Press Report 5th April 2016
Olympic Park 10km (incorporating the British Masters and VAC Championships)
Saturday 2nd April
It was another successful day for the endurance runners of Ilford AC as they returned from the regular monthly 10km in the Olympic Park with 4 gold 3 silver and 1 bronze British Masters Championship medals.The April race, which also Incorporated the British Masters Championship and the London based Veterans AC Championships, was held on an interesting twisty 3 lap course outside the stadium.
The leading athlete from Ilford was Blair McWhirter who finished 5th overall out of the 500 plus finishers in an impressive 33 mins 45 secs. He was supported by Steve Philcox in 28th with a quick 36 mins 30secs and Paul Holloway in 37 m 49s for 33th. Neil Crisp recorded 38 mins exactly in 36th and Terry Knightley came home 43rd in a time of 38 mins 32 secs,Long serving club member Andy Catton placed 104th in 43m 12s and Steve Parker recorded 44m 16s for 121st. Declan Cullen was 136th in 45m 06s and the group coach Rob Sargent had a run out in 56m 18s in 334th.[shashin type=”album” id=”168″ size=”medium” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”n” order=”date” position=”center”]
Best for the ladies Mel Jones placed 22nd out of the 213 women in action in 44m 49s and Nicola Hopkinson was 47th with 50m 18s. Dianne Crisp returned from a long term injury in 65th with 53 mins exactly and there was a new personal best time of 53m 24s for Julia Galea in 70th.There was also a new best time from Nicola Chester of 55m 28s for 89th.Julie Gillender and Pam Jones crossed the line together recording 63m 48s and Kim Baxter completed the team with 71m 56s.
In the Brititsh Master Championships there were gold medals for Mel Jones (F450 and Pam Jones (F75) and silver for Nicola Hopkinson (F50) and a bronze for Dianne Crisp (F50). There women also bagged two team golds in the F45-54 category (Mel Jones, Nicola Hopkinson, Dianne Crisp) and the F55-64 (Julia Galea Kim Baxter and Pam Jones). the men won two silver team medals in the M45-54 (Paul Holloway Neill Crisp Steve Philcox) and the M55-64 (Andy Catton Terry Knightley Steve Parker)
Mel Jones, Pam Jones, Nicola Hopkinson and Dianne Crisp replicated their medals in the VAC Championship.Other Receiving medals in the VAC Championship were Nicola Chester (Gold F35) and Rob Sargent (silver M60). There will probably be a few more awarded but the final rsults have not been finalised at this time
Paris Marathon
Sunday saw Peter Spelman finish his 5th Paris marathon in 04:25:11 equating to 6mins 18secs per km. The Ilford Man was slightly slower than last year’s time of 4:11 but attributed this to much warmer conditions.
Young Athletes Report
Ilford AC athletes smash personal bests
The outdoor Track season started for Ilford AC youngsters this weekend at the Havering athletic club open meeting. A perfect day for racing resulted in some very good performances from the Ilford AC athletes.
First up was Matthew Hick,competing in the U13s Boys for the first time. In a strong field Matthew battled to come second in the 800m in a time of 2.47, just slightly behind his best time ever. Next up was the under 15 Girls 800m race where Isabella Hick ran 2.52 to come home in 6th position.
14 Year old Jordan Hinds was placed in the Senior Womens 800m event. Jordan took the lead from the start and ran away from a quality field to post a suberb Time of 2.31. For her first race on the track this season, this was a great achievement as Jordan took a whole 13 seconds off her personal best.
In the u15s Boys 800m, Ilford AC had 4 athletes in the same race and all athletes ran excellent races. Both Mungo Prior and Farris Patel pushed themselves to the front of the field, followed by a strong athlete from Thurrock. Mungo came to the final 200 in the lead ,followed by the Thurrock athlete and Farris. Farris then battled round the final bend to get himself into a much better position to outsprint the other 2 athletes.
Amazingly Farris broke his personal best by 18 seconds to record an excellent time of 2.16. Mungo in his first ever 800 m race, also ran a superbly to record a time of 2.17.
Also in the field was Jack Halil, who went off slower than usual, but used his great speed at the end to come home in 2.31, 5 seconds off his Personal best.
Finally Bradley Deacon ran a battling 800 m to post a time of 2.40, which was just slightly behind his best ever. This was a good performance from Bradley as his preference is for the longer distances.