Ilford Athletics Club have not been in a position for many years to compete in the Young Athletes League, due to lack of athletes, coaches and officials.
However last year Ilford approached Orion Athletic Club to ask whether they would like to join up and enter a joint team.
Therefore, Ilford's talented under-17 athletes were able to wear the Ilford colours in the Eastern Young Athletes League for the first time in decades.
First up for Ilford on the day was U15 James Thake, who was racing for the club for the first time.
Thake was outstanding on the day and ran a very impressive 2.23 for fourth in the 800m against a very classy field while he also ran an excellent 43.6 for third in the 300m.
Even more impressive was the fact James had never done a high jump in his life and with one training session on the day before, he jumped 1.35m for fourth place and ran the first leg of the 4x100m to bring the team home in fourth.
Equally impressive as usual was Joseph Grange in the U15 boys' 1,500m as he finished second behind the Essex Schools' winner in a time of 4.31.4.
In the 1500m, under-13 Ryder Islam battled to fourth place in a time of 5.52.
Samuel Crane ran the U15 1500m and once against battled round in windy conditions for 5.26 and also agreed to throw the discus for points and came second with a distance of 9.96m.
Aaron Hick ran the U15s 800m in 2.37 and 300 min 48.1 for third and fourth respectively and also got points for throwing the U15s hammer.
In the U17s, Oliver Blainey ran an impressive 12.3 in the 100m and 24.6 in the 200m for fourth and second. He also jumped 4.86m in the long jump and ran the last leg of the 4x100m relay.
Training partner Jacob Emeagi ran 13.3 and 27.0 for fifth in the 100m and 200m and managed a 4.88m long jump and also ran in the 4x100m relay.
Dieumerci Luyengi came fourth in the 800m in 2.17, threw the shot putt 8.66m for fourth and also ran the 4x100m relay as the team came a very credible fifth place.
Julia Galea was Ilford's sole runner in the Ware 10 mile race where she completed the closed road event, that features an enjoyable section running alongside the River Lea, in a time of one hour, 39 minutes and 49 seconds which saw her claim first prize in the FV65 category.
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