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”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Press Report 5th July 2022  

Jul 052022
 

Ilford AC stalwart Carol Muir achieved a magnificent milestone on Saturday when she competed in her 500th parkrun at Valentines park in Ilford.

This achievement is even more remarkable in that Carol has competed at 302 different parkrun locations over the last 12 years, regularly traveling the 4 corners of the United Kingdom to find a new venue.

To support Carol on the day, 28 of her teammates supported her by volunteering at the event and 15 other Ilford AC members also ran in the event including 2 Ernie Forsyth and Andrew Catton running their first ever parkrun.

Carol was pleased to finish under her target of 30 minutes, coming in on 29 mins 44 seconds in 111th place.

Other Ilford members competing in the run were Stephen Philcox 3rd 18:16, Richard Woolterton 5th 19:38, Diarmuid MacDonnell 15th 22:12, Bradley Brown 23rd 22:41, Breege Nordin 25th 22:48, Andy Catton 35th 23:52, Mandy Reid 84th 27:34, Shelagh Buckley 141st 31:52, James Huddart 142nd 31:53, Julie Gillender 163rd 34:39, Sheila Sinclair 178th 36:26, Karen Kufuor 195th 38:28, Wendy Everingham 206th 40:07 and Launa Broadley 231st 52:13.

Breege was 3rd lady and 1st in her age group

  Press Report 28th June 2022  

Jun 282022
 

South of England Champs
Chelmsford
12th / 13th June

Several athletes from Ilford recently competed in the South of England Championships, which these years were held at Chelmsford. 

Samuel Crane and Ryder Islam took part in the U15’s 3000m, for the latter it was his first track race over the distance. In warm, but windy conditions thy both acquitted themselves well , with Samuel finishing 7th in 10.42.59 and Ryder 10th in 11.10.25.

Joseph Grange took part in the U17 3000m, the pace was fast from the start, and Joseph sat off the early pace, content to lead the second group. The two leaders split after three laps, with Peck of St Edmunds pacers moving clear of Ballard of Colchester. Joseph by now was clear in 3rd place and was gaining rapidly on the Colchester athlete. He managed to catch him with 800m to go, but did not quite have the strength to push on. Over the last lap Ballard broke clear, but Joseph hung on for a very good 3rd place in a pb time of 8.53.67. 

Dylan Harrod and Farris Vakil took part in the U20 800m,, Dylan ran 2.04 in his heat, but unfortunately did not progress to the final. Farris won his heat in 1.59. The final the next day was a cagey affair with nobody wanting to force the pace, the ball was reached in 58 seconds and Jamie Rashbrooke of Basildon shot to the front creating a large gap. Farris was first to respond but could not catch the Basildon athlete who held on to win in a time of 1.53. Farris tired up a bit over the last 10 metres and just missed a medal in 4th place. 

Jordan Hinds was Ilford sole entrant in the women’s 800m which turned out to be a straight final, in a very competitive race, Jordan placed 5th n a time of 2.22.4 

Krystle Balogun competed in the senior ladies 200m, and placed 35th in her heat in a time of 26.17. 


Pleshey 5 Miles
Essex Championships
24th June

On Friday it was the senior members of the club that impressed at the Essex 5 mile championship held on a two lap rolling course around the picturesque village of  Pleshey .
It was a good evening for Ilford taking six individual Essex medals.
Gary Coombes led the team home in 25 place in 28 mins 45 secs taking the silver medal in the M50 age group. 

Sam Rahman placed 35th with 29 mins 42 secs followed by Steve Philcox who won the M55 category finishing in 45th place with 30 mins 11 secs. Next home was Ryan Holeyman in 56th  place for 30 mins 54 secs. Ryan was 4th in the U20 category.
Richard Woolterton recorded the only personal  best for the club in the race with 32 mins 25 secs and 77th, while club stalwart Andy Catton took silver in the M65 group placing 138th with 37 mins 36 secs.

Leading the Ilford Ladies was Alison Sale in 177th with 41 mins 45 secs earning her the bronze in the F55 category and Dianne Crisp recording 43 mins 46 secs for 186th earning her the silver in the F60 category. 

Ernie  Forsyth came home 188th with 43 mins 44 secs followed by Sharon Honey who gained a Silver medal in F65 category finishing 195th in 44 mins 52 seconds

Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham finished 219th in 49 mins 46 secs.

 

Olympic Park 5k – Elvis Race 3
Olympic Park
21st June

The Olympic Park 5km, the third round of this summer’s ELvis tournament was held over a flat but twisty 2 lap course around the Olympic Park. The Race was on the evening of the national train strike which resulted in many of the entrants not being able to make the start line including a few of Ilford’s leading competitors.

The top performer from the club was Jordan Hinds who moved through the field to claim a superb 2nd place in the ladies race in a new personal best time of 19 mins 34 secs.
Next home was Sameena Ahmed in 6th place in the ladies with 19 mins 59 secs and Anna Crawley 14th in 21 mins 00 secs. Hannah Sheikh also recorded a new best time for the distance with 22 mins 43 secs for 29th, while Gaye Young crossed the line 28th with 23 mins 56 secs. Alison Sale was the club’s final scorer in 69th with 25 mins 50 secs. In this match the Ilford Ladies finished 4th and are joint 2nd in the league

First home on the men’s side was Richard Woolterton in 37th overall in 19 mins 30 secs with Diarmuid Mac Donnell 44th with 19 mins 45 secs. Steve Crane continues to show improvement finishing one place and three seconds behind Diarmuid.
Terry Knightley was again victorious in the M60 age category in 20 mins 02 secs for 52nd
Joel Denning is another showing good form coming in 55th with 20 mins 11 secs, while Adam Coals closed the scoring team recording 20 mins 32 secs in 65th.
In the match  The Ilford men finished 5th in this fixture and stand 3rd in the league at the moment

Steve Chissell ran a personal best of 20 mins 41 secs for 69th and there was a rare race appearance from club middle distance coach Gary Floate finishing 135th with 23 mins 15 secs

Running well outside the scoring team were Dennis Briggs (21.23) Bradley Brown (23.57)  Declan Cullen (25.54)  Dianne Crisp (26.54)  Sharon Honey (27.39)  Mandy Reid Reid (27.47)  James Huddart (31.01)  Launa Broadley (31.01)

SVAC
20th June

A team of 3 represented the Ilford Men’s team at the SCVAC match on the evening of 20th June.

Peter Whiting finished fifth in the V50 hammer with 17m 23 while Henry Ricketts competed in the V50 long jump with a leap of 4m 33 securing fourth place.

Andy Catton ran all the V60 track events finishing third in the 800m in 3.10.2s, fifth in the 200m in 39.7s and fifth in the 3000m in 14.04.6s.

Following the long jump Henry competed in further V50 events where his 30.0s in the 200m  placed him eighth. His discus throw of 23m 41 achieved fifth place and his high jump of 1m 20 secured equal third.

Ilford AC placed 8th out of 9 teams in the evening.

 

  Press Report 21st June 2022  

Jun 212022
 

British Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Derby
10-12 June

Krystle Balogun continued to impress in her W35 endeavours with a superb Gold medal in the W35 200m, clocking 26.43seconds into a stiff -3.1m/s headwind putting her 0.5seconds clear of the field.
Earlier in the day she had captured a Bronze medal in the 100m which served as a good warmup for the afternoon’s 200m.
She takes another step towards representing Great Britain at the World Masters Championships in Tampere, Finland in July where she’ll contest her favoured 200m event.

Southern League
Parliament Hill 
12th June 

A small Ilford team produced some fine performances at the recent Southern League match at Parliament Hill, the team eventually finished 4th after battling all day for 3rd. 

Ilford’s top point’s scorer on the day was Veteran Pete Whiting who took part in seven events and scored an amazing 24 points. Most points came in the throws, but he also did 3 of the jumps. He was joined in the throws by  Jeeveakan Sivayogan and Wes Clarke who also picked up valuable points. 

The women’s throws have been a struggle for Ilford since re-joining the League, but new member Toyin Olufemi, produced two great performances in coming in the shot with 9 metres 53 cms and third in the discus with 25 metres 89 cms. She also ran a non scoring 100m.  The final field event points were scored in the high Jump by team Manager Wayne Hick.

A  strong headwind  meant the sprint time was never going to be fast, but Hakim Mohammed  won the men’s 100m and followed that up with 2nd in the 200m.  He was backed up by Elijah Mayindu who was second in both B string events.   In the women’s sprints  Efemena Adjarifo was 3rd in the A 100m and Aleena Lawrence was very impressive in winning the B 100m. Aleena also did the 200m coming 4th, with Ayshah coming 3rd in the B string. The Lawrence sisters along with Efe and Toyin stormed to victory in the women’s 4x 100, by a clear 5 seconds. 

Jordan Hinds tackled the  1500m and up against some fast competitors from Highgate she took 3rd place in a pb of 5.01.34. Sameena Ahmed and Anna Crawley took on the longest race of the afternoon and in very warm conditions and with very good competition came in 3rd in both the A and B strings. Anna later returned to gain valuable points in the 1500m. 

Dylan Harrod who is gradually regaining fitness competed in the 400 and 800m, he won the B string 800m and was 4th in the 400m. Bradley Deacon back from university was 4th in the A string 800m, but ran a good 400m to win the B string. 

Tom Gardner and Alex Richards ran the men’s 300m, whilst Tom had to settle for second in the A string, Alex won the B string.  Tom later also won the B string 1500m, Ahmed Abdulle who came along to watch the match was persuaded to run the 1500m and placed second in the A string, although he did only have trainers on. 

The final event of the day was a mixed 4x 400m and once again the team manager’s power of persuasion worked wonders as both Anna and Tom agreed to join Jordan and Dylan in a team, which did really well to finish in 2nd place. 

HAVERING  5 – Elvis #2
Raphael Park, Romford
14 June

There were good performances from Ilford AC in the second match of this summer’s ELvIS series despite the club fielding weaker teams than in the first event.

The men’s team were led home by junior athlete Ryan Holeyman in 11th place with a good time of 29 min 45 secs. He was supported by Steve Philcox two places behind in 29 mins 49 secs to take the trophy for the 1st in the M50 age group and Sam Rahman with 30 mins 25 secs for 18th. Gary Coombes returned from injury to place 20th with 30  mins 47 secs. Richard Woolterton impressed with 32 mins 31 secs for 33rd and 4th in the M50 category. while Steve Crane completed the scoring for Ilford’s men’s team in 37th and 33 mins 03 secs. 

The team were placed 3rd in a competitive match and are placed joint 2nd in the current table.

Sameena Ahmed ran a well judged race moving up to 3rd place in the ladies race during the run in a new personal best of 32 mins 49 secs to head home the Ilford Ladies.
Amy-Louise Bird came home in 33 mins 42 secs , also recording a new best time for the distance.
 Hannah Sheikh, who improves with every race, was the 3rd personal best on the day in 22nd  with 38 mins 19 secs.
Bree Nordin was next over the line as 2nd in the F60 category in 38 mins 33 secs, while Dianne Crisp came home 52nd in 44 mins 24 secs and Mandy Reid with 45 mins 29 secs closed the team.  

The Ilford Ladies placed 3rd in this match but remain joint top of the series.

Terry Knightley won the M60 age group once again with 33 mins 24 secs for 40th overall and there was also a personal best for Joel Denning in 33.31 for 43rd place

Manju Gopi made his club debut placing 114th in 39 mins 23 secs

Also in action: Diarmuid Mac Donnell (33.42)  Craig Livermore (34.10)  Adam Coals (34.28)  Steve Chissell (34.45) Dennis Briggs (36.11)  Bradley Brown (40.35) Sharon Honey (46.34)  Julia Galea (47.55)  Frieda Keane (48:05) Ray Everingham (49:21) Lana Broadley (51.56) Jim Huddart (52.54)