Press Report 9th August 2022  

Aug 092022
 

FOREST FIVE (Elvis race 6)
​Chingford
Saturday 6 August

The sixth round of the 2022 Elvis league was held in the forest at Chingford on a warm sunny Saturday morning over a 1 lap 5 mile course which was dry and featured a few climbs. Another hazard for the runners was when a herd of cows wandered onto an early part of the course 

The Ilford AC men’s team put up a good challenge with Gary Coombes leading the squad in 8th place in 30 mins 03 secs taking the prize for the 1st M50 in the field, The in form Sam Rahman was next over the line with 30 mins 52 secs for 10th one place ahead of Steve Philcox who recorded 30 min 56 secs.
Seb Parris ran in his first Elvis race of the season taking 15th in 32 mins 42 secs. Diarmuid Mac Donnell came home in 24th with 33 mins 37 secs and Joel Denning closed the Ilford scorers in 40th in 36 mins 04 secs.

The Ilford men finished 2nd in the match and are now placed 3rd in the table with 2 matches to go.  The top 3 in the league are separated by a few points and the end of the season will be closely fought.

The Ilford ladies were under strength due to injuries and the holiday season but Sameena Ahmed put in a great performance to finish in 29th place and 3rd lady in 34 mins 07 secs while Joanne Reeves came in 74th with 38 mins 45 secs and Bree Nordin won the F60 category prize in 39 mins 53 secs for 85th.
Alison Sale placed 97th  with 41 mins 07 secs and Mandy Reid finished in 139th with 45 mins 17 secs. Sharon Honey completed the 6 scoring team in 149th with a time of 46 mins 19 secs

The Ilford ladies put in a good team performance to finish 4th and sit 3rd in a closely fought league where just 3 points separate East London, Eton Manor and Ilford.

Sean Costello made his club debut in this event with a time of 42 mins 14 secs for 106th overall.

Other Ilford Runners:  Adam Coals, 53rd  36.59,  Dennis Briggs 73rd  38.33,  Andy Catton 75th  38.58,  Bradley Brown 92nd  40.30,  Declan Cullen, 114th  43.09,  Rob Sargent, 156th  47.36,  Ray Everingham, 171st  49.53, and  Julia Galea 175th  50.07.

Hercules and Wimbledon invitational 1500m meet

After a successful season at the longer distance, Ahmed Abdulle stepped down to the shorter distance of l500m.
Looking for a 3:50 time, Ahmed exceeded his own expectations coming home in 8th place in 3:47 taking an amazing 9 second of his previous best over the distance. This time places him 3rd in the all time Ilford AC list over the distance.
The race winning time was 3:38

  Press Report 2nd August 2022  

Aug 022022
 

SCVAC
Lee Valley
25th July

Ilford Vets team travelled to Lee Valley on the evening of 25th July for match 3 of the SCVAC league.

Great performances on the evening resulted in the Men’s Team winning the event.

The Ladies team was represented by Emma Dyos and Lesley Morris who competed in the 2000m walk finishing 1st and 2nd in their competition age groups in times of 10.44.3 and 13.02.9. Shahida Arthur non-scored and finished in 19.38.9.

In the Men’s walk John Arthur and Simon Morris both won their age groups in 12.00.06 and 12.55.00. Stuart Bennett as a non-scorer finished in 13.03.1.

John Crawley debuting as a Vet covered all the track V35 events as follows:

100m 14.26 2nd

400m 62.86 3rd

1500m 5.14.51 1st

He also non-scored in the Triple Jump with the longest leap on the evening of 9m 81.

Henry Ricketts covered V40 sprints covering the 100m and 400m in 14.02 and 68.14 for 3rd in both events. This position was mirrored in the V35 Triple Jump (8m 45) and V50 Javelin (26m 16). In the V35 Discus the distance of 22m 10 secured 5th.

James Lambden competed in the V50 short sprint and finished fourth in 14.83. Unfortunately, an injury in the Triple Jump out paid to any further involvement on the evening.

Cliff Warren covered the V60 sprints where he finished 2nd in the 100m and 400m in 14.53 and 67.38. In the V50 Triple Jump he continued the trend of 2nd place finishes.

Due to the injury picked up by James, David Butler covered the V50 long sprint gaining 5th place in a time of 79.27. Staying in the same age group he competed in the 1500m finishing 3rd in 5.36.13. Steve Chissell ran as a non-scorer and came home in 5.48.69.

Fabrizio Stefanoni won the V40 age group and race overall in the 1500m in a time of 4.46.72.

Peter Whiting achieved 21m 98 in the V60 discus for 2nd place. He also threw the Javelin 21m 44 as a non-scorer in the V50 age group.

The medley relay team of Henry, Cliff, John, and Fabrizio brought the baton home in 1st place in a time of 4.25.46.

 

 

 

 

LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km
​Hyde Park
Friday 29 July

On a fine sunny day, the July edition of the Last Friday of the Month 5km took place in London’s Hyde Park.
The race, organised by Serpentine Runners, was over a surprisingly slightly undulating 2 lap course around the north side of the park and the starters included 3 runners from Ilford AC.

Sam Rahman showed that he is in good form at present with a 12th place finish in 17mins 23 secs, equalling his fastest time for the distance this year.
Rob Sargent also showed improved form coming home 96th in 27 mins 17 secs, his best time this year and placed him 5th in the M65 age category.
Carol Muir completed the Ilford trio in 114th in 32 mins 17 secs also placed 5th in her age group.

 

  Press Report 26th July 2022  

Jul 262022
 

Harold Wood 5km
Elvis Series – Race No 5
Wednesday 20 July

There was an outstanding performance from the Ilford AC ladies team at the 5th round of this years Elvis competition winning the match with three runners in the top 4 and all scoring six in the top 20

The race was mainly on grassland in the Harold Wood Park and adjoining area with a number of challenging climbs. The Ilford Ladies were led home by Neringa Masilioniene who won the race convincingly heading the ladies field from the start in 18 mins 58 secs, which placed her 18th overall in the field.
Jordan Hinds was third female and 27th overall in 20 mins 07 secs and Sameena Ahmed  4th female and 35th overall in 20 mins 40 secs and won the prize for 1st in the F40 category. 
Anna Crawley was next home in 9th spot, 62nd overall,  with 22 mins 05 secs and Joanne Reeves 13th, 69th overall,  in 22 mins 39 secs. Bree Nordin closed the scorers in 16th place,  86th overall with a time of 23 mins 56 secs. 
Just outside the scoring team was Alison Sale with 24 min s 14 secs for 18th female. 90th overall.

The win by the Ilford ladies moves them up to joint 2nd in the table just 1 point behind East London. With 3 matches left in the series there are 3 teams covered by 1 point so there will be an exciting end to the season 

The Ilford men’s team were under strength due to injuries and unavailability with Steve Philcox leading the team in 14th spot with 18 mins 24 secs and was the first home in the M50 age group.
Next up was the in-form Richard Woolterton in 26th place and 2nd in the M50 group with 20 mins 05 secs and Steve Crane placed 36th in 20 mins 48 secs. Joel Denning finished in 20 mins 52 secs for 38th and Terry Knightley once again won the M60 category prize in 21 min 01 secs for 41st place.
The scoring team was completed by Rohan Alexander who in his first race of the year recorded 22mins 43 secs for 70th overall.
In the match the Ilford squad placed 3rd and remain in 3rd place in the table and will be looking for better results in the remaining matches to improve their standing in the table.

Other Ilford performances: Bradley Brown (89   24.08)  Andy Catton (97th 24:34)  Tony Young (108   25.27)  Dianne Crisp (145  28.08)  Sharon Honey (150  28.45)  Mandy Reid (151  28.55)  Julia Galea (156  29.48)  Frieda Keane (169  30.52) Launa Broadley (181 32:23) and Julie Gillender (202  37:09)

  Press Report 19th July 2022  

Jul 182022
 

INTERNATIONAL

World Masters
Tampere, Finland
Jun 29-Jul 10

Krystle Balogun donned her first British vest as she competed at the highest stage of all in the World Masters Championships held in Tampere, Finland.
Competing in the W35 category in her favoured event, the 200m, she qualified for the final with a season’s best performance of 25.92 into a slight headwind, a time that is just outside of her personal best.
Despite being given an unfavourable Lane 8 in the final she ran true to form and finished a highly creditable 5th in a stacked final. A superb display of sprinting in her first international competition, she has her sights set on further competitions in the remaining 4 years/seasons left in the W35 category.
A stalwart in Southern League competitions, County endeavours, Elvis runs and Park runs in her previous life as a distance runner Krystle continues to impress in her commitment to the sport as a representative of Ilford AC.

 

ESSEX CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Essex Relays
Chelmsford
15th July 2022

At last weekend’s Essex Relays, held at Chelmsford, Ilford had a number of teams competing in the U15 and U13 age groupings.

All the top Essex clubs enter teams for the Championships, so Ilford AC knew they had to run well to have a chance of a medal

In the U15 4 x 300m boys race Aaron Hick ran a very good leg to come in 5th, very close to the teams in front. Aaron handed over to Samuel Crane, who ran very well to maintain Ilford’s position. Next was new athlete Aron Berhe, who ran a storming leg to move Ilford into 4th. Aron handed over to James Thake, who brought the baton home in 4th position for a time of 2 mins 57 secs. However, one of the other teams was unluckily disqualified for cutting in too early on the first leg, meaning Ilford was promoted to 3rd and the 4 Ilford boys were awarded a Bronze medal each.

In the U15 boys 3 x 800m, all the boys in the previous relay were back competing within 40 mins and found the next relay very tough.
In the A team James Thake, Samuel Crane and Aaron Hick came home in a solid 6th position.in 7 mins 22.1 secs
Aron Berhe, Ryder Islam and Mohameed Zougatt in the B team came a very promising 7th position in 7 mins 40.7 secs

The U15 girls 4 x 100m team consisted of Destiny Mafo, Stacey Amaniampong, Anika Sharma and Reianne Dowridge.
All ran strong legs against more experienced runners, but their 5th place was not enough to seal a place in the final.

Unfortunately for the U13 girls Jadyn Charles had to pull out due to injury meaning the remaining team of Laila Charles, Ruby Moffat Virk and Latifat Adewunmi had to be withdrawn, which was a great disappointment after all of their preparation and hard work.

The team shows great promise, and we are confident that with more experience they will improve greatly.

 

Felstead 10km (incorporating the Essex Championship)
Sunday 17 July

On a good weekend the Essex 10km Championships was held in conjunction with the Felstead 10km.
The start time was brought forward to 9am to avoid the midday heat and the runners set off on a gently undulating single loop course. Ilford AC had a small squad in action with Sam Rahman leading the club home in 26th place with a good time of 36 mins 51 secs. Steve Philcox won the county title in the M55 category in 37 mins 35 secs as he placed 34th, while Richard Woolterton just missed his personal best recording 40 mins 52 secs for 83 th.
Terry Knightley crossed the line 2 places later in 41 mins 01 secs to take bronze in the M60 age group. Joanne Reeves was the 29th lady home with 46 mins 02 secs to finish 3rd in the F45 grouping for the bronze medal.
Alison Sale placed 243rd overall and 60th female in 52 mins 52 secs and Dianne Crisp lost out on the silver medal in the F60 category by 1 second but took a deserved bronze with 58 mins 16 secs as 86th female and 308th overall.
The Ilford squad was completed by Rob Sargent (312th 58.35) and Frieda Keane (337th 61.12)

TRACK

Southern league
Lee Valley
15th July 2022

In the 3rd Southern league match of the season at Lee Valley, Ilford had a depleted squad but the athletes who turned up were all outstanding and attempted to compete in as many events as possible.

Starting with the ladies, Ilford had 5 ladies competing and all competed at a very high level.
In the Sprints Krystle Balogun, who recently came 5th in the ‘World over 35 vets champs’ over 200m , competed over 100m and 200m and was outstanding as usual.
Krystle won the B string 100m in 13.01 and placed 2nd in the 200m in 26.41
In the A string 100m Aleena Lawrence was 4th in a very competitive race in 13.54

In the middle-distance race, outstanding youngster Jordan Hinds did the very tough 800 and 1500m combination.
In the 800 Jordan ran very well and was leading the race until the last 2 meters of the race , until being pushed back to 2nd but in a good time of 2.23.
Jordan was back a couple of hours later to come 2nd in the 1500m in a time of 5.09.
Anna Crawley, who always competes for the club if available ran an even tougher double by doing the 1500/3000 combination. In Both Races Anna ran so intelligently in the hot conditions by working her way through the field and looked to get stronger as the races went on.
She came a magnificent 2nd in both races in 5.27 and 11.46

Moving onto the Men’s, Ilford had some truly outstanding performances.
In the 800, the race felt like an Ilford AC club champs as Ilford were 1st,2nd and 3rd. Paul Grange was truly outstanding under such hot conditions. He went through the bell on his own around 56s and powered on to achieve a superb 1. 54.. It was also great to see Ahmed Abdulle compete in the 800 and he got stronger as the race went on to come home with a Personal Best of 1.58. Dylan Harrod was the third Ilford athlete, and he is coming back to his best with a time of 2.00. Last year Dylan ran so many 800s so close to beating the 2-minute barrier and the expectation was that he would smash through it this year. However due to an injury in the winter Dylan missed a lot of training but he is back to his best and will beat this 2-minute barrier soon.
In the 1500 Ahmed was back and was aiming for a fast race. However, the 2nd lap was very slow so with 2 laps to go it was truly amazing to see Ahmed move up a gear and run the last 800 very close to the time he had run in the 800, to win in a very impressive 3.56. Ahmed is in the form of his life and would have run close to 3.50 if the 2nd lap would have been quicker.
Ilford AC’s outstanding youngster Joseph Grange ran in the same race as Ahmed and it was great to see he had the confidence to try and go with Ahmed, early in the race. Joseph won the B string in 4.16

In the 5k Fabrizio Stefanoni looked superb to come 4th in a very good time of 16.55

In the Men’s 400 Ilford hadn’t seen Simeon Balson Jones compete for some time due to several reasons. Not sure what to expect Simeon went off like a train and led most of the race and was just overtaken on the line in a time of 52.8. Being his first race, we would expect Simeon to be a bit rusty, but it was great to see him back and expect something near to sub 50 by the end of the season. In the B 400 ever reliable Dylan ran a close to his best 53.5 for 2nd place

Paul Grange came down a distant to compete in the 200 to run an outstanding 23.99, which was a PB

Special mention must be given to youngster George Marshall Childs who competed in all Throwing and Jump events, achieving 2 Personal best and providing Ilford with so many points.
Also, special mention to our other throwers and Jumpers like Wesley Clarke, who won the hammer in 35 metres, Pete Whiting and Jeevakan Sivayogan and also Dylan Harrod who did well in the Triple Jump

Ilford has a long history of winning the last event of the day i.e. the 4 x 400m and the team of Paul, Joseph, Ahmed and Dylan didn’t let us down and stormed home in 3m.38s

Finally, the club couldn’t compete without the support of our officials Nicola, Ernie, Andy and Robin. Thanks very much goes to them

FIELD

Veterans AC 5km Championship
Battersea Park
Tuesday 12 July

The Veterans AC 5km Championships for runners over 35 were held on the usual 2 lap flat course on a hot, sultry evening which had an adverse effect on the times achieved.
There was a good turn out from Ilford AC runners in the field with Fabrizo Stefanou showing great form to come home 4th overall in 16 mins 55 secs to take the gold medal in the M45 category.
Also on the rostrum was Joanne Reeves finishing 7th lady in 22 mins 44 secs to win the silver medal in the F45 grouping.
Sam Rahman is another in good form as he trains for the Amsterdam Marathon in October coming home 9th in 17 mins 23 secs with Ed Skinner, racing in the M65 category came home 49th with 25 mins 34 secs just missing out on a top 3 place in his age group.
Rob Sargent was 52nd in 29 mins 11 secs and Launa Broadley finished 11th lady in 30 mins 27 secs.

In the Olympic Park 10km on Saturday 16th July Aaron Brown was Ilford’s sole runner and came in 14th place in a time of  41.03

 

 

  Press Report 12th July 2022  

Jul 122022
 
Track

 Performance of the week undoubtably goes to Ahmed Abdulla who in the Milton Keynes 5000m, placing 8th, dipped under 14 minutes for the first time to achieve a PB time of 13:59.
This achievement places him 3rd in the all-time list of 5000m times by an Ilford AC athlete.

 

English Schools County Championships (Track)
Manchester Sport City
8th and 9th July

Two high performing athletes from Ilford’s young squad were selected to represent Essex schools in this prestigious high-quality event held this year in Manchester Sport City, The recent National Championships were held there only a few weeks ago.

Oliver Blainey ran in 400m heats on Friday afternoon. He had been slightly hampered in the days leading up to the event by allergies but ran strongly to record a time of 51.09 narrowly missing out on the final. This was Oliver’s first big race on a national stage and bodes well for the future.

Joseph Grange ran in 3000m on Saturday Morning. Joseph has built up good experience from higher level races over the last 18 months over track distances and cross country and this experience and race craft showed in his performance. He came 7th on the day in 8:49:17 a new PB over the distance. Each race has two school years included, on this occasion Joseph came first in his year group.

 

Field

Ilford AC Hilly 5m
Hainault Forest
Wednesday 6th 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  28:10,
The Ilford men’s team, finishing 3rd on the night, was completed by Stephen Philcox 13th 31:45 (1st M50), Paul Holloway 16th 32:14 (2nd M50), Ryan Holeyman 19th32:25, Sam Rahman 22nd 33:11 and Richard Woolterton 27th 34:16 (3rd M50).
Finishing outside the scoring team, but all running well were Steve Crane 34th 35:24, Terry Knightley 35th 35::41 (1st M60), Diarmuid MacDonnell 36th 35:43, Joel Denning 42nd 36:08, Bradley Brown 94th 41:10 and Manjunath Gopi 123rd 44:21.

Ilford were just as successful in the women’s race with Neringa Masilioniene coming home as first female and 23rd in the race in 33:18 and Amy Bird being the 2nd female home in 39th place in 35:54.
Backing up the first 2 scorers and completing the team, who finished 3rd on the night, were Breege Nordin 91st 40:41 (1st F60), Alison Sale 103rd 42:19 (2nd F50) Gaye Young 109th 43:15 (3rd F50) and Dianne Crisp 153rd 48:02 (3rd F60).
Backing up the scoring team and running well in the conditions were Mandy Reid 160th 49:11 and Frieda Keane 183rd 52:56.

Road

CAPITAL GAINS FOR ILFORD AC

Asics London 10k
Sunday 10th July

The British 10k is one of the largest 10k’s in Britain attracting over 14,000 runners including 3 this year from Ilford AC, Amin Koikai, Billy Green and Doris Gaga

The race takes runners through Central London, traffic free, and takes in Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.

En route the runners pass several bands and large union jacks draping the streets.

Sunday’s race was held on an intensely hot sunny day that suited the spectators far more than it did the runners.

Amin led the way finishing in 54th place and first M50 in the huge field in a time of 35:21.
Both Billy Green and Doris Gaga were returning to racing after time away and were both pleased with their performances in the heat. Billy finished in a time of 52:53, whilst Doris came home in 1hr 14m 29secs.

 

YOUTH

Eastern Young Athletes League
Hornchurch
10th July 2022

On Sunday 10th July at Hornchurch Stadium, Ilford AC young club members took part in the 3rd Eastern young athletes’ league and came home with some great performances. In each discipline and for each age group there are two scoring races and new and improving athletes can compete in non-scoring races to aid their development

100m

In the U13 girls 100m Daniella Joshua (15.73)  ran well and came in fifth in the first scoring race. Latifat Adewunmi also ran well in the second scoring and placed 4th in her race in 14.90. Katie Burke (18.73) ran her best and came sixth in the non-scorers meanwhile, Laila Charles ran amazingly in her race coming first in the non-scorers in a great time of 15.31. In the U15 girls 100m Stacey Amaniampong came 4th in the first second scoring race in 14.35 while Reianne Dowdridge came 3rd (13.84) in the non-scoring. Also in the non-scoring race was Destiny Mafo who came 6th in her race in 14.54. Finally, to finish off the girls 100m was Jadyn Charles who came 6th in first-scoring 100m in 13.96.

In the U13 boys Matthiaus Semper came in with an amazing finish coming first in the second scores race in 13.39 while Luke Thake came 4th in the non-scorers in 15.35. U15 did well with Jayden Kyle-McDermott coming 3rd in the non-scorers (13.47), while Ian Johnson came in with an astounding finish placing first in the non-scorers in 12.11. In the U17 boys, Oliver Blainey came 3rd in the first scoring in 11.57 with Mohammed Zergouatran coming 6th in the second-scoring in 12.68.

In the U17W race Jadyn Charles ran 13.88 and was 5th in the ‘A’ string

200m

All the above apart from Ian who sustained an injury then also ran in the 200m

In the U13 girls Daniella came 5th in the first-scoring in 33.69 and Latifat came 5th in the second- scoring (32.10). Laila and Katie did well in their second race with Laila bagging the 2nd place (32.33) and Katie coming in a close third in 39.48, both in the non-scorers. In the U15 girls  Stacy came in 6th in the 2nd scoring. Reianne came in with 2nd place in the non-scoring (28.33) while Destiny placed 4th in the same race 29.35.

In the U13 boys Matthiaus had a stunning finish in the second-scoring coming 1st in 27.45 while Luke came sixth in the non-scorers in 33.43. Going straight to the U17 boys we had Oliver who also had a great performance in the first-scorers coming first in 22.94. Mohammed ran well and placed sixth in the second-scorers 26.52.

In the U17W race Jadyn Charles ran 28.29 and was 4th in the ‘A’ string

300m and 400m

In the U15 boys 300m James Thake came 5th in the first-scoring in 47.34 running injured for team points while Aaron Hick came 2nd in the second-scoring race in a new PB of 42.59. Straight to the U17 boys 400m, where Ronan Edwards came 4th in the first-scorers in 56.03.

800s and 1500s

In the U15 boys 800m, Ryder Islam came 8th in a new PB of 2.33.08, James Thake ran incredibly coming 3rd (2.18.34) and Aron Berhe ran well on his Ilford AC debut and came 5th in 2.25.59 in the non-scorers. In the U15 boys 1500 Samuel Crane placed sixth in the first-scorers in (4.50.76) while in the U17 boys 1500 Ronan Edwards had a great run following his tough 400m one hour before coming in a close second in the first-scorers in (4.22.63).

All members of the squad also made contributions in the field events and relays to ensure a good point return for the club. Special thanks to Coaches Wayne and Ernie and Officials Nicola and Andy for all their support throughout the day

Quote of the day: One of the U15 winners was using ex-Ilford hurdlers Roger Honey’s spikes. When asks how he felt after his victory the athlete replied “I could have run faster but I kept jumping in the air for no reason”