Press Report 21st July 2026
Southern Counties Vets Athletics
Ilford Vets travelled to Lee Valley last week for match 3 of the Herts and North Middlesex Division.
The track events were 100m, 400m 1500m, 2000m walk and 1600m medley relay (2 x 200m, 400m & 800m). Field was triple jump, discus and javelin.
Pete Whiting covered the V35 100m finishing sixth in 17.49. He also threw the V60 javelin 18m 06 for fifth place.
Akwasi Nkrumah had a great evening finishing second in the V40 100m in 13.03, first in the V40 400m in 58.05 and first in the V35 triple jump with 10m 32.
Henry Ricketts in the V50 100m finished sixth in 13.86, fifth in the V35 400m in 71.74 and fifth in the V50 triple jump in 8m 79.
James Lambden had a busy day finishing fifth in the V60 100m in 14.92, sixth in the V60 400m in 75.09, sixth in the V35 1500m in 6.04.77 and also achieved 8m 09 in the triple jump as a non-scorer.
Andy Catton in the V70 category finished third in the 100m in 20.14 and second in the 400m in 87.64.
Chris Scott as the V50 athlete finished fifth in the 400m in 63.52 and second in the 1500m in 5.26.52.
Richard Woolterton ran the V40 category in the 1500m placing seventh in 5.22.51.
Steve Chissell as the V60 athlete finished fourth in 5.59.04.
In the 2000m walk Steve Crane won the V35 age group in 12.51.94. Dave Ainsworth covered the V50 category finishing fifth in 19.24.69.
Craig Burrow in the V35 discus placed second with 30m 59.
The medley relay team of James, Henry, Chris and Akwasi brought the baton home in 4.34.61 for fifth place.
The team finished third on the evening and are also third after three matches.
The last divisional match is on 27 July at Harrow.
Thanks to Claire Levey, Steve Crane and Andy for officiating and those that helped out in field events.
Essex County 5 Mile Road Championship
The Essex 5 Mile Champs were held last weekend in Colchester.
The race started at Abbeygate, wound through Colchester roads and finished on Abbey Field.
Ilford had 12 athletes competing, and won 5 individual county medals including 3 for one family, and one team medal.
Leading the team home was Chris Goldsmith in 10th position in a time of 27:52.
Richard Morris came home in 22nd place in 29:22, closely followed one place and two seconds later by Tomas Krukauskas to complete the team of 3 that collected a team County Silver medal.
Just one place behind in 24th place in a time of 29:27 was Steve Philcox, who despite missing out on a team Silver by just 3 seconds cam away with an Essex County Gold medal in the VM60 grouping.
The Thomas family all came away with Essex Bronze medals. Dave Thomas finished 76th in 33:47 for a VM65 medal, daughter Dani 108th in 37:15 in the FV40 category and wife Beverley in 180th place in 45:40 for a FV65 medal.
Ilford’s other medal on the day was Andy Catton who added to his vast collection of Essex County medals with a Silver in the VM70 grouping in a time of 40:16
Also representing the club in the Championships were Malcolm Muir 30:02, Richard Woolterton 31:29, Danny Holeyman 31:35 and Terry Knightley 34:50
