. Michael Osunsami was 6th in V50. Dave Butler 7th in V60 and Gerald Daniel 3rd in V70.

The 2000m walk was for V35 and V50 age groups.
Steve Crane was 1st V35 and Steve Uttley 2nd V50. The sole female representative on the evening was Lesley Morris who won the V35 walk. Non-scoring Stuart Bennett was 5th overall.

The 400m was another all age group event.
Akwasi won V35. Chris was 2nd V40. Fabrizio Stefanoni 3rd V50. The was a slight hiccup in the V60 meaning no Ilford athlete ran.  Gerald placed 2nd in V70.

8 Ilford vests took to the starting line for the 1500m. Scoring age groups were V35, V40 and V50.
Sam Rahman was the 2nd V35 athlete to finish facing a determined sprint down the final straight from Malcolm Muir who was also 2nd V40. Fabrizio was also 2nd as the V50 athlete.
In the race overall Richard Woolterton was 11th just ahead of 12th placed Danny Holeyman. Dave Butler was 20th. Joel Denning on debut was 23rd and Steve Chissell 24th.

In the field events Akwasi won the V35 triple jump and Pete Whiting 4th in V50.
Sam was 3rd in V35 discus and Pete also 3rd in V60. Gerald placed 4th in V70.
Javelin was for V50 athletes where Pete finished 4th.

The men’s medley relay team (200m, 200m, 400m &800m) of Fabrizio, Sam, Chris and Akwasi put in a great effort to come home 1st.
There were enough athletes to also enter a non-scoring team. The team of Richard, Danny, Malcolm and Sam competed in another race and also came home 1st. By time they would have finished 6th overall. 

HAROLD WOOD 5Km
Wednesday 26th July

The latest round of the summer Elvis league matches took place on a cool, wet Wednesday evening on paths and trials on a hilly course around  and Harold Wood  Country Park.

Ilford were below full strength due to injuries and non-availability. but the team still posted good performances on the difficult route.

Malcolm Muir was in good form leading the team home in 6th spot in 18 mins 25 secs with Steve Philcox backing him up well in 10th with 19 mins exactly and taking the award for 1st M50. Josh Adler, who is improving week by week since joining the club, finished an excellent 19th in 19 mins 53 secs and Seb Parris placed 20th, just 3 seconds behind.
Dan Holeyman was 29th in 20 mins 27 secs, followed by Neil Crisp in 20 mins 49 secs for 34th which once again placed him first in the M60 category award.
One place behind came Joel Denning with a good run out with 20 mins 50 secs. 

In this match the team placed 3rd and remain in 3rd  position in the league.

First home for the Ilford ladies was Gemma Ellender in 67th and 5th in the female section with 22 mins 35 secs. Next over the line was Joanne Reeves in 96th and 19th female with 23 mins 44 secs.
Alison Sale  recorded 24mins 02 secs for 100th place and 21st female, with Carlie Qirem one place back in 24 mins 15 secs.
Completing the Ilford scoring team were Mandy Reid in 27 mins 59 secs for 177th and 50th female and Sharon Honey placing 186th and  57th in a time of 28 mins 40 secs. 

In this match the team finished 4th and are joint second overall two points behind East London

Also running for Ilford, and putting in fine performances in the rain and on the hills were: Dave Thomas (54  21.40)  Nick West (70  22.40) Adam Coals (77  23.02)  Steve Chissell (82  23.14) Bradley Brown (83  23.16)  Dennis Briggs (85  23.21)  Steve Lacey (103  24.20)  Tony Young (140  26.13)  Edward Skinner (170  27.45)  Rachel Halpin (188  28.46)  Julia Galea ( 219  31.52) Ray Everingham (222  32:!2)

Southern Counties Vets 10k

Last week saw the 14th staging of the Romney Marsh 10K, which also incorporated the Southern Counties Veterans championships.

After a few showers, Sunday dawned with warm sunshine and a few spots of rain but it was breezy on the exposed sections across the former smugglers paradise that is the sparsely populated 100 square miles of wetland area that comprises The Marsh.

Ilford AC’s Andy Catton was perhaps the most illustrious medal winner on the day, running 46:57 for M70 gold.
Andy has won at least 25 Essex senior titles and is a triple European Masters 10K champion.

TRACK RACES

Watford Open Graded Meeting 26/07/23

Five Ilford AC athletes travelled to Watford on Wednesday night for the opportunity of some fast times

Highlight of the event for the club was a new U15 3000m club record by Sam Horsley. Sam has been training with the club for around six months. He started at a good standard but has progressed rapidly. Even more remarkably this was his first track 3000m. He ran sensibly showing his customary strong finish to come 6th in his race in 9:22.18. This beat the previous record by 5 seconds and puts him above current coaches Gary Floate and Wayne Hick. From a national perspective the performance placed him 14th in the country and he now looks forward to the southern area championships in a couple of weeks.

Sam’s training partners Samuel Crane and Ryder Islam were also on show and achieved Personal Bests. Crane clocked 9:44.33 to move to 13th on the all-time U17 list for the club and Islam ran a remarkable 47s second best of 10:23.10. Islam moved to 12th on the U15 list with this performance.

Also in action in the 1500m were Fabrizio Stefanoni who ran 4:41.64 for his second fastest time of the year and Alex Richards in 4:08.18.

Be Fit Open Meeting 29/07/2023

Two of the middle distance squad travelled to Lee Valley for the open meeting with the opportunity to improve their 800m best.

Aaron Hick has run mainly 1500m this year but returned to 800m and ran a PB of 2:13.69 to win his race. It was change from his recent races as the first 400m was a slow 67 seconds. Hick then closed quicker and was pleased with his performance. Just behind him was Samuel Crane in 2:15.65 his second quickest time of the year.

  Press Report 24th July 2023  

Jul 242023
 

Essex County Track Relays 14th July – Chelmsford

Ilford AC is growing and achieving greater numbers in competition in its Centenary Year. Last year at this annual county event specifically for athletes under seventeen years the club had 4 teams and this year they were able to field 10 teams across the events.

The standard of competition was very high meaning that the squad just missed out on gaining any medals but all gave their best and performed to a high standard.

The highlights of the day for the club were the U13 boy’s 3x800m team of Barney Perkins, Khalif Ali and Ibrahim Khan who came home in fifth place. It was their first relay for the club and first track race for Khalif. All three members ran under the 3 minute barrier for the distance to finish in a time of 8.37.55

Second highlight was the U15 B team in the 4x300m of Damien Amaniampong, Danika Hennadige, Jaydon Mcdermott and Jaskirat Singh who beat the more experienced A team  (Jaydan Roberts Edwards, Aron Berhe, Ryder Islam and Sam Horsley) in a sprint finish by 2 hundredths of a second to finish in 5th place.

Lastly the U15 girl’s 4x100m team of Jasmine Shaer, Neriah Anderson, Nora Nzurike and Kenina Nkurumah had to go through a heat to reach the final which they duly did. They continued their good form in the final with excellent baton changes to finish 8th

Other teams on the day were:

U15 boys 4x100m – 5th – Damien Amaniampong, Danika Hennadige, Jaskirat Singh  and Jaydan Roberts Edwards

U15 boys 3x800m – 5th – Aron Berhe, Ryder Islam and Sam Horsley

U17 Men 4x100m – 5th – Mohammed Zergouat, James Thake, Aaron Hick, Jeremiah Brown

U17 Men 4x400m – 4th – Aaron Hick, Jeremiah Brown, Samuel Crane, James Thake

U17 Men 3x800m- 6th– Aaron Hick, Samuel Crane, James Thake

U17 Women 4x300m – 4th – Anika Sharma, Leila Lauder, Adaeze Oyem, Stacey Amaniampong

Credit to the athletes and coaches for a great evenings athletics.

Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL) – 16/07/23

Ilford AC sent a team of 26 young athletes to the fourth EYAL match of the year in Hemel Hempstead. Each event had two selected runners scoring points for the team along with races with non-scorers hoping to gain experience.

Two athletes competed in the under 13 girl’s age group. Nayla Mills Ugoh competed in 100m and achieved 2 PBs in the 200m (32.3) and Long Jump (3.01m), finishing 6th in all competitions. Sofia Crane in her first competition also came 6th in the Shot Put.

In the under 15 girls we had 5 athletes competing in multiple sprints, jumps and throws. Highlights were new athlete Chiara Mullings Smith 1.25m for 5th in the high jump and Ruby Moffat-Virk and Kenina Nkrumah first attempts at 300m. Venisha Ngala and Neriah Anderson continued their recent strong performances in the sprints and long jump.

The U17 Women had a good turnout of 4 athletes which enabled Stacey Amaniampong, Adaaeze Oyem and Precious Ajireloja to finish 2nd in the 4x100m relay in a time of 54.5 seconds. They were helped by one athlete from our sister club Orion.

Precious was the athlete of the day for club setting the fastest time in her age group for the 100m of 13.2 seconds and competing well in the 200m and triple jump. Stacey set a new long jump PB of 3.75 and Adaeze set a new shot put PB of 5.81m. 

Leila Lauder continues to progress in the middle distance and ran a new PB in 1500m of 5.29 and showed her range by also competing in the 200m and long jump.

The club had three athletes in the Under 13 boys. Daniel Guiba ran the 100m and set a new PB of 2.98m in the long jump. Elias Furreedan continued his recent progression and again showed great range running in the 100m and 1500m and Barney Perkins ran 2.38 for 3rd in the 800m and also ran the 1500m. 

The under 15 boys were as always well represented. Sam Horsley has had a great year and had his best race so far in the 1500m to finish a close 2nd to his Havering rival in 4:24. His team mate Aron Berhe had a below par performance in the 1500m but bounced back in Javelin to throw a new PB of 23.92m

The sprinters again showed their steady improvement despite a few injuries. Jaskirat Singh set three new PBs 12.7secs in the 100m, 25.5 secs in 200m and 8.39m in the Shot Put. Danika Hennadige also set a new PB in the shot put (7.46m) and ran in the sprints. The PBs continued with Damien Amaniampong setting two 14.4 for the 80m hurdles and 25.6 seconds in the 200m. He also performed in the long jump with Jaydan Roberts Edwards. 

Luke Thake ran the 300 and 800m a little off his best but continues to show promise for the future. Ethan Guiba followed his younger brother and finished 5th in the 100m and 200m.

The sprinters and middle distance athletes Damien, Sam, Aron and Jaskirat came together to run the 4x100m and finished 2nd in a great 50.5 seconds

In the under 17s Mohamed Zergouat ran 100m in 13.2 seconds for 5th place. Aaron Hick dropped down the distances and ran a new 200m PB of 26.1. This was more impressive as it was run after an earlier PB 2:16 in the 800m.

James Thake gained further experience over his distances finishing 3rd in the 400m and 800m

Finally Samuel Crane completed a day of multiple PBs running 4:39 in the 1500m for 4th place. 

Another great day for all the club! Thanks to the coaches, parents and volunteers for their support

  Press Report 18th July 2023  

Jul 182023
 

Ilford AC Win first Southern League match in many years

Ilford AC competed in the 3rd Southern league Track and Field Match at Sandy last weekend. In the first 2 matches Ilford had competed well but just didn’t have enough athletes to win the matches.
However Ilford sent a very strong team to Sandy, and this proved decisive as for the first time for many years Ilford AC won the overall match.

Starting with the Female sprinters, Krystle Balogun, Ayshe and Aleena Lawrence all were first or second in the 100m and 200m and 4x100m.These ladies have been amazing so far this year and always compete to a very high level.

Jordan Hinds is always the busiest Female athlete in the Southern league and once again she won the 400,800 ,1500 and 4 x400.This included 2 Personal bests in the 400 and 800.

In the long-distance Anna Crawley performed to a high standard winning the 800 and placing 3rd in the 3k, as well as being in the 4 x400 winning team.
It was great to see Zuzana Sinalova back running, winning the B string 3k and 4x 400m.

Finally, Ilford had 2 U17 girls participating in the Southern league for the first time and they both provided lots of points for the club.
Leila Lauder won the B string 400 and 2nd in the 1500 and was in the winning 4 x400 team and Stacey Amaniampong won the 100m hurdles, was 3rd in the High Jump, 3rd in the long jump and was in the winning 4 x100 team.

On the men’s side Ilford had a very strong team and filled every event.

Jordon Duncan was second in the 100 and won the 200 and was in the 4 x100 team that came second.
It was great to see the sprint Coach Nat Senior come second in the 100m in 11.9, be part of the 4 x100 team and find time to throw the Shot 9.85.

Wayna Williams also ran well for 3rd in the 200m and part of the relay team.

Oliver Blainey won the 400m and Dylan Harrod won the B string, and both were in the winning 4 x400 team.
In the 800m Ronan Edwards and James Thake won their 800m races with James getting a PB of 2.05.
Dylan returned in the 1500m with Alex Richards to both win the 1500m, Alex for the ‘A’ string and Dylan the ‘B’ string.

To continue our success on the track Samuel Crane and Berekhet Berakhy won the 3K in a strong time.

The 110m Hurdles was one of the strongest races and Rhys Edwards ran well for 3rd and Akwasi Nkrumah did well for 2nd. Rhys had a busy and successful day also winning the 400 Hurdles, 3000m Steeplechase and triple jump.
Ronan also helped the team by running the 3000 Steeplechase as well and it was great to see both brothers winning their respective races.

Youngster Aaron Hick, running his 2nd ever 400 hurdles, won the B string and ran a strong leg in the winning 4 x400 team.
In the jumps /throws and Pole vault Ilford are very lucky to have some key athletes who do many events. Akwasi Nkrumah, who only joined this year is one of those athletes and did very well winning the Triple jump,3rd in the pole vault,3rd in the long jump and 4th in the javelin.
Sam Malekout also did well in the Javelin, High Jump, Discuss, Shot and Pole Vault.
Finally Pete Whiting threw the Discus and Hammer and Jeremiah Brown jumped 1.50 in the High jump.

Overall, this was a great performance from the Ilford team. If we can get a full team out for the last match the club has a chance for promotion this year, which once again hasn’t happened for many years.

 

 

 

  Press Report 11th July 2023  

Jul 112023
 

Newman Hilly 5 (Elvis)
Hainault Forest
Wednesday 5th July

The Annual Ilford Hilly 5-mile cross country race, incorporating round 4 of the Summer Elvis League, was held at Hainault Forest on a warm Wednesday evening.

This year’s course was a temporary new one whilst works are being carried out on part of the old course and the general consensus was this course was a more challenging one with longer hills to conquer.

Ilford were without many runners who gave up their run to marshal on the course

Winning the race was Ilford’s Tom Gardner in a time of  29:13,

The Ilford men’s team was completed by Malcolm Muir 5th in 31:53, Stephen Philcox 9th in 32:33 (1st M50), Fabrizio Stefanoni 14th in 33:19, Joshua Adler 22nd in 34:55 and Seb Parris 30th in 35:43.
Finishing just outside the team scoring by just seconds were Richard Woolterton 31st in 35:49 and Daniel Holeyman 32nd in 35:59

This year, for the first time, a Vets 70 category was added to the prizes, and just a week after his 70th Birthday, Ilfords Andy Catton won the new prize finishing 88th in 41:18.

Runners outside the scoring team were Neil Crisp 36th 36:20, Raymond Dzikowski 60th in 38:48, Craig Livermore 83rd 40:36, Steven Horsley 94th 41:37, Bradley Brown 122nd 44:49, Nick West 126th 45:16 and Joe Ramen 187th 51:15.

Ilfords Men finished 2nd on the night and sit 3rd in the overall table after 4 races.

Ilford’s ladies went one better, finishing first on the night.

Matching the men’s first place, Ilfords Neringa Masilioniene, who ran to the race from her home in Romford, was first lady home on the night finishing in 11th place overall for a time of 32:38.

Backing her up in the first place ladies team were Anna Crawley 68th 39:20, Gemma Ellender 72nd 39:39, Joanne Reeves 85th 41:06, Alison Sale 97th 42:06 and Gaye Young 127th 45:18.

Also running well on the challenging course were Mandy Reid 154th 48:00, Dianne Crisp 179th 50:08 and Julia Galea 213th 55:52

The ladies currently sit top of the Elvis League table after 4 rounds

Southern Inter Counties
Oxford

Three Ilford Athletes competed for Essex in cold windy conditions at Oxford on Sunday in the Southern Inter counties match.
First up was Jordan Hinds in the Senior Ladies 800m. It has been 5 years since Jordan ran for Essex and she put in a good performance. The early going was ok, but a strong wind on the back straight slowed the athletes down. Passing the bell in around 67 seconds Jordan was in 2nd place and made a move with 250m to go, she initially got clear, but the Surrey athlete proved to be slightly stronger in the home straight. Jordan’s time for 2nd place was 2.17.75, just 2/10ths outside her pb. 

Farris Vakil took part in the senior men’s 800m, in which again the times were affected by the wind, the initial going was quite slow for a high class 800m, with the bell only reached in 57 seconds. Like Jordan, Farris made a move along the back straight and again it was a Surrey athlete that came with him. Down the home straight the pair were neck and neck, but Farris held on to win in a time of 1.56.84 

Oliver Blainey although only an u20 athlete stepped up to run the senior men’s 400m, and in the worst conditions of the day he produced a good performance to finish 4th in a time of 52.28.

 

High Easter 10k
Sunday 9th July

Two Ilford ladies made their way to High Easter in Chelmsford at the weekend to compete in the 10k race.
The race is a one lap, fast and flat course, through the High Easter village.

Mandy Reid put in a great run for a 10k PB of 53 minutes 48 seconds.

Wendy Everingham was also pleased with her time of 1 hour 18m 2 secs to finish in 302nd place.

Great Bentley 5 Miles

7th July 2023

The Friday 5 series is a popular set of 5 mile races which are hosted by local running clubs in Suffolk and Essex in the early part of the summer.

The Great Bentley Friday 5 is held in July and is the final race in the series. It takes place on a fast, flat course, excellent for a PB.
Ilfords Malcolm Muir ran a great race to finish in 16th place, in a field exceeding 400 runners, in a time of 28 minutes 08 seconds