Southern Athletics League – Match 3
Parliament Hill, London
Saturday 15th June
Ilford made a short trip across town to Parliament Hill fields for their third Southern League fixture of the season, unfortunately the recent wind and rain prevailed so times were generally slow.
Top performer on the men’s side was recent new joiner Paul Grange, who firstly came second in a very fast 800m in a time of 1.56.2, this knocked over 10 seconds Ilford’s over 40’s club record, not content with this he came back less than an hour later to come second in the 400m in a time of 52.7, which was again an Ilford vets record. Jak Wright also did the 400m/800m double and in finishing 2nd in the B string in both events, set two new pbs of 2.05.0 and 56.9.
Despite not training since the last match Dan Wheeler was his usual busy self, with second in the A string 100m, 3rd in the A string 400m hurdles in a pb of 66.8, 3rd in the A sting High Jump, 3rd in the B string shot, before running a leg in the 4x 100 relay. Wanya Williams did both sprints with 3rd in the B string 100m and 4th in 200m, before anchoring the 4x 100 relay team to victory.
The mens middle distance side continues to score excellent points, after having some time off for exams Bradley Deacon took a very good 4th place in the 1500m in a pb time of 4.26.8, with Phil Elull taking 3rd in the B string. Tom Gardner and Sam Rahman took on the longest event of the day the 5000m, and in a high quality field both took 3rd places. Ilford scored maximum points in the Steeplechase with Mungo Prior running a pb of 6.19.6 and Aaron Samuel winning the B string in his debut over the 2k distance.
Nat Senior took on several events with 4th in the B string high jump, second in the A sting long jump, 4th in the A string shot before running a very good second leg in the 4x 100 relay. Sam Malekout has been Ilfords top point scorer for the last two seasons and continues to amass points, he started off with 3rd in the Pole Vault, 4th in the A string triple jump, he had a very good throw in the discus of 29 metres for another 3rd place, 4th in the B string Hammer, a good second place in the javelin with a throw of 37.96, before finishing his day with the opening leg of the 4x 100 relay.
Jack Halil has been experimenting with 4oom hurdles this year, he was disappointed with his race, but picked himself to gain valuable points in the long jump where he won the B string in a pb of 5.09, followed by 3rd in the B string triple jump. Roger Honey has become a valuable member of the team this season picking up points in events where we have struggled in the past, he came second in the B string pole vault, second in the B string discus and 4th in the A string Hammer. Alex Richards who is injured could not run, became a willing victim for the Javelin and threw a very good 25.56 for 3rd place.
The 4x 400 team was made up of middle distance runners, Jak Wright led the team off with 57.4 for 3rd place, Mungo ran second lap and retained 3rd with a leg of 57.6. Aaron run a great 3rd leg of 54.4, but still in 3rd. Paul had his third great run of the day with a split of 51.8 to bring the team home second.
Bradley Brown competed in the non scoring 5000m and 1500m, running times of 22.52.3 and 7.08.3
The women’s side suffered more with the drop outs and were only left with five competitors, all of them put themselves out to try additional and earn valuable points. Krystle Balogun led the way scoring 18.5 including first in the A sting 100, second in the A string 200m, and winning the B string 400m. It was good to see Esmeralda Mengeyele back injury and she was straight into the thick of things, with victory in the A string 100m in 13.0 secs dead, 3rd in the A string Long jump , 5th in the A string shot and 3rd in the A string Javelin.
Both Gemima Eshimu Massamba and Ayshah Lawrence have been busy with exams over the last few months, but they put the books down for the day to compete, Gemima won the A sting 400m, before being persuaded to take one throw in the Javelin, which turned to get her second in the B string. Ayshah had a great run the 200m taking in the B string in a pb of 29.0, before then competing in the Long jump and discus.
Nicola Hopkinson was Ilfords only lady middle distance runner and came 4th in the A string 1500m and 5th in the A string 3000m, before also gaining points in the shot and discus.
The 4x 100 team of Gemima, Ayshah, Krystle and Esmeralda stormed to victory in a very quick time.
Ilford ended the match in 4th place.
Southern Counties Veterans’ League
Monday 10th June
The Ilford Vets teams braved the wintery and wet conditions of Monday to compete in the second match of 4 in the Herts and North Middlesex League. Another fantastic performance from the Men’s team resulted in another first place on the evening to consolidate the same position from match one.
Sam Malekout in the non-scoring 200m hurdles recorded a new IAC vets record of 28.4s. He followed this up in the V35 category with a first place in the flat 200m in 25.0s.
Sam Rahman in the same age group ran well in the 800m recording 2.16.1 for third and this was followed by 10.02.1 for third in the 3000m. Seb Parris ran as a guest in both races recording 2.28.9 and 10.39.5 in the 800m and 3000m respectively.
Paul Grange who has recently moved to IAC ran a comfortable 800m in 2.11.3 for first place in the V40 category. This was followed by a sharp 24.7s in the 200m again for first place.
Andy Catton came down an age group to finish the 800m in the V50 category for fourth place in a time of 3.04.7. Moving to the V60 age group he ran the 3000m in 13.10.9 again for fourth.
Henry Ricketts covered the V50 sprint running the 200m in 29.1s for sixth. In the discus his distance of 21m 58 secured fourth and coming down to the V40 shot his distance of 7m 71 also placed him fourth.
Steve Chissell debuted for the club in the V50 3000m running 11.59.8 for fifth.
Peter Whiting in the hammer achieved 15m 46 for eighth.
Roger Honey in the V60 sprint placed fourth in 35.0s over 200m. In the shot put his distance of 8m 93 secured first place.
In the closing event of the men’s match the team of Paul, Sam R, Seb and Sam M brought the baton home in the 4 x 400m in first place with a time of 4.07.0.
The Ladies team was represented by 2 athletes in the form of Michaela Davis and Barbara Higgins.
Barbara competed in the V35 high jump clearing 0.90m for equal fifth. In the W50 javelin her distance of 10m 97 also secured fifth. Over the 200m her time of 41.2s placed her third in the W60 age group.
Michaela competed in the W35 javelin throwing 6m 91 for fifth. In the W50 high jump her clearance of 1m 05 placed her fourth and in the same age group her time of 37.5s over 200m also secured fourth.
An admirable position of sixth as a ladies team was achieved.
Woodford Track Open Meeting
Tuesday 11th June
Windy conditions, were the order of the night at the recent open meeting at Woodford, nevertheless there were some fine performances by Ilford Athletes.
First up were the 800m and Veteran athletes Steve Philcox and Bradley Brown ran 2.31.18 and 2.56.93 in their respective races. Ryan Holeyman who has been training really well recently, went off quickly in his race and hit the bell in a 400m pb of 65 secs, despite slowing on the second lap he produced a new pb of 2.23.3
The 3000m was next and Philip Elull made a positive start an by hitting the front, further back in his second race of the night was Ryan Holeyman, Joseph Grange, Danny Holeyman and Zuzana Sinalova. The wind appeared to be getting stronger as the race went, Phil hanging in well, and Ryan who as well as trying to stay clear of Joseph was also making sure he stayed ahead of Danny his father.
Phil continued to push and eventually came in 6th in a time of 10.46.84, Ryan set his second pb of the night with a time of 10.53.98, with Danny clocking 11.15.96 and Zuzana 12.07.34.
Special mention to young Joseph who in his first track 3000m ran an excellent time of 11.02.41.
ESSEX 5000m Championship
Braintree
Wednesday12 June
On a still night ideal for track distance running the Essex County5000m Championship took place in Braintree. There was a large entry in the senior men’s event of over 60 runners, who were split into 4 races. There were 2 entries from Ilford AC both running in heat 2. Sam Rahman ran his normal steady race gaining places as the race progressed to finish in a good time of 17 mins 08.9 secs, which placed him 34th in the overall standings. Also in action was Seb Parris who attacked the race with the aim of setting a new personal best time. He ran with this goa;ll but kept his pace under control to break 18 minutes for the first time and succeeding at setting a new best time of 17 mins 53.9 secs. He ranked 44th in the results.
Capel 5m Road Race
Sunday 16th June
Ilford AC Super-Veteran, Terry Knightley, was the sole club representative on Sunday 16th June at the Annual Capel 5 Miles Race around the streets and farm tracks of Capel-St-Mary in Suffolk.
Running on a one lap undulating course, Terry finished in 20th position from a field of 130 Athletes in a time of 33 Minutes and 52 seconds and was 4th in the Male Veteran Over 50 Category.
Also running was Ex-Ilford AC Member Andy Horlock who finished in 52 Minutes 26 seconds.
BMAF 5k
Horwich
Sunday 16th June
The British Masters 5km Championship was held once again at Horwich in Lancashire at the town annual festival of racing which includes running, race walking and cycling. The races are held on a mile circuit of the town centre with a stiff climb on each id the three laps. There were three runners from Ilford Ac in this event, Doris Gaga ran a good race to finish in her second best time ever of 26mins 22secs to take the bronze medal in the F55 age category. There was also a bronze medal for Julia Galea in the F60 age grouping as she finished in 27mins 24 secs. The three Ilford runner was club endurance coach Rob Sargent who raced for the first time this year following a long period on the injured list who recorded 28mins 06secs for 11th in the M65 category.
