Essex/Eastern Indoor County Championships
Lee Valley Stadium, Ilford

SENIORS

The first of the Senior Athletes to compete on day 1 of the Championships last weekend was Jordon Duncan in the Senior men’s 60m, Jordon placed second in his heat in a season best time of 7.30. In the final Jordon was 6th in another season best of 7.26. 

Next up was Ellie Wright in the Senior Women’s 60m, Ellie made a good start in her heart and went through to the final having placed 2nd in a PB time of 7.87.  In the Final Ellie placed 3rd, but second Essex Athlete in another pb of 7.84. 

Ian Johnson had a good run in his heat of the U20m 60m and qualified for the next round in a pb time of 7.12 for 3rd place. In the semi final he placed 6th in 7.27

The Vets 60m was a straight Final, Nat Senior in one of his first competitions as a vet, made a great start and led the field the whole way for an impressive win in 7.72. 

Krystle Balogun, was the final athlete on day one and despite having to run on her own, she managed to set a pb of 8.20. 

Ellie Wright was back again on day 2 this time in the 200m, where she had another excellent run to finish second (but first Essex athlete ) in a season’s best time of 25.50. 

Next up were the middle distance events and Jordan Hinds who has been suffering with a cold for 2 weeks, battled bravely in the senior ladies 800m, to take 4rd in 2.26. 89.

Luke Thake was next up and in first ever indoor 800m, he ran a pb of 2.20.85, which is faster than he ran outdoors last year and a reward for all his hard work this winter.

The senior men’s 800m was a straight final and Dylan Harrod followed the very fast pace from the gun, he was still in an ideal position at the bell, but just fell away on the final lap for second place. His time of 2.00.28, was a 2 second improvement on his last race and overall has run 4 seconds quicker indoors than last season. 

James Thake was the last of the 800m runners and went to the front early to try and push the pace, this was a brave experiment for James, which nearly paid off, but unfortunately he ended up in 5th place with a time of 2.05.96

Krystle Balogun was back again on day 2, dropping down to the senior ladies age group to compete in the 400m, and in a very close race, she missed the eastern silver by 0.05 of a second, but still came second in the essex champs with a time of 61.05

The final Ilford athlete to compete was Simeon Balson-Jones in the senior men’s 400m, Simeon is on the comeback trail and must have been pleased with 52.95 for third place in the essex champs

JUNIORS

8 Ilford AC junior athletes took on the challenges of the Essex/Eastern Counties Indoor Championships 

U13 athlete Daniel Okereke started the day by running a season’s best time of 8.29 in the first heat of the 60m sprint before going on to achieve a brilliant Bronze medal in the final clocking 8.38s

Daniel followed up his sprint Bronze with a very competitive leap of 4.11 metres to claim 5th place in a closely contested long jump final.

In the U17 boys 60m sprint Jaydan Roberts-Edwards moved comfortably through the heat recording a time of 7.41s but his semi final time of 7.40s saw him miss out on a place in the final.
Teammate Donnell Oligie narrowly missed qualifying from his heat, despite recording a Personal best time of 7.58s in 4th place
Jayden McDermott also ran a 60m PB of 8.05s finishing 5th in his heat.

U20 female athlete Adaeze Oyem produced another consistent performance in her 60m sprint heat recording a good time of 8.70s for 6th place 

Star of the day was U15B Shot putter Dhanusshan Ponnambalam, who produced a great Personal best throw of 10.89 metres to claim a brilliant Gold medal 

Day 2 saw Donnell Oligie and Jaydan Roberts-Edwards return for 200m action with the latter sustaining an injury whilst in a very strong position approaching the finish line ending his race just short of the line,

Teammate Donnell ran a very strong race before discovering that he had been harshly disqualified for a lane infringement.

Toye Oguntoye made an impressive Championships debut in the U15B 200m clocking a PB of 26.45s finishing 4th in his heat

Best performance of day 2 went to Gloria Ananwa in the U15G 200m, clocking a PB of 38.86s which saw her qualify comfortably in 2nd place for the semi finals where she recorded another PB of 8.83s in 4th place narrowly missing out on a final place.

A mixed Championships for Ilford’s Junior athletes but the medal successes and PBs made it a worthwhile experience for all of them. Many thanks to our supporters and coaches for giving up their time over two long days in order for the athletes to be able to compete.

Brighton Half Marathon

Meanwhile, on the road, Tarik Qirem took part in the 35th running of the Brighton Half Marathon.
The 13.1-mile route, mainly along the seafront, takes in some of the city’s best-known sights, including Brighton Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion and the colourful beach huts of Hove.
Tarik was pleased with his time of 1 hr 37mins 20 secs, which was a PB over the distance and placed him 959th in a field of almost 9,000 runners

Essex Cross Country League – Hockley
Juniors

Ilford AC had a small turnout of four younger athletes for the final fixture of the season at muddy and wet Hockley but all performed well.

Competing in the U11 race, over a distance of 1.5k was Danilo Reina for his fourth appearance of the season. Danilo had his best run of the year to finish in 17th place in 6 mins 01 secs. Danilo will move up an age group next year and has shown good endurance in training sessions which will help him over the slightly longer distances.

In the under 15 boys were Fabio Reina making his league debut for the club and Luke Thake racing over a challenging 4k course.
Both had performed well in the previous week on the road surface at Victoria Park but this was a very different experience with the course getting tougher as each race made the ground more difficult. Fabio started cautiously but moved well through the field to finish in an excellent 19th place in 16 mins 55 secs. Luke like his older brother will excel on the track in long term but displayed good endurance to finish in 33rd place in 18 mins 14 secs, and now looks forward to the upcoming track season with confidence

Finally we had Samuel Crane in the under 17s race over a very challenging 6k.
Samuel has had a mixed cross country season but had his best league race of the year to finish in 6th place in 18 mins 36 secs. He is racing in the national cross country championships at the weekend and hoping for another good result at the iconic parliament hill course.

Mercury 10 Epping Forest 

Saturday morning saw the 102nd running of the Mercury 10 in Epping Forest.
Incorporating tough muddy hills the 10 mile race, whilst picturesque in places, is a real challenge for runners and one really only for the brave.
This year saw a large field of 176 runners ready to take on the challenge, including 4 from Ilford AC.
Leading the team home was men’s captain Danny Holeyman, who has been having a great Cross Country season, in 23rd place in a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 33 seconds.
Danny was chased all the way by teammate Seb Harris who finished just a place and nine seconds behind him.
Jim Tilbrook ran an impressive 1 hour 37 minutes and 54 seconds for 93rd place and completing the team was women’s captain Alison Sale, who ran a strong race for 104th place in a time of1 hour 41 minutes 31 seconds

CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5 Miles

Victoria Park

Saturday 1 February

The final individual event of this winter’s Chingford League took place on a revised course  of one small lap and 2 longer ones rather than the traditional figure of eight course in the park.

Ilford AC had a team of 29 take part in the event with the men racing over the fast flat course in division two. Their challenge was led by Ronan Edwards, who is in great form at present, finishing 4th in an excellent time of 26 minutes 04 seconds. Next home was Josh Adler, who is improving in every race, in 11th in a new personal best of 27 mins 42 secs. Tomas Krukauskas who impressed on his club debut came in on 30 mins 01 secs for 17th spot. One place behind was Manuel Vigo with 30 mins 03 secs. Donagh Horley was another making his club debut coming home 20th with 30 mins 19 secs and Richard Morris completed the scoring team in 22nd in a time of 30 mins 22 secs

In the match Ilford placed 2nd and they remain on top of the division 2 table and look good for promotion to the top tier with just the relays to come in March.

There were also personal bests for Joel Denning with 31 mins 24 secs in 29th and Jim Tilbrook, who is having a great winter of racing, in 58th in 35 mins 29 secs.  Steve Chissell equalled his personal best of 33 mins 27 secs for 42nd place, which he set in the same fixture last year.

The Ilford Ladies race in division 1 and first home was Jordan Hinds in 10th recording 32 mins 20 secs, with Anna Crawley next across the line for the club in 34 mins 13 secs for 15th place. Pauline Tester and Alison Sale both were timed at 38mins 55 secs for 59th and 60th respectively. Dianne Crisp was 111th in 45 mins 19 secs and Launa Broadley completed the team in 127th in a new personal best time of 47 mins 46 secs.  In their match the ladies were placed 8th and occupy the same spot in the league table.

Also running in the men’s race were:  Dan Holeyman (23rd  30.26) Richard Woolterton (28th  31.17)  Sam Joseph (33rd  32.28)  Bradley Brown (38th  33.19) Tarik Qirem (47th 35:05)  Neil Crisp (49th  35.17) Mike Perkins (61st  36.51)  Tony Young (68th  37.58)  Nick West  (69th  38.25)  Andy Catton (80th  40.19)  Sean Costello (85th  40.50)  and Joe Ramen (98th  46.28)

And for Ilford Ladies:  Frieda Keane (130th  48.29)  Julia Galea (139th  51.39)

17 junior athletes from Ilford AC took on the challenges of the final Chingford league race of the current season 

The under 11’s raced a 2k course
For the boys, Danilo Reina , despite falling at the start, finished in 6th place with an impressive run of 6.32m
Debutant Hannah Lawes completed an impressive first fun clocking 8.09m to finish in 21st place for the girls.

The Under 13’s ran a 3k course

Khalif Ali produced his best run of the series finishing in 5th place in a time of 12.07m for the boys. Teammate Elias Furreedan continued his impressive form this season with a 7th place recording a time of 13.18m. Ever improving Hashim Khan clocked 14.03m to finish in 8th place. Ever reliable Daniel Guiba completed the team in 12th position timed at 15.44m

The girls again produced really encouraging performances 

Leading the team home was Iris Wan in 12th place in 14.39m closely followed by Sophie Lawes in 13th place in 14.50m. D.L Majen-Akande continued her great form with a fast finish in 15th place timed at 15.30m just managing to hold off teammate Alicia Adams in 16th place with another encouraging run of 15.47m

Ilford’s U15 boys, running 4.5k,  proved to be the stars of the day with the impressive Fabio Reina claiming First place in a time of 17.43m followed by his equally impressive teammate Barney Perkins in Second place recording 18.09m

Luke Thake made a welcome return to the team and ran consistently well to finish in 8th place timed at 20.49m . Completing the team was debutant Robert Stanciu running the distance for the first time finishing in 18th place with 24.07m

For the U15 girls, Hawaa Patel ran another strong race giving her all finishing 6th in 24.12m

U17 athletes Ryder Islam and Leila Lauder both produced personal best runs with Ryder Islam finishing 4th for the boys in 17.20m and Leila Lauder claiming 1st place in the girls in 21.01m.
Both ran over the same 4.5k distance

The results are testament to the hard work put in by the athletes and their coaches with huge thanks to our parents and supporters.

Two Ilford Ac athletes swapped their Ilford vests just for the weekend to represent their university and county.

Rhys Edwards raced the short course (8.2km) at the British University Cross Country Championships in Cardiff. He placed 367th in a top class field and was first finisher for Queen Mary University (London).

Samuel Crane qualified to represent Essex schools in the South East Inter Counties School Match. This was his first county vest. He acquitted himself well over the 6km course finishing as 6th Essex finisher in a good quality field.