Ilford AC Press Report Week Ending Sunday 2 March 2014  

Netherhall 10m, Incorporating the British Masters Athletic Federation 10
mile Championships

Netherall

Sunday 22 February

Two Ilford men made the long, tiring journey to Cumbria to compete in the
above race. It is a tough, windy and hilly course. The winner of the race
was V40 runner Kerry Wilson from Scotland, in 55.17. Malcolm Muir came home
as the first Ilford runner, but third overall in a time of 56.21. Malcolm
was pleased to win the BMAF V35 gold!

Spencer Hempstead competed bravely despite suffering a tummy bug. He came
11th in the race, in a time of 59.47. He was an unlucky fourth placed V40 in
the BMAF competition.

Report by Malcolm Muir

Last Friday in the Month Serpentine 5k

Friday 28 February

Continuing his recent good form John Batchelor competed in last Fridays
Serpentine 5k. He finished 82nd out of 215 runners in 20:51, which bettered
his January mark by 12 seconds and in the process scored the second best
age-related percentage of 88.0%. Next weekend he hopes to compete in both
the 1500m and 3000m at the BMAF Indoor Championships.

Report by John Batchelor

Ilford AC 10 Mile Cross Country Championship

Hainault Forest

Saturday 1 March

Seventeen runners lined up for this years Ilford AC 10 mile cross-country
championship, which included a few guest competitors. The course was three
laps of a gruelling muddy route of arond 3 1/3 miles a lap.

Tom Gardner made light of the conditions to win in an excellent time of
63mins 43secs. Next home was Steve Philcox with 68m 48s with Steve parketr
winning the prize for 1st in the M50 category with 85m 19s. Bree Nordin
again showed good form to take the ladies title in 85m 33s and Mel Jones
finished 3rd female in 94m 10s. Nicola Hopkinson won the F45 grouping in 95m
53s.

Junior athletes ran obne lap of the course with Usamah Patel winning in 22m
42 from Jack Maher with 23m 37s.

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Half marathons

Sunday 2 March

There were two excellent performances from Ilford AC athletes in half
marathon events at the weekend

New Zealander Blair McWhirter, who is currently working in Essex, took part
in the Reading Half Marathon. This event attracts a number of the top road
runners in England and was won by Olympic marathon runner Scott Overall in
64mins 44secs. Blair, who comes from Christchurch, put in his best
performance for several years to finish 26th with 68m 33s, which ranks him
2nd in his country’s half marathon rankings for 2014 and 10th on the Ilford
all time list.

There was a classy field for the Bath half marathon with a couple of Kenyans
in the line -up. Malcolm Muir also put in his best showing for a number of
years finishing 19th in 71m 07s on the hilly course.

Report by Hank in the Bushes