The London Borough of Newham, the Olympic Borough of East London played host to the Capital's first major event in an Olympic Sport since the 2012 bid win. Over 80,000 participants where cheered on by up to 35 thousand spectators and over a million will watch it next week on BBC, in what is now the largest triathlon in the world.
In the Elite Women's race llford Triathlete Karen Sindall finished just outside the top 10 in an excellent 11th place. Based at the Excel centre Karen set off from the Royal Victoria Dock swim start in confident mood. An excellent swim saw Karen well to the fore in the 2nd group battling with eventual winner Emma Snowsill of Australia and last week's Salford ITU winner Liz Blatchford. Karen was aggressive throughout and left the water in a superb 6th place. However problems with the zip on her wetsuit meant she lost crucial places in transition and started the bike section in the 3rd pack instead of being on the heels of the leaders.
Karen continued to work hard on the bike section where she regained 6th place working with former winner Michelle Dillon and dropping Salford 4th placer Helen Lawrence in the process. Karen entered the run section feeling good but knowing that her running fitness is still a long way off her best following a year of injury. It was always going to be a damage limitation exercise as some of the faster girls started to close her down. Nevertheless the Ilford triathlete held her form together well and can be well pleased with her achievement.
Ilford played host yet again, but this time it was the final EYAL meeting of the season. The opposition consisted of the following Southend, Barnet & District, West Suffolk, Stevenage & Harlow. Ilford were depleted by well over 15 athletes, this mostly due to the school holidays. However this was not to deter the boys and girls that competed in the last combined event for Ilford this season. Ilford finally finished 4th of 6.
1st - Stevenage - 436 Points
2nd - Southend - 378 Points
3rd - West Suffolk - 363 Points
4th - Ilford - 316 Points
5th - Barnet & District - 234 Points
6th - Harlow - 164 Points
The star of today's proceedings has to go to Simeon Stuart u/15 Boy. Simeon has gained in confidence all season and today was no exception. He produced an outstanding performance to leap to a very impressive 1m 70cm in the high jump, this was not only a PB by 25cm but equalled the CLUB RECORD that was set some 32 years ago. The leaping continued as well in the long jump measuring up to just shy of his PB with a distance of 4m 90cm to come in 4th.
In the u/13 boys Alex Legon in his third consecutive meeting lowered his 800m PB again to 2m 46.7 nearly a second quicker. He care free attitude seems to be paying off, there is surely a lot more to come from him in the future. Liam Leddy in the same race ran well to come home in 2nd place in the B-String. He also competed in the shot putt, this was a success as a PB was claimed with a distance of 4m 74cm, along with a non-scoring discus. David Holder-Reece was in action with the shot put and like Alex has again improved for the second consecutive time improving his PB distance of - 5m 83cm, 10cm better than before he was also a non-scorer in the 200m. Alex Richards coming back to action ran the 1500m and posted his best time for a while winning the event in a time of - 5m 20.5s. He equalled his PB in the high jump and was a non-scorer in the discus. Jerrell Alleyne was competing for the last time as a u/13 and didn't disappoint, running away with the 100m & 200m gaining a PB in the 100m with a time of 13.0s. He was B-String also in the long jump and won that as well. Nethaneel Mitchel-Blake was having none of that and emulated Jerrell finishing 1st in all his events, equalling his PB in the 100m. Aaron Akisanya is also growing in confidence winning the hurdles, a PB in the High Jump and throwing a very impressive discus to extend his PB and CLUB RECORD to a distance of - 22m 34cm. Ben Jones competed as a non-scorer in the discus & shot put along with debutant Rohan Anderson both exceeding what they had done in training. Lastly they rounded of with a win in the 4x100m relay, winning by a margin of 4sec.
For the u/15 boys William Asenso rang another fine race in the 100m to come home 3rd in the A-String and putt a fine 8m 05cm in the shot. Ozi Nzeako complimented William in the B-String 100m with a win. He also equalled his PB in the high jump and went one further with a PB in the 400m winning in a time of - 57.8, shaving almost a second off. Bakr Al-Akku in the A-String 400m came home in fine style in 1st and 2nd in the A-String 200m. He also jumped well in the long jump with a distance of 4m 87cm to come 2nd. A welcome return must be given to Shane Mariadas who like William last week hasn't competed for Ilford in several months. Even though his fitness was not good due to lack of training he ran well to record a time of - 2m 44.0s in the 800m and also ran as a non-scorer in the 200m. Nathaniel Whitfield came back from holiday to run the 1500m and was 4th in a time of - 5m 33.7sec. Not to be outdone by the u/13 boys the team of (Bakr, Osi, William & Simeon) were explosive in the 4x100m and pipped Southend on the line in a time of - 50.8sec for yet another CLUB RECORD.
In the u/17 boys there was a farewell to two athletes Ekow Quagrine & Iain Macdonald as they will be too old to compete next year, seniors for them next. Ekow was in fine form yet again winning both the 100m & 200m. Iain Macdonald ran well in the 800m coming home 2nd just outside his PB, this was followed by an equalling of his PB in the high jump. Elijah Collins like Simeon lept to a well deserved PB in the long jump with a distance of - 5m 43cm, like Iain equalling PB in the high jump of - 1m 65cm and a sound 100m in a time of - 13.1sec.
The u/13 girls had a return from holiday of Corina Bryce-Arnold. She ran well to record a PB in the 100m in a time of 14.1sec and also did the 200m as a non-scorer. Aimee Jones ran probably her best 800m yet, even though the time of - 2m 39.6 was not her best, the way she ran the race was tactically good and produced a 200m burst at the end to see off her nearest opponent to come home 1st. A solid performance was also maintained for her in the 200m & Long Jump. Madelyn Thomas again ran well and this produced a PB in the 200m lowering her previous best by 0.2sec. Madelyn was also adventurous in her events and wanted to compete in the 1500m, she did not let herself down coming home in 4th place, WELL DONE for having a go.
In the u/15 girls Lydia Hall completed a PB in the hurdles coming 2nd, this was maintained in the 1500m and high jump. Julianna Dougan deputising as the A-String for the absent Rachel Giwa ran well in the 100m finishing 3rd, she also did the shot put and javelin finishing 3rd & 4th respectively. Clarissa Dougan ran her 1st scoring 100m and did well in a time of 14.1s. Further events included the long jump & Javelin, again finishing 3rd on both occasions. Sarah Kigozi came home in 3rd place in the A-String 200m and 4th in the A-String Long Jump. Like Nathaniel, his sister Maria Whitfield was running for the 1st time since returning from holiday. She ran the 1500m finishing 2nd. Laura Townsend & Shanise Anderson continue to do very well in the 300m finishing 1st in both the A & B Strings respectively. Laura was also in action in the shot put finishing in 1st place, whilst Shanise was also 1st in the Javelin B-String.
Fionnula Crowe ran well in the 200m B-String to finish 4th. Fionnula was running well in the hurdles but unfortunately was disqualified for pushing down a hurdle, just didn't get the stride right, very unlucky. There was a positive in that, her technique is improving all the time. With the team altered, the 4x100m relay team still managed a good time coming home 3rd in - 55.6sec.
Along with a the u/17 boys it is time to say farewell to our u/17 girl Jessica Manning. Jessica has been for 95% of the season our only u/17 girl but this has not put her off in any way shape or form. Jessica has always tried her best and hopefully there are more things to come in the future including multi-eventing. Anyway she didn't disappoint today. Jessica ran the 100m to come home 1st, was 2nd in the Javelin and again 1st in the Long Jump, not bad at all - 17 points out of a maximum 18, WELL DONE, an athlete that will be missed in the u/17
To cap of another successful day, it included 14 Personal Best's, 5 Equalled Personal Best's, non other than 3 CLUB RECORD'S & 1 EQUALLED CLUB RECORD. It can only reiterate that Ilford AC is certainly on the up. This season has seen the athletes come along in leaps & bounds, club records going, some that have not been broken for many a year, PB's continuously going and there seems to be a good team spirit amongst them all, this is only made the better by the very good support the parents have given, GOOD ON YOU ALL, keep it going.
