Press Report 12th August 2025
England Athletics Age group National Championships
Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium
Last week saw 2 Ilford AC Junior athletes competing in the prestigious England Athletics Age group National Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium
First up was U15 athlete Danusshan Ponambalam who was competing in the shot putt competition with the best athletes from around the country. Dhanusshan has enjoyed a terrific breakthrough season and was hoping to end on a high. Throwing slightly below his best Dhanusshan secured a 10th place with a distance of 10.77m in a top quality field. Dhanusshan should be very proud of all that he has achieved this season and will benefit immensely from the experience gained at these Championships
U17 sprints athletic Jaydan Roberts-Edwards was up against the best athletes that the country can offer in his 100m and 200m competitions
Saturday saw Jaydan kick off his 100m heat with an impressive controlled second placed run of 10.91s an impressive new PB
Up against more quality opposition in his semi final Jaydan produced a remarkable performance in a new Club record time of 10.87s, a record that has stood since 1962, to secure his place in the Final.
Jaydan produced another great run of 10.89s in the final to secure a fantastic Bronze medal position in a closely contested race
Jaydan returned to the track on Sunday for an exhausting round of 200m heats , semi finals and final producing great performances of 22.72s, 22.22s and 22.72s in the final to secure 6th place and an amazing Championships for him
Well done to both athletes in representing Ilford AC so successfully this season and especially in these prestigious Championships
RunThrough Foundation 10k
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Set against the stunning backdrop of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, over 4,000 runners took part in the Runthrough Foundation 10k, including Billy Green from Ilford AC.
Finishing with a lap of the Hammers ground, Billy was pleased with his time of 51:23
Essex 5k Championships
Colchester
A contingent of 16 Ilford athletes made the journey to Colchester last Friday evening, to compete in the “Friday Night 5K” which also incorporated the Essex County Championship over that distance, and came home with a handful of County medals
Leading the club home, in an incredible time of 14:47 was Alex Richards, finishing in 5th place.
Next home was Sam Rahman in 17.06 for 49th place with Tomas Krukauskas completing the scoring team of 3 in 61st place for 17:35. The men’s team finished 11th on the day
Jordan Hinds was 16th female home in 19:21. Anna Crawley was 1st in her age category in a time of 19:43 and a PB, followed by Beverley Thomas in 47th place and winning a Bronze medal in her age category.
Other medals on the night, in their age groupings were Bronze for Andy Catton (23:42), Silver for Terry Knightley (20:13) and Gold for David Thomas (19:43)
In the Junior races Samuel Crane was 3rd U20 in 16:58 and Barney Perkins was 6th U15 in 18:35
Also competing on the night were Dyfan Garmon 17:49, Richard Woolterton 19:04, Daniel Holeyman 19:13, Bradley Brown 20:26, Alan Pearl 21:57, Michael Perkins 22:12 and Anthony Young 24:24
FOREST FIVE (ELVIS)
Epping Forest
Ilford AC had a small squad in action at the penultimate ELVIS fixture of the season at Epping Forest. The event was over one lap of 5 miles of trials in the forest.
Steve Philcox led the way for Ilford coming in with a time of 31 mins 06 secs for 11th spot and also took home the trophy for first in the M50 group. One place and two second behind was Dyfan Garmon with Chris king in 38th with 34 mins 13 secs. Dan Holeyman was the next to finish one second behind King, Three Ilford team mates finish in 46th 47th and 48th places; Dave Thomas Steve Chissell and Bradley Brown with times of 34 mins 41 secs, 34 mins 43 secs and 34 mins 48 secs respectively. Thomas’s run earned him the award for 1st in the M65 age bracket.
In the team match Ilford were 4th and are 3rd in division 1 of the league
There were only 4 ladies in action for Ilford with Alison Sale finishing 31st in 41 mins 08 secs and winning the F60 category. Dani Thomas came home 36th in 42 mins 05 secs while Bev Thomas finished in 73rd with 48 mins 32 secs. Frieda Keane completed the quartet in 83rd with 53 mins 22 secs
The Ilford team placed 5th in the match and are 4th in the league’s division 1
Also in action:- Dennis Briggs (109 39.41) Tony Young (120 40.28) Jim Tilbrook (131 40.57_Andy Catton (148 42.15) Rob Sargent (233 53.07)
