• ITU World Cup Triathlon - Salford  Sunday 31st July as reported by Martin Clarke
  
  Ilford triathlete Karen Sindall competed in the Elite womens race in Sundays ITU World cup triathlon at Salford Quays Manchester on Sunday. After a satisfactory swim in the 2 lap 1500 swim Karen emerged from the water in the middle of the pack but less than 50 seconds down on the leaders which included Leanda Cave, eventual race winner Liz Blatchford  and ex Olympic Champion swimmer Shelia Taomina of the United States. Karen then worked her way into the 2nd group on the bike chasing a lead group of 5 reducing the lead to 40 seconds after the 1st of the bike loops. Karen held the front of the group for the 4 lap course and approached the T2 transition area looking like she was in good shape for a top 10 finish. However as she started her run she felt that the tank had run empty and together with a soreness in both Achilles she was forced to stop and stretch by the kerbside over Salford Bridge. Karen picked up her running on the 2nd and 3rd laps but in this company it was too late to make any impact. Nevertheless Karen remains optimistic she can overcome this setback before next Sundays London Triathlon where she will going again for a Commonwealth Championship qualifying performance.
  
  Karen's times Swim (21.10) T1 ( 17.18) Bike (1.06.52) T2 (00.55) Run (40.51)  overall 2hrs 10mins 45 secs
  
  Davos Races - Switzerland - as reported by Peter Spelman
  
  Two Ilford AC athletes competed in a series of races in Davos, Switzerland during the last week. On Saturday 23rd July both Mark
  Cottam and Peter Spelman both finished well up the field in a 3 kilometre mountain race up a steep 10% gradient in front of a former
  London Marathon winner.
  On 30th July Mark attempted to repeat his excellent feat of completing what is reckoned to be one of the toughest off road races in Europe,  a gruelling 78kilometre ultra marathon over a mountain pass. Unfortunately this year he retired after 40 kilometres. On the same day Peter Spelman completed a
  mountain marathon in 4 hours 23 minutes by far his slowest time over 42 kilometres but nevertheless good enough to take seventh place in
  the over 50 age group.
  
  
   
• UKYAL - Cricklefields  Sunday 31st July as reported by Paul Cheal
  
  In the final UKYAL division 1 South East meeting, Ilford were the host to Southend AC, Crawley AC & St Albans AC. Ilford for the first time in many a campaign fielded a strong squad of 42 athletes, comprising of 28 Boys and 14 Girls and what performances they gave with some 16 PB's, 2 Equal PB's, non other than 6 CLUB RECORDS and 1 Equal CLUB RECORD. There were also 4 debutants.
  
  In the closest contest that Ilford have pursued this year the match results were not known until late on and although Ilford finished 4th it wasn't by the big margins before. In fact between the 4 teams only 22.5 points seperated them.
  
  The Final scores are as follows:
  
  1st - Southend AC - 307 Points
  2nd - St Albans AC - 293.5 Points
  3rd - Crawlwy AC - 286.0 Points
  4th - Ilford AC - 284.5 Points
  
  In the U/13 Girls Aimee Jones continues to grow in confidence, taking control of the 800m she powered her way round the distance lowering the CLUB RECORD again by over a second. Not to be put off and going from one event to another in a matter of minutes she jumped a PB in the Long Jump going over to 4m barrier for the first time and running nearly 2sec better in the 70m Hurdles for yet another PB.
  
  Two debutants took part in the u/13 girls. Amy Sheridan in the 800m & relay along with Danielle Juffs in the 1200m, they was a credit to themselves and Ilford, although trailing behind this did not put them off, they kept plugging away until the end, WELL DONE.
  
  Other performances came form Madelyn Thomas who competed in the 75m & 150m. Kirsty Nweze also did these to events and equalled the CLUB RECORD in the 150m with a time of 20.9sec, whilst also gaining a PB in the long jump in a leap of 4m 08cm.
  
  Shanise Anderson in the U/15 girls ran an outstanding 300m race to come home all guns blazing with a time of 43.8sec to yet again lower her PB & CR by over 1 sec. Laura Townsend coming back to form also ran exceptionally well in the B-String to equal her PB in a time of 45.7sec. This was continued in her shot putt with another PB with a distance of 7m 06cm and a sound run in the 4x100m relay team. Lydia hall jumped well in the High Jump clearing a further PB for 1m 40cm and was so close to achieving 1m 45cm, she also came 1st in the 1500m. Siobhan Catton making her debut cleared 1m 35cm for a good 2nd place in the B-String. Rachel Giwa continues to impress. Although her times were down on her previous she came home in fine style in the 100m & 200m in 1st accompanied by Julianna Dougan in the 100m and Sarah Kigozi in the 200m, whilst also throwing the javelin to come 2nd.
  
  Sarah Kigozi also took part in the discus claiming another PB with a throw of 19m 79cm. Clarissa Dougan did the long jump and javelin coming first in the javelin B-String. Fionnula Crowe did the 75m Hurdles and is improving all the time, especially as she has only been training for this technical event for about 2 months, it will take time, needs to keep going. They rounded off  with yet another win in the 4x100m relay team.
  
  Jessica Manning competing for the first time in a while was literally the backbone of the u/17 girls team. She ran a solid 100m and was rewarded with a 1st place. In the javelin she came 2nd and was 1st in the long jump. The next stage in her development is multi-events.
  
  For the U/13 boys there was a fine performance by Alex Legon. In only his 2nd run for the club he smashed his 800m time by 6sec to 2m 47.5s, Liam Leddy ran well also in the event. David Holder-Reece keeps on improving in the shot putt after only doing it to fill in. He claimed a second consecutive PB, now putting a distance of 5m 73cm to come second. Ben Jones, Aimee's brother, also did the shot putt and was credited with a distance of 4m 21cm. Jerrell Alleyne still continues to run well winning both the 100 & 200m A-String whilst also doing the High Jump. Nethaneel Mitchel-Blake  was not to be outdone and came home 1st in the B-String 100m and then had the cheek to take Jerrell's CLUB RECORD in the Long Jump with a distance of 4m 70cm, he also had a go at 75m Hurdles for the 1st time. Aaron Akisanya set a CLUB RECORD in this event eclipsing his time of before to 13.7sec. In the Long Jump it was another 1st in the B-String. Jayesh Thawrani was another debutant and was quit diverse in his events, competing in the 200m & 1500m, he didn't give up at all, WELL DONE AGAIN. The team capped of there events for a solid 4x100m relay team only slightly scarred by a drop of the baton, well if the American's do it in major events it can happen to Ilford, just one of those things.
  
  Andy Carle went about his business in the U/15 Javelin and Discus. He completed a good double. Firstly throwing over 2 metres further in the discus and then went one better in the Javelin. He threw an outstanding 34m 65cm over 5 metres further than he had ever thrown before. Chris Dawe threw well in the discus and javelin to compliment Andy. David Hughes bettered his shot putt by 8cm to 7m 81cm and Michael Hughes threw near to his best. Bakr Al- Akku ran a good 200m but was impressive in the 400m with a PB, coming in at 54.4ses. Ozi Nzeako ran a solid 400m and equalled his PB in the High Jump. Simoen Stuart was another PB boy in the 100m with a time of 13.2sec and also did the Long Jump. A welcome return to William Asenso who has been away from the scene for over 6 months ran in the A-String 100m taking 1sec of his PB. Sam Burgues ran in the 800m with a very good consistent time. Chike Okonji competing for the 2nd time for Ilford also ran well in the 200m and 80m Hurdles along with a 2nd in the Long Jump. Having a healthy u/15 team we fielded both a 4x100m & 4x400m team. The 4x100 came home in 4th whilst the 4x400m did a fine performance coming home 1st by over 4sec in a new CLUB RECORD.
  
  The U/17 Boys was the strongest it has been all season and they didn't let the team down in anyway. Joseph Perry did the discus for the 1st time and was not embarrased. In the 100m he came home in 1st place for the B-String with Ekow Quagrine doing the same in the A-String. Ekow had the same result in the 200m with Terry driver finishing 1st in the B-String, he also did the 400m along with Stuart Juffs to finish 2nd & 4th respectively. Stuart ran the 800m along with Iain Macdonald who ran a PB in a time of 2m 18.4s. Iain then did the 1500m Steeplechase with an up for it Gary Smallman. Gary a 400m specialist had a good go at it and although nearly swimming in the water jump came home unharmed, everyone was cheering him on. Before that he almost snatched the club record for Triple Jump, missing out by 13cm. However his leap of 13m 33cm was a PB. Jason Bartley coming back from injury put an impressive 12m 40cm to finish 1st and also finished in the same position in the B-String of the High Jump. Elijah Collins also jumped the same height of 10 60cm just below his pb. He was in action as well in the Long Jump coming up trumps in the B-String 1st place. In the A-String Aaron Balogun was in good form jumping 5m 82cm to finish again 1st. Again like the u/15 boys we were able to fill both the 4x100m Relay & 4x400m Relay. This was well worth waiting for in the 4x100m. With both the gold medalist & Bronze Medalist 100m Essex Champs, the gold medalist 400m Essex champs and a very impressive 4th member in Ekow they simply blew the opponents away with an outstanding time of 44.3sec CLUB RECORD to obliterate the previous time by 3sec. In the 4x400m it was a make shift team but still did themselves justice coming home in 2nd place and another CLUB RECORD.
  
  As you can see there were some exceptional performances amongst them all today. The team spirit was there for all to see, cheering on all the athletes when they could. Parents are growing in numbers and they are helping out whenever they can, this can only be a good thing, you never know there may be some budding coaches amongst them. Special thanks must go to Marcia Holder-Reece, I didn't realise there was someone that can compete with Craig Burrows, watch out Craig. Lastly I would like to dedicate this day to Mike Sargeant the Girls Team Manager, Coach Co-ordinator etc etc etc. He is in hospital at the moment under going some tests. He would have been very proud of all the athletes today, the support of the parents and the overall result. I would like to say on behalf of all those, come back soon Mike we all miss you and get well soon.