Barking Park 5k
Monday 31 st August

The torrential rain of a very unseasonal Bank Holiday Monday morning did little to dampen the spirits of runners from Ilford AC as an excellent turnout of 35 athletes braved the inclement conditions of the Barking Park 5k, the penultimate race of the ever popular Elvis 7 race series.

The Cricklefields based club were boosted by the return of former winner Amin Koikai who led the race for the first half lap of the 2 lap course, before eventually being swallowed up by the chasing pack. Nevertheless it was a fine performance for the Kenyan born veteran and his 16.50 and 5 th place gave him top male 40 plus run of the day. The Ilford men packed solidly behind him with Sam Rahman clocking 17.12 for 9 th ahead of a quartet of very strong veterans, Malcolm Muir 17.41, 11 th, Steve Philcox 17.42, 12 th, Paul Holloway 17.50, 13 th and Kevin Wotton 18.15,19 th completing the 6 man scoring squad that won through as the top Elvis male team on the day.

Further category prizes came Ilford’s way with Tony Hyde taking the over 50’s with 18.17 in 20 th position overall and Andy Catton the over 60’s with 20.42 in 69 th place. Although triumphant in the 6 man Elvis team competition Ilford just lost out to East London Runners in the main team race which is based on only 3 to score.

Similarly the ladies race proved to be a very close run affair between Ilford and East London Runners in the main and Elvis series competitions with the latter just prevailing in both, just 2 points separating them in the main race. Krystle Balogun battled bravely for her 2 nd place to clock 19.41 but was no match for winner Jenny Ansell ‘s (ELR) time of 18.35. Good support came in the shape of prolific women’s over 55 winner, Bree Nordin, 21.14 and club captain Jenni Sheehan 21.15, coming homein 8 th and 9 th respectively.

There were 267 finishers with the winner Nick Shasha of Orion clocking 15.57. The Elvis series now moves on to its conclusion with Race 7 at Valentines Park on 27 th September.

Other Ilford positions with times were 23rd Neil Crisp 18-34, 44 th Terry Knightley,19-37, 96 th Stephen Parker,21-59, 111 th Kieran McKenna,22-32, 115 th Billy Green,22-40, 116 th John Mackenzie,22-40, 117 th Declan Cullen, 22-45, 122 nd Abdi Berleen, 23-05, 126 th Nicola Hopkinson, 23-19, 129 th Zuzana Sinalova,23-26, 149 th Victoria Morgan, 24-11, 161 st Doris Gaga, 24-54, 167 th Pathrose Louis, 25-11, 171 st Baldev Singh, 25-20, 175 th Sukhbindar Jandu, 25-30, 176 th Ernest Forsyth,25-33, 180 th Julia Galea, 25-57, 197 th Sharon Honey, 27-25, 200 th Carol Muir,27-34, 221 st Pam Jones,29-37, 230 th Julie Gillender, 30-12, 240 th James Huddart, 31-36, 241 st Kim Baxter, 32-18, 252 nd 193 rd Sheila Sinclair, 34-47.

ENGLISH TRACK & FIELD CHAMPS – BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL STADIUM -29th-30th August 2015

After completing his 1st year at cross country and Track & Field and coming into these championships as Essex & South of England champion Ahmed Abdulle was against a very competitive field of 24 athletes from as far afield as Scotland and the Channel Islands. On a dull and wet windy day, he stayed with the early pace but had to settle for 10th place in a new Pb of 8-49 in the U/17 3000m

ESSEX COUNTY 10000m CHAMPIONSHIPS
Southend
Saturday 29 August

There was more success for Ilford AC at the Essex County 10000m Championship at Southend’s Garon Park track on Saturday. Sam Rahman can a well controlled race in the 25 lap event held in warm sunshine. He moved steadily through the field to finish in a new personal best of 36 mins 00.7 secs to be awarded the bronze Essex county medal

Southern League Match 5
Hemel Hempstead Saturday15th August 2015

Ilford AC finished their Southern League campaign with an excellent 4 th place at Hemel Hempstead on Saturday. This was Ilford’s toughest match of the season as three of the four opposing teams were in the top 6 of the division after the first four fixtures.

Ilford were no match for these three teams, but they had an all day battle with Braintree, with Ilford finally prevailing by 4.5 points, after the final event.

Top performer’s for Ilford were Vicky Onyeka and Krystle Balogun, who both did four individual events and a leg of the 4x 400 relay. Vicky took 2 nd place in the 100m in 13.6 and followed this up with 4 th in the 200 in 28.1. Before coming a top class sprinter Vicky was a thrower and returned to these events to win the shot put with 8.31 and take 3 rd in the Hammer with 24.86. Krystle once again won the 800m in 2.21.3, this means she was unbeaten over 800m in the League this year. She also took 3 rd place in the 400m in 61.5. Having a few hours before the relay Krystle decided to try a few other events and ran a very impressive 200m in 28.6 for second place, before gaining valuable points in the B string shot with a throw of 6.71.

After an injury hit 2014, Kelly Mavididi is going from strength to strength and had a great win in the B string 400m with a time of 63.3, she also ran a great leg in the 4x 400 relay. New member Adaku Okorie gained valuable points in the Long Jump with 2.56 for 4 th, 5 th in the Javelin with 12.07, her most impressive performance was in the high jump where a jump of 1m 25 gained 4 th place, she was also in the 4x 400 team.

The Final member of the ladies team was Naomi Browne who started the day with 4 th place in the Long jump with 4m 38 and was in the lead in the 100m, before suffering a hamstring injury around 80m, bravely she finished in 4 th place.

With more athletes on the men’s side, the workload was able to be shared, however almost everyone ended up doing at least two or more events.

Malachi Harley ran a great 100m gaining second place in a personal best time of 11.7, he followed this up with another personal best in the long jump with a leap of 5m 28 for 3 rd, before running the 3 rd Leg of the 4x 400. Zehn Ahmed also gained a personal best of 24.6 in taking second place in the 200m, before switching to the shot put where he finished 5 th with a throw of 5m 96, before finishing his afternoon with a leg in the 4x 100.

Kelechie Okorie has his usual busy meeting with 3 rd place in the 400m in 50.9, and gained valuable points in High Jump with 2 nd place with a jump of 1m 70, before switching his attention to running in both relays. Competing in only his second match Gboldade Ogunyemi had a solid run in the 400m for 5 th place in 61.5, but was outstanding in the B string High Jump which he won with a jump of 1m 60.

Jeffrey Nkrumah who is coach to many of the athletes had a busy afternoon, firstly helping organise the team, before putting on his racing spikes and coming 3rd in the B string 800m in a time of 2.11.5 which was only just outside his seasons best. He then switched to the Triple jump to take 4 th place in a personal best of 11.56, before running in both relays. Pete Whiting continues to gain valuable points in the field events, originally only coming to officiate Pete ended up doing the shot where he was 5 th in 6.39, discus 5 th in 17.92, Hammer 4 th in 16.56 and finally 4 th in the B string Javelin with 25.56. The final member of the field team was Tony Nixon who was 3 rd in the B string discus with a throw of 13.56

Ilford have struggled a bit with middle distance races this year, but this fixture, the team mangers SOS call was taken up firstly by new second claim member Lee Johnson who competing in his first match took 4 th in the 800m in 2.12.7 before returning later to take 3 rd in the 1500m with a time of 4.38.4. Sam Rahman ran a season’s best of 4.37.2 in taking 3 rd place in the A string 1500m, before following this with 2 nd in the B string 5000m with a time of 17.15.4. James Smith who is currently preparing for the Bournemouth and running 70 miles a week, decided to get in some speed work with a 5000m, where he was hoping to run 16.30, James stuck to his schedule until the last few laps where he fell away slightly but still managed a personal best of 16.36.9. After having a short rest and despite a dodgy technique he completed the 2000m steeplechase in 4 th place with a time of 7.49.7.

Bradley Brown ran in three non scoring races, running 15.2 in the 100m, 20.43 in 5000m and despite an injury 40.4 in the 200m.

Final match position. Dacorum & Tring 315.5, Medway & Maidstone 313, Colchester & Tendring 312, Ilford 161.5 and Braintree 157

Final League positions are not yet to hand, but Ilford are expected to be in 18 th position, which has exceeded expectations in their first season back.

WORLD MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lyon France

The last day if the 21st World Masters Athletics Championship in Lyon, France dawned overcast, cool and still. Ideal conditionals for the full and half marathon races on a wooded twisty turny course in Parilly Park.

Rob Sargent of Ilford AC was on the Great Britain team for the half and he ran a steady race reaching the end of the first lap in 51 minutes in 43rd place in the M60 category. He pushed on the second lap and gained one spot in his age group recording 1hr 46min 12 secs to finish 444th in a field of over 650.

Ilford AC’s elder statesmen, Tony Nixon, completed a remarkably consistent run of results when competing in the 5th and final race of the Harwich 5k series last Tuesday evening. For the 4th consecutive race 67 year old Nixon posted the quickest age related time of the evening crossing the line in an excellent 19 mins and 17 seconds which equated to 14.34 on the age related scale. Unusually the wind had dropped along the Dovercourt seafront affording some pleasant running conditions for the competitors. The Ilford man was delighted to also run his fastest time of the series with his age related time slightly bettering his actual personal best for the distance set many years ago back in his heyday.

Orion Harriers also held their final run of a 3 race series last Saturday at Chingford Plain with 6 runners from Ilford AC making the trip. Steve Philcox led the squad home over the challenging 5 mile course clocking 31.22 for 11th spot. He was followed in by Kieran Mckenna 37th in 34.24. Billy Green was delighted to break the 40 minute barrier for this race after years of trying recording an excellent 38.20 for 65th. Victoria Morgan was the sole female representative for the club with a solid run of 42..54 for 104th spot. Pathrose Louis was next in, 123rd in 44.26 and superveteran James Huddart chipped in with 57.02 for 163rd. Crispian Bloomfield of Billericay headed the 166 strong field posting a time of 27.32.
[shashin type=”album” id=”154″ size=”medium” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”n” order=”date” position=”center”]