Southern Athletic League Press Report May 30th 2022  

May 302022
 

Ilford AC competed in the first Southern athletic league of the  2022 season  at Lee valley last weekend. Ilford had a small team that turned out but as usual the whole team competed to a high level to finish 4th in the match. With a few more events covered Ilford would have been closer to the leading teams

 

The 6  Ilford AC Ladies had a very successful day. First up as usual was the ever reliable  Krystle Balogun, who came third in the 100 with 13.2 and second in the 200 in a great time of 26.5. Krystle also got good points in the Shot with a throw of 6.98. Backing Krystal up in the sprints was the returning Ayshah Lawrence. Ayshah came third in the 100 and 200  in 14.4 and 30.5

New Ilford Ac member Toyin Olufemi competed in the shot Putt and looked superb with a throw of 9.63 for second place

Moving onto the middle distance and Jordan Hinds had a tough day running the 400,800 and 1500. In the 400m Jordan came 2nd in 63.9,ran a great 800 to win in 2.25 and came back later to come third in the 1500 in 5.28

Our last 2 ladies were both outstanding in the 3000. Sameena Ahmed led from the start to win in 11.27 and Anna Crawley won the B string  in 11.57. Anna came back to come second in the 1500 in 5.32

 

Moving onto the Men’s and once again Ilford had some great performances. Starting with the sprints Abdulhakin Mohamed looked awesome in the 100 winning in 10.80. Much more to come this season from Addulhakin.In the B string new Member Mohamed Zergouat came 4th in the 100 in 12.21 and 5th in the 200 in 26.96. In the 400 , Essex u17 Champion Oliver Blainey ran another Personal best with a time of 50.8. Sub 50 by the end of the season should be achievable .Oliver also did a PB in the High jump with a jump of 1.50

Dylan Harrod, coming back from injury , looks to be getting back to his best, ran the B string 400 and won in 54.2. Dylan also pushed himself to win the 800 B string in 2.04. Dylan also jumped in the triple  jump with a jump of 9 meters

In the A string 800 Ilford ACs young vet Paul Grange seems to get better and better with each year and ran an impressive 1.57 to win. Paul returned later  in the 1500 to race with his own son Joseph. Joseph ran excellently to get a big pb of 4.16 for second place. Paul came second in B string with the same time

In the men’s 5000 it was great to see Tom Gardner back from his short trip to Australia. Tom hadn’t lost any of his fitness and looked impressive winning with 15.46

In the field events it was also great to see Wesley Clark return as an Ilford AC member and throw the Hammer an impressive 33 meters for second place. Also Jeevakan Sivayogan and Pete Whiting definitely need a mention for doing all the other throw events. Jeevakan looked very impressive in the shot putt with a throw of 8.17 for second place

The last race of the day as usual was the men’s 400 and Ilford has a great tradition in 4 x 400 meter running and the team of Paul, Joseph, Oliver and Dylan didn’t let us down and stormed home to first place in 3.39

Great performances and support from the whole team

  Press Report 24th May 2022  

May 242022
 

Summer Ware Cup
Loughton
Thursday 19th May

Ilford had a large youth squad and small Senior squad entered for the Ware Summer Cup on a warm Thursday evening in ideal conditions for racing.

Mohamed Zergout had a great race in the U17’s finishing 2nd on the 5k course in a time of 23:41.

In the U15’s race Samuel Crane really impressed coming home in first place in 20:49 over the 5k course whilst Anika Sharma was 4th girl home in 27:30.
Ilford had 2 boys in the U13 race over 1.5k, Tyran Pabla finishing 12th in 7:44 and Luke Thake 17th in 8:41

Finally in the U11 race, also over 1.5k Sofia Crane came in on 9:33 for 11th followed just 3 seconds later by her brother Saif Crane. Saavi Saenia came in just 3 places later in a time of 9:43

Seb Parris led the Ilford Senior team home in 15th place in a time of 31:19 over the 5 mile course, followed closely by Steve Crane, who had just watched his 3 children compete in the Juniors race, in 25th place for 32:55.

Frieda Keane led the ladies home in 47th place for 48:56.

Hackney Half Marathon
Sunday 22nd May

The Hackney Half Marathon is one of London’s newest, and largest halves with over 13,000 athletes congregating on Hackney marshes for the early start.

The route skirts parks and the major roads through Hackney, which are all closed to traffic, before winding its way through the Olympic park and finishing back on Hackney Marshes.
Despite the early start the heat was intense as the race got going and there were reports of a few people collapsing with heat exhaustion. 

Fortunately Ilford’s contingent of three runners got through unscathed and all posted good results.
Dennis Briggs led the team home in 1:34:48.
Next home was the ever reliable Frieda Keane running in her second race of the week in a time of 2:16:42. Frieda was closely followed by Mandy Reid in a time of 2:17:45. Mandy also competed in the Hackney 5k the day before as part of the Hackney Festival of running. Mandy’s time in the 5k was 27:35.

Kirton Friday 5
Friday 20th May

Part of the Felixstowe Summer 5 series, Malcolm Muir put in his normal gutsy performance to finish 16th and 2nd V45 in a time of 28:48

Great Baddow 10 Miles
Sunday 22nd May

The Great Baddow 10 celebrated its 40th Anniversary on Sunday and probably the hottest in its history.
Amin Koikai of Ilford however defied the undulating conditions and heat to finish in 3rd place overall and 1st M50 in an incredible time of 58 mins 37 seconds

  Press Report – Essex County T+F Championships  

May 232022
 

Essex Champs 14th/15th May 2022 

Ilford had  a fine weekend at the Essex champs recently, picking up  11 medals. ( 4 gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze )  Unfortunately a breakdown in the results system meant that a week later some results are still missing.

Day 1 

First Ilford involvement on day one was the heats of the U15 1500m, Samuel Crane was in heat and produced a great run to finish 6th in a pb time of  4.51.88, his time was so good that he qualified for the final later in the day. Ryder Islam was in heat two  and finished in 9th in 5.17.42, which was again a pb.  Later in the day in a very fast starting 1500m final, Samuel worked his way through the field to finish in a very creditable 6th place and ran another pb of 4.49.66. 

Next up were the 100m heats, and this is an area where results are still missing, in the U13 women , both  Laila Charles and Ruby Moffat Virik  ran pbs, but unfortunately did not progress to the final. Jadyn Charles also ran a pb of 14.39 in the U17 women’s heats.  In the U20 women’s heats Alenna Lawrence who picked up an injury mid week, ran a season best of 13.30 but  was clearly hampered. Toyin Olufemi  came 6th in the senior ladies final. 

In the  men’s U15 100m  both Tyran Pabla and Jaydn Kyle Mcdermott secured pbs, both were unfortunate not to progress to the final.  Defending Champion Hakim Mohammed breezed through the heat  and he was joined in the final by training partner Elijah Mayindu.  Unfortunately the final was delayed by over 40 minutes. Both Hakim and Elijah made great starts, but as did Lee Dollard of Basildon, as the race progressed Hakim and the Basildon athlete pulled clear, and the Basildon just got the victory on the dip. Elijah ended up in 5th place. 

In the 300m Krystle Balogun gained an Essex Gold in a time of 42.93 seconds

Oliver Blainey was Ilfords sole 400m runner  and strolled through the heats of the U17 men’s 400m  easing up considerably down the home straight to ease through in 53.08. In the final the same day Oliver went from the off and established a lead which he maintained the whole way to win by a clear second in a PB time of 50.84. 

Farris Vakil completely dominated the U20 men’s 800m, leading from gun to tape to win in a time of 1.58.45 

Day 2

First events on day 2  were the U15 800m, Ilford had runners in both heats. Samuel Crane ran his third pb of the weekend  in placing 5th in heat one. Aaron Hick had a great race in heat 2, clocking a pb time of 2.16.56, but agonisingly missed out on a place in the final by 1/10th of a second.  Ronan Edwards  was Ilford’s only representative in the U17 800m,  and he produced a  pb of 2.03.5 to qualify for the final.  He went even better in the final improving his best again to 2.01.73 in taking a bronze medal. 

Joseph Grange had a great run in a high quality u 17’s 3000m finishing 3rd in a time of 9.06.06. Ryan Holeyman did likewise in the U20 3000m finishing 3rd in 10.07.46. 

Ruby Moffatt Virek improved her pb by over 2 seconds  in the heats  of the u13 girls 200m as did Laila Charles. Reianne Dowdridge had a fine run breaking 30 seconds in her heat of the u13 200 and a feat also achieved by Jadyn Charles in the u17 heats.  In the u15 boys 200m Jaydn  Kyle- Mcdermott ran a fine time of 29.26. In the u17 men Oliver Blainey won his heat in a time of 23.09 and Mohammed Zergouatran a pb of 26. 28 in the same heat. Oliver returned 2 hours later for the final and produced a great run in a PB time of 22.68, to take the silver medal.  Wanya Williams ran 2 seasons bests in making the senior men’s 200m final in which he placed 7th. 

Paul Grange  had a great run in the Vets 1500m, adding the vets title to the senior title he won last year. 

Toyin Olufemi was Ilford’s sole field event competitor  and produced an excellent throw of 9 metres 27 to take 2nd place in the senior ladies shot.

Ilford have a fine history in the walking events and this was continued with Rachel Lawless in  a  comfortable gun-to-tape winner of the 3,000 Metres walk at clocking a respectable 18 minutes and 14 seconds.
In the men’s race over the same distance, Ilford’s 2nd claim member Stephen Crane completed the frame with a spectacular 3rd place finish in a personal best 14.33, with club colleagues John Arthur and Stuart Bennett 4th and 5th respectively timed at 17.52 and 18.04.

Notable performances for some of the youngsters who’s results unfortunately are not yet online – PB’s for U13G Reianne Dowridge 100m, U13G Stacey Amaniampong 100m and U17M Mohamed Zergouat 100m.

Anika Sharma also ran well in the 100 and 200m for the U15 girls

 

  Press Report 17th May 2022  

May 172022
 

Chester Half Marathon
Sunday 15th May

Terry Knightley of Ilford AC won his first England ‘Masters’  Vest making his England debut on Sunday at The Chester Half Marathon.
Running in his third big race in 13 days including Winning Essex Gold at the Halstead Marathon last Sunday was not ideal preparation for the event.
The Chester course was brutally undulating and was held in hot and humid conditions and Knightley finished in 1 Hours and 29 Minutes and 11 Seconds and was 221st out of a huge field of 3,899 athletes and was 4th MV60
After a well deserved rest his next England race will be The Bristol 10K in September.

 

VAC 5 MILE CHAMPIONSHIP
​Battersea Park
Tuesday 10th May

The VAC 5 mile championship was held on a 3 1/2 lap fast course in Battersea Park and was open to all athletes over 35 years of age.
Ilford AC had two finishers in the event. First home was Joel Denning in 33rd overall spot in a new personal best time of 33 mins 52 secs to place 4th in the M40 category, while Rob Sargent was 66th and 5th in the M65 age group in 47 mins 12 secs.

 

EUROPEAN MASTERS ROAD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP
Grosseto Italy
May 14th and 15th

Rob Sargent of Ilford AC travelled to Grosseto on the Italian west coast to take part in the European Masters Road Running Championships. His first race was the 10km  on a hot Friday evening over an urban course. The high temperature affected most of the field and times were slower than normal. Rob suffered on the second lap but managed to pick up a couple of places to finish 321 overall in 65 mins 01 secs and 24th in his M65 age group. 

He  was also in the Great Britain M60 team that placed 5th in the team rankings.

The next morning the 5km was held on a 2000m cycle track and the morning start meant that temperatures were cooler. Despite feeling tired from the previous evening Rob put in a good performance to record 27 mins 54 secs to come home 46th in the race for men over 65 and 25th in the M65 category.  In this race he was in the M65 British team and combined with Andy Murray of Dulwich Runners and Phil Jones from Baildon Runners to take 3rd place in the team competition and win the bronze medal. This was Rob’s first ever European Masters medal.

 

Ipswich Twilight 5k
Saturday 14th May

Ilford Stalwart Malcolm Muir competed in the Ipswich Twilight 5K at the weekend.
Malcolm gave his normal battling display to record a super fast time of 16 mins 46 seconds to claim 31st place overall, in a field of 368 runners, which placed him 2nd in the V45 category.

Phoenix Strictly Running Ultra

Sunday 15th May

The Phoenix running event was originally planned for 2020, so Ilfords Craig Livermore has been preparing for this event for 2 years.
Taking in a 3.28 mile route, out and back, along the River Thames the aim is to complete as many laps as you can in a timed event with entrants having to finish the lap they are on after 7 hours.

Craig ran an excellent race to finish 2nd overall completing 39.4 miles over 12 laps in a time of 7 hours 7 minutes 25 seconds

SCVAC Match 1
Lee Valley
9th May

The Ladies and Men’s Vets Track and Field team competed at Lee Valley on the Monday evening of 9th May.

Due to unavailability and other commitments both squads struggled with numbers but despite that performed admirably to finish 8th and 3rd respectively.

The Ladies team consisted of two athletes in the form of Rachel Lawless and Shaheda Arthur who competed in the 2000m race walk. Rachel was first in her competition group and Shaheda second in times of 11m 50.9s and 20m 21.3s to gain 14 points, which was the overall score for the team.

The race walk men of John Arthur and Stuart Bennett finished first and second in their competition age groups in 11m 49.3s and 12m 21.1s to start the Men’s scoring in positive fashion. 

James Lambden, debuting for the club, covered the V40 100m sprint in 15.2s for fifth place and was non-scoring in the flat 400m (74.4s) and 1500m (5m 39.7s) in his regular V50 age group.

Fabrizio Stefanoni, debuting as a veteran athlete, covered the V40 400m placing second in a time of 64.4s. His time of 4m 50.7s earnt a third place finish in the V40 1500m.

Dave Butler came down several distances to run the V60 100m claiming fifth place in 18.9s. In his preferred distance of 1500m his time of 5m 40.5s secured first place in the V60 category.

Henry Ricketts in the V50 100m finished fourth in 13.5s and in the long sprint his time of 67.2s secured fifth place. A personal best of 8m 74 in the V50 shot placed him second.

Steve Chissell battled for fourth in the V50 1500m in a time of 5m 46.5s.

Andy Catton ran as a non-scoring athlete coming home in 6m 27.5s.

The 4 x 100m relay team of Fabrizio, James, Henry and Dave brought the baton home in 62.8s for fourth place.

On the evening Ilford Men scored 87 points for third place.

Full result will be on power of 10. The next match is on Monday 20th June in Stevenage.

 

 

 

RACE WALKING

 

CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE FOR RACHEL LAWLESS
Ilford’s Rachel Lawless was a comfortable gun-to-tape winner of the gold medal in the Essex County 3,000 Metres Championship walk at Chelmsford’s Melbourne Stadium on Sunday, clocking a respectable 18 minutes and 14 seconds.
In the men’s race over the same distance, Ilford’s 2nd claim member Stephen Crane completed the frame with a spectacular 3rd place finish in a personal best 14.33, with club colleagues John Arthur and Stuart Bennett 4th and 5th respectively timed at 17.52 and 18.04.

 

 

 

 

  Press Report 9th May 2022  

May 092022
 

Halstead Marathon
8th May 2022

On Sunday a Trio of Ilford Athletic club Athletes tackled the Notoriously Hilly 26.2 Miles of The Halstead Marathon in Very Hot and Sunny Conditions.

The Race incorporated The Essex County Marathon Championships and attracted a high quality field of over 500 entrants.

First Finisher for the Club was the ever reliable Sam Rahman in 17th position in 3 Hours and 59 Seconds.

Next Finisher in 28th place Winning the Gold First Over 60 Essex County Medal and retaining his title from last year was Terry Knightley in 3 Hours 10 Minutes and 45 Seconds.

Anthony Young Completed the three man Team  and put in a Sterling effort finishing in 4 Hours 26 Minutes and 36 seconds for 183rd Place, which considering his lack of training due to injury was a great performance

All finishers received a Well Deserved T-Shirt and Medal and Goody Bag for their efforts