Lee Valley Indoors Centre
Essex and Eastern Counties combined champs
8th – 9th February 2014
Ilford AC’s small team of middle distance athletes excelled at these champs. Krystle Bologun got the squad off to a good start in the 800 metres setting a fast pace from the start coming home 1st in 2-22, a Pb for indoors & both titles. Next was Jack Maher who has been out of form lately but not to day with 150m in the 800 to go he made his move to come home 1st in 2-01 for a Pb indoors & both titles. Reining champion Usamah Patel faced his training partner Ahmed Abdulle in the 1500m,. The pace was fast from the start with Ahmed coming home 1st with a new Pb & Championship Best record of 4-13 & both tittles with Usamah settling for 2nd place in both titles.Tom Gardner in the senior 1500 was among 3 athletes breaking away from the pack and heading for a tight finish with Tom just missing out on the dip for the line in 4-12 Pb indoorsand 1st essex 2nd eastern counties.13 year old Isabella Hick in her first ever 800 ran a creditable 7th 2-56.
The Championships also proved to be a very successful weekend for the Ilford Sprints squad.

Muhammed Weyli (U17) making an impressive comeback by winning Gold in Eastern Counties and in Essex with a winning time of 7.25s for the 60m. In the semi finals he managed to run a PB of 7.22 and was expected to run sub 7.20 in the finals.However due to never using blocks before and deciding to use it in the finals resulted in a stumble which he managed to courageously recover from and therefore win the race.

Training partners, Thomas Cooney (U15) and Shane Johnson (U15), both medalled in the 300m which was also an exciting race from start to finish. Thomas rapidly accelerating into first place but Shane battles hard to keep in the race, the fight from both athletes allowed both the training partners to come first and second. Thomas with a winning time of 40.18s, and Shane just a second behind.

Thomas Cooney also medalled in two other events, the 200m and 60m. Therefore gaining a total of 6 medals in under 24 hours. For a first championship that is very impressive. In the 200m despite winning his heat officials managed to mix up the lanes resulting in Thomas being in lane 1 (worst lane in indoors tracks). Regardless of his lane he still managed to come 3 rd with a time of 24.42 a new indoor PB. And in the 60m sprint he also came 3 rd with a time of 7.50.
Many other Ilford athletes competed including Zehn Ahmed (U17) who’s been out of training and not in the best condition yet still managed to run 7.62s in the 60m.

Amazigh Laoudi (U20) who’s been suffering an ongoing back injury for over 4 months still managed to win his 400m heats with ease at a time of 52.09s (close to a PB) but unfortunately coming 4 th in the Finals, still medalled for Essex however.

Victoria Onyeka (U23) competed in the 60m,200m, and 400m all in one weekend, very difficult to do but still managed to PB in the 200m with a time of 27.93s and the 400m with a time of 61.90s.

Imani Looby (U17W) had a strong performance this weekend, although it was her first ever race she managed to make it into the semi finals for the 200m with a heat time of 28.87s, not bad for a first 200m and then in the semi’s she managed to keep consistent with a time of 28.89s.

Other Races

Meanwhile Club Captain and prolific racer Malcolm Muir ran the Chichester priory 10km last Sunday on a perfect crisp morning!

With the usual class field of some 1500 runners the race was won by Toby Lambert in 30.03. Muir topped the Male 40 vet section with an excellent 32.50 which gave him 24th position overall. The Ilford man was happy with his performance despite confessing to a poor 1st half in 16.45 but picked up later finishing strongly and coming back in 16,.05.
In North Essex Ilford stalwart Ian Wilson made a rare appearance at the fast Great Bentley half marathon running a very respectable 92.21 which gave him 138th place out of 724 finishers.

South of England Cross Country Championships – Brighton

Ilford AC continued to maintain a strong presence in these championships with Club captain Malcolm Muir drawing on his elite troops in the Senior race.
Held over 9 miles at Stanmer Park , Brighton, last Saturday on a hilly but dry course and on a cold crisp day, 5 Ilford athletes travelled down to compete in the race.

The race was won by Ben Tickner of Brighton Phoenix in 50.21. The Ilford athletes’ times were as follows:
1. V40 runner Malcolm Muir – Position 122nd, time 57.05
2. SEN track runner Tom Gardner, Position 129th, time 57.20
3. V45 runner Paul Holloway, Position 434th, time 66.23
4. SEN Sam Rahman, Position 475th, time 67.28
5. SEN Michael Horsey, Position 751st, 80.05
857 runners finished the race.

In the Under 17 race Ahmed Abdulle & Usamah Patel both acquitted themselves well. The eventual winner was Mohammed Mohammed of Southampton ac to whom Ahmed had previosly finished 3rd in the Inter Counties champs . However this time Ilford’s Abdulle was carrying a hamstring injury so held back on the 1st lap of 2 coming through to take 22nd place in 21-49 for the 6k event. Usamah was feeling under the weather yet ran gamely for 80th place 23-27.

Essex Schools X/c champs Colchester 17th January

Ahmed & Usamah both running for Redbridge Schools both put in excellent performances, Ahmed chasing home the eventual winner Soloman of Woodford for 2nd place with Usamah having his best run of the season in 6th place,both athletes have been selected to run for Essex in the English Schools X/c champs.

South of England Indoor Champs Lee valley 18th January

Krystle Bologun making her debut at this level ran a fine race in the heats of the 800m coming 2nd,just missed out on a podium place in the final finishing in 4th

Victoria Park 10k

Ben Jones competed in the Victoria Park 10K in a field of over 500 coming 10th in a time of 36.36.

Essex Cross Country League
Epping Forest, Chingford
Saturday 10 January

There was a good turnout from Ilford AC at the 4th round of this winters Essex Cross-Country League held on the usual tough course set by host club Orion Harriers in Epping Forest at Chingford. This near the conditions were harder than usual as the recent weather meant the course was soon churned into a quagmire.
Four young Ilford athletes took on a very tough and muddy course finding the the going difficult and mainly trying to keep their feet, but still gave a good account for themselves. Matthew Hick placed 5th in the u/11 in 5-24 with sister Isabella Hick 31st u/13 girls 22-50 Manraj Gill was 38th in the u/13 boys (13-24) where Bradley Deacon placed 40th (13-28). Under 17 Usamah Patel is starting to return to full fitness and put in a solid run for 9th place in 27-40.

The senior ladies event was over the same distance and Jenni Sheehan continued her good form on the country and finished in a season high 24th in 32m44s while Bree Nordin was once again the leading F55 in 38th with 37m 42s. Doris Gaga went off course on the 2nd lap of the race but soon corrected herself without losing too much time to finish 82nd. The ladies finished 13th in this match.

There were 12 Ilford vests on the start line of the senior mens 9km race and the team were led home by an excellent run from Tom Gardner in 8th with 29m exactly. Malcom Muir was his normal gritty self to lead home the M40 category in 14th spot overall in 30m 00s, while there was a good run from Steve Philcox for 36th in 32m 15s. Ben Jones recorded 34m 07s in 60th and Neil Crisp placed 77th with 35m 47s. Sam Rahman, racing on his least favourite surface, closed the scoring team in 79th in 35m 57s. The men placed 7th in this match but were 3rd in the veterans match. Andy Catton finished 81st and leading the M60 age group with 36m 03s and Bradley Brown 115th in 40m 16s. There were two runners having their first race of the winter; Mike Horsey (125th 41m 18s) and Matt Maple (140th 45.15) , and completing the line up for the team were Steve Parker (130th 42.18) and Steve Cheal (133rd 42m 57s)

With one match left this season, at Colchester on January 31st, Ilford are 8th in senior mens table and the ladies are also 8th with the u17 men 10th. The mens veterans team are 3rd and the veteran ladies 10th.
On the individual front Tom Gardner is 7th senior man, Malcolm Muir 1st in the M40 group and Steve Philcox 8th in the same category, while Neil Crisp is 5th M50. For the senior ladies Krystle Balogun is in 5th place and Jenni Sheehan 10th. Bree Nordin is leading the F55 group and Usamah Patel is 13th in the u17 men.

South of England Indoor Champs Lee Valley
Saturday 10th January
Running in his first ever 1500m indoor Ahmed Abdulle took a excellent silver medal. With a very slow early pace Ahmed stayed with the lead runner to nearly half way. With two laps to go the leader made his move with Ahmed in chase but had to settle for 2nd place in a time of 4.21.