Southern League Track and Field
Lee Valley
14th April 2018

Ilford made a great start to their 2018, southern league campaign with a very good 3rd place at Lee Valley on Saturday. There total points of 226, was only half a point short of last season bests point score.

Star performer on the womens side  was Esmeralda Mengeyele, who started the day with pb of 4.93 in coming second in the Long jump. This was followed soon afterwards with another pb of 13.36 in taking second place in the 100m. After a short rest, she was over to the High Jump where 1m 25 was good enough for 3rd place. Her final individual event was the Javelin where a great throw of 25.96 took another second place.

Another great performance came from Nicola Hopkinson who turned up to officiate, but then decided to run the 3000m for a point, not content with gaining a point, she took the lead and held off two fast finishing ladies to win the race, in a time of 13.30.58. This was her first ever track win. An hour later she also ran the B string 1500m and took a very good second place. Her partner in the 1500m was Zuzana Sinalova who took second place in the A string in a pb of 5.29.34. The distance events were completed by Jordan Hinds in the 800m who continues her return to form with 2nd place in a time of 2.30.14

Krystle Balogun made her usual valuable contribution, with 3rd place in the A string 200m in 27.10, followed by 2nd in the A strong 400m in 61.29, before gaining more valuable points by taking 4th place in the shot. Womens team captain Ellie Wright came 3rd in the B string 200m in a time of 27.47 before clearing a pb of 1.35 for 3rd in the High Jump. Gemina Eshimu Massamba looked very strong in winning the B string 400m in 61.05

Efe Adjarifo had a good run taking 4th in the A string 100m in a time of 13.54, before placing second in the B string Javelin. New member Yasmin Martins had a great afternoon producing pb’s, first in the long jump 4.16 for second in the B string, she followed that up with two non scoring races 14.00 in the 100m and 28.26 in the 200m. Sara Stena and Ayshah Lawrence also ran the non scoring 100m and 200m, both Sara and Ayshah set pbs in the 100m, and both narrowly missed out on 200 pbs. They then combined for the discus where Sara threw 14.03 for 6th in the A string and Ayshah threw 12.31 for 5th in the B string.

Unfortunately the womens 4x 100 relay team were disqualified, but the 4x 400 team of Gemina, Jordan, Ayshah and Krystle had a very good second place.

On the mens side Ilford were dominate in the middle distance events, winning both the A and B string in the 800, 1500 and 5000. The 800m was a great race between Alex Richards and Farris Patel, with Farris just pipping Alex on the line. Farris’s time was a pb of 1.58.6, with Alex clocking 1.59.1. An hour later Alex took second in the B string 400m in a time of 53.24. Bradley Deacon ran a non scoring 800m and set a new pb of 2.17.63

Aaron Samuel and Jak Wright did the 1500m, and his first 1500m of the year, Aaron set a pb of 4.10.41. Earlier in the day Aaron had come 2nd in the B string high jump with a height of 1m 40. Jak improves with every race and ran very well to win the B string in 4.30.62. Tom Gardner and Gary Coombes contested the 5000m. Tom went to the front from the start and was totally in control winning in a time of 16.15.52. Gary was making his Ilford debut and his first ever track race he performed really well to win the B string in 17.48.45

Mens track Captain Daniel Wheeler had a busy afternoon firstly coming 2nd in the High Jump with 1m 75. He followed this up with 4th in the 100m in a time of 11.87. 3rd in the 200m in a time of 23.6 which is just outside his best, and finally 5th in the B string Discus. Daniel Popoola also ran both sprints running 12.10 for 5th place in the 100m, before running a pb of 23.90 for second in the B string 200m. Jack Maher who is studying at Leeds university made the long trip down to compete in the 400m and had great run to finish second in 52.57

Ilford also scored well in the horizontal jumps with Anthony George winning the B string long jump in a pb of 5.82, before taking second in his preferred event the Triple jump, with a leap of 12.49. Anthony was joined in both jumps by Jordan Akinpelu who jumped a pb in the Long jump of 5.96 for 2nd place, before winning the B string triple in 11.58. Jack Halil did both jumps as non scorer setting pbs at both with 4.87 and 10.72. Whilst Sebastian Lureanu also jumped 5 19 in the non scoring Long jump.

Sam Malekout had his usual busy day, starting off in the shot Putt with 5th with 8m 90, followed by 4th in the pole vault with 2m, 5th in the discus with 25m 35 and finally a very good javelin of 44.32 for second place. At the end of March each year Peter Whiting is removed from his winter hibernation, ready for the first southern league. As always Pete picked up valuable points with 4th in the B string shot, 3rd in the B string Javelin and 5th in the hammer. Pete was joined in the hammer by Tony Nixon who took 4th place in the b string

The 4x 100 team of Daniel Popoola, Temi Adoshun, Jordan Akinpelu and Danny Wheeler came 2nd, likewise the 4x 400 team of Jack Maher, Alex Richards, Anthony George and Farris Patel also came 2nd.

Cecil Gittins Memorial Walks
Cyclopark, Gravesend
14th April 2018

Veterans AC hosted the third running of this event on a dedicated cycle circuit which in shape and gradients can only be described as a large Scalextric set!  The event was dedicated to the memory of Cecil Gittins, the football loving character who was almost never seen without his trademark QPR scarf, in honour of his lifetime in athletics and race walking and his many years of untiring service as an official.

In all there were 39 on the start line.  The weather was favourable, just the right combination of sun and wind.  For the 10k headline race which was to score in the Enfield League 2018 series Ilford had a large contingent of walkers.   7 from the club took to the course. Our talented new women’s walking team were also completing the distance for the first time. Sebastian Parris found himself able to pick off two inform walkers on the start of the last 2.5km lap to cross the line 30 seconds ahead in 56.57 for 3rd place.   Stuart Bennett’s London marathon training looks to be going well as he battled for a good 10th spot in 63.07. Janice Bentley Pearson headed the ladies team taking 6th female and 19th overall spot in 70.46. The performance of Rachel Lawless continues to go from strength to strength. The Enfield league is usually contested over a flat 5 miles but on a hilly 6 mile course she walked faster for longer in 73.56 earning 22nd place.  Mark Culshaw paced her all the way round for 73.57 and 23rd position. Anne Scurfield (77.36 and 27th) and Lesley Morris (77.37 and 28th) finished off a fine women’s team performance for Ilford in the league.

Ilford athletes Sebastian Parris and Mark Culshaw continued on to complete the 15k race.  The walk was won in 85.24 by Parris in his second attempt at this distance. His time was almost 4 minutes faster than last year’s performance.  Culshaw put in his fastest 5km of the day in the longer distance finishing in a very respectable 104.28 for 5th spot.

WOODFORD GREEN OPEN MEETING
Saturday 31st March 2018

A number of Ilford youngsters opened their 2018 track season at a normal wet and windy Woodford open meeting.

First up was our only u11 competitor , Aaron Hick ,competing against a large amount of Woodford youngsters.
Aaron came third in his first ever long jump in a very good distance of 3 meters 27
He then did the 600 and was narrowly beaten by 2 Woodford kids ,but ran 2 11 for a big personal best and finally came 3rd in the 75m.

Ilford had 6 athletes in the 800m and all of them smashed their pbs
First up was Matthew Hick who won the first 800m race in 2 32
Newcomer Ryan Holeyman ,in his first ever track race came second in 2 38
Next up was Bradley Deacon ,who came second but broke his personal best by over 15 seconds to run 2 17

The final 800m was a great race for the Ilford youngsters
Aaron Samuels went off very quick to go through the first lap in 58 ,with Farris Patel very close and Jak Wright a few seconds back. At 600 Aaron still had quite a large lead but Farris found some effort and speed down the final straight and passed Aaron and break the magical 2 minute barrier.
Farris,injured last summer ,ran a personal best by 10 seconds and shows his real potential
Aaron in second still ran a great race and also ran his fastest by 4 seconds in 2.00.07
Backing up the front 2 was Jak ,who also ran 2.09 ,which once again was his fastest ever by a large amount

Ilford also had a number of sprinters out on Saturday
First up was Ayshe Lawrence who broke the 30 second barrier in the 200 for the first time with 29.65
In the next heat Ilford had 3 young girls competing
Ellie Wright won in a very good time of 27.39, followed by Jasmin Martins in 28.31 and Esmeralda Mengeyele in 28.86.
In the 400m Eshimu Massamba ran a pb of 61:36 to finish 2nd.

In the men’s 100 Mario Dobrescu won the 100m in a person best of 11.55 and shows how well his winters training has gone
Backing him up Daniel Popoola ran 11.87 for third and Jordan Akinpelu was 5th in 12.25
Jordan won his 200m race in 24.95 and Daniel won his race in 24.49
Mario came back for the men’s 300 and ran a spectacular time of 35.83 for an u15 athlete

Saucony English National XC Championships
Parliament hills Fields
Saturday 24^th February

A small contingent of Ilford youngsters made their way to the “Home” of Cross Country last Saturday to take on the best young Cross country runners in the country.

The course was a little drier than in previous years and the sun was out, but it was bitterly cold and the famed Parliament ‘hills’ always provide a challenge.
In fields of over 500 runners Jak Wright battled well for a 170^th place 17:43, followed shortly after by Bradley Deacon for 224^th and 18:13 on the 4.5k course for the U15boys age category.
Jordan Hinds continues to improve and was pleased with her 235^th place in 24:59 in the U17 Women category which was held over a 5k course.

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