Young Athletes Report Monday 20th March 2017  

Mar 302017
 

*Inter Counties Championship Loughborough 4.5k U15M Cross Country 11th
March 2017 *

As the Cross Country season draws to an end, two of Ilfords
young athletes were chosen to represent Essex in the Inter Counties
Championship, which was recently held at Loughborough. Both Mungo Prior and
Aaaron Samuel have had great winters and getting their Essex Vests was well
deserved.

The Inter Counties brings the top 8 Athletes from all counties across the
UK and is a very high standard of competition. The Ilford boys got caught
up in the very fast start and spent the rest of the race working there
through the field. Aaron eventually finished in 80th place in a field of
nearly 300 with a time of 17:10 and Mungo was close behind in 92nd In a
time of 17:14
The Ilford pair helped Essex place 13th in the team event.

​
17 year old Ahmed Abdulle now running in the
​U20 event​
gave a creditable effort in coming home in 22nd place in 28-45
​, just 1 minute and 4 seconds behind eventual winner Ben Dijkastra of
Leicester​
with his Essex team finishing in 7th place​
​ in the 8k cross country event​

*English Schools Cross Country Championship Norwich 18th March 2017*

One week later Aaron was again representing Essex in the English Schools
Cross Country Championships at Norwich, after previously the Essex Junior
boys championships, everybody was hopeful of a good run from Aaron. Not
content with a good run Aaron produced a great run and came in 15th, in a
time of 13:01 for the 4000m course which is one of the best places ever
from an Ilford male athlete.
​Ahmed Abdulle, carrying a slight hamstring injury battled on to finish
26th in a field of 324 runners in a time of 23:05 for the 7.2k Cross
country event.
Both Aaaron and Ahmed were part of the Essex winning team on the day who
took the Liverpool trophy​ for the boys aggregate score from Kent by just 1
point.

  Young Athletes Report 14th February 2017  

Feb 142017
 

A light falling of snow greeted the runners for the final Essex League fixture of the season at Basildon on Saturday. Although the snow meant that some of the fields were a little down in numbers, this was a real cross country test, with repeated ascents and descents of a steep hill on every lap.
First up was Matthew Hick in the Under 13 race. Matthew had hit a bit of form in the last few weeks and his confidence was high and this showed in the way that he started the race. After the opening 400m, Matthew was up with the leaders nicely placed around 11th. The course then took the runners out of view to the hilly sections. Matthew dug deep on the hills and by the time the runners reappeared he had moved up to 8th, but unfortunately lost two places in the sprint finish, but still ended up an excellent 10th which also placed him 8th overall in the final tables.
Next up were the Under 15 Boys in which Ilford had four runners. Mungo Prior led with a charging effort followed by Aaron Samuel. Next was Jack Halil who also made an aggressive start and finally Bradley Deacon. The Under 15’shad a similar course to the Under 13’s, but with an additional loop at the end of which saw Mungo contesting the lead with Aaron back in about12th, Jack behind and Bradley in the mid 20’s. As the race progressed Mungo was still in the top three and Aaron was making rapid progress through the field. Jack was having his best run of the season and Bradley had moved up a few places. Descending the final hill Aaron overtook Mungo and held onto third place, Mungo came in fourth place. Run of the day was from Jack who came in a brilliant 11th, Bradley also had a great run getting a best ever league finishing position of 21st. The final overall tables saw Mungo in a brilliant bronze position with Bradley 20th. The boys finished top of the tree in this fixture out of 9 competing teams and 5th out of12 in the final tables.
After a tough winter season, which has been disrupted by injury and exams, Jordan Hinds had her best race of the season in the Under17’s women’s race. Although a small field, in was packed with quality ,including the first four in this year’s Essex champs. The leaders made an early break, but Jordan had positioned herself in a great position just outside the top ten and as the field approached the hills she pushed on into the top ten. On the long run into the finish , it looked like she might even take a few more places, but the women in front just held on, and Jordan ended up with a League best place of 8th.
Away from the Country two of Ilford’s younger girls took part in the Valentines Park Run, Lesley Rogers produced a great personal best of 27.12 to take 51st place overall and 8th in the ladies section. Katie Deacon was rewarded for all her recent hard training with a personal best of 30.40 for 97th overall and 25thin the ladies section.

  Young Athletes Report 7th February 2017  

Feb 072017
 

A small number of Ilford AC young athletes competed in some high quality races in the last week doing the Club proud with their performances

In the year 7 Essex Schools X country Championships, 253 athletes competed. Matthew Hick, representing his school, as opposed to the borough, went off with the leaders from the start. Matthew continued to battle during the race and was outsprinted by 2 athletes at the end , but came a very promising 6th. As a result of this performance Matthew has been picked to represent Essex in the intercounties in March. Subsequently Matthew’s team won the team event and he won his first ever Essex medal.
In the Havering Mini Marathon trials, Matthew Hick and Jack Halil competed in the trials fighting for a place in the Havering team. Matthew finished 3rd to claim his place but unfortunately despite running extremely well in a high quality under 15 race Jack just missed out on a place in the team

Aaron Samuels represented Essex in the Intercounties at the weekend. Aaron , who recently won the Essex Schools gets better with every race, came a superb 5th position in a top quality race. Ahmed Abdulle, also Essex Schools champion and 9th in the Southern Counties, finished a brilliant 2nd.

 

  Young Athletes Report 31st January 2017  

Jan 312017
 

South of England Cross-Country Championship
Parliament Hill Fields
Saturday 28 January 2017

The South of England Championships was held at Parliament Hill last Saturday. The course which can sometimes resemble a swamp was a little drier than usual this year which led to some very close fast racing.
Star performer on a course on which he does not excel was Ahmed Abdulle competing in the Men’s Under 20 race run over 5 miles. The traditional start involves a cavalry charge up a steep 400m hill and Ahmed was in contention from the off. After the initial stampede he was nicely positioned in 10th place.
The second half of the race turned into a procession for Aldershot, who filled the first three places. Ahmed however had maintained his position and entering the final downhill run in he sprinted past a couple of runners to finish a brilliant 9th place.
In the Boys under 15 race Ilford had six runners and closed a team in this event for the first time in almost 20 years. As in previous weeks Ilford’s Aaron Samuel and Mungo Prior were battling each other as well as the rest of the field on nearly 300. In form Aaron was first Ilford Boy home in 29th place followed closely by Mungo in 42nd. Next in was Farris Patel in 163rd and closing the team was Jack Halil in 203rd. The team finished in 16th. Bradley Deacon was the next runner in claiming 252nd. Leo Ronson who navigated the course in just his trainers was final boy in placing 262nd.
Matthew Hick was Ilford’s only runner in the U13 Boys and got a very bad start and was always trying to overtake runners. Eventually he managed to get going and moved through the field to finish 215th in a field of over 300.
Jordan Hinds was also on her own in the Under 17 Women’s race and after a disappointing run last week, she acquitted herself much better this week with an excellent 108th place.

 

  Young Athletes Report 24th January 2017  

Jan 242017
 

Aaron & Ahmed storm to victory

Ilford AC only had a small representation of athletes at the Essex Schools X Country Champs in Colchester on Saturday but still came away winning 2 of the 6 County individual titles available.
First up on Saturday,on a very cold day ,was the Junior Boys race. The Club had 2 athletes in this age group and had high hopes of success before the start of the race.
Aaron Samuel ,who has gradually improved during the X Country season took the lead from the very star and immediately raced into a 20 metre lead. He maintained his momentum as he continued to pull away from the field. Coming to the final part of the race he still had the power and speed to sprint and win the race by over 20 seconds and become Essex Champion. Aaron will now go to the Essex Schools where Ilford have high hopes for Aaron to do well.
Also in the race was Farris Patel.Farris has been injured for 3 months and has only just returned to training. He went off quickly and was with the front group but lack of training took its toll and Farris struggled to maintain his position and finally ended up 16th,which was still a great run and we will now see Farris improve for the rest of the season.

In the Intermediate Girls race Jordan Hinds came 31st
In the Intermediate Boys race Mungo Prior, stayed with leaders for the start of the race and battled to a respectable 11th place,in a very high quality field. Also in this Race was Leo Ronson, who came 48th. Leo is only new to the club and ran very gamely.
The final race of the day was the Senior Boys race,where Ilford’s Ahmed Abdulle was the pre race favourite. Even though Ahmed had a slight injury he made sure he ran a very controlled race to win by just over 6 seconds and win Ilford AC’s second title of the day. He too will now go to the English schools with very high hopes.
A great weekend for the Ilford youngsters.