South of England XC Championships  Stanmer Park, Brighton Saturday 27th January The South of England Cross-Country Championship was held at Stanmer Park Brighton on a cold, wet day on a muddy course which was very slippery as the mud had a solid base of hard chalk underneath. Along with the Youngsters a few seniors also made the trip to the south coast. Dianne Crisp, although short on training at the moment, and a fall towards the end, acquitted herself well over a two lap course [5 miles] which was becoming very testing as the rain started to fall over the second lap. She started steady and finished 295th [351 finishers] in 47:35. Neil Crisp and Seb Parris were next up in the …Read More

SENIORS FARNBOROUGH HALF MARATHON Sunday 22 January This years Farnborough half marathon was held on a cold morning in falling snow. The race, interestingly, starts and finishes in a disused airship hanger and runs a relatively flat course around the outside of the airport. Carlie Qirem of Ilford AC showed that her winter training is going well finishing 464th overall out of a field of 1608 finishers in a new personal best time of 1 hour 44 minute 50 seconds, which was nearly a 5 minute improvement on her previous best.   RACE WALKERS ENFIELD RACE WALKING LEAGUE Saturday 21st January A new year and a revitalised Ilford walking team took to the Parklands of the Queen Elizabeth 2nd playing fields in …Read More

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE MATCH 3 Writtle Saturday 13 January The third leg of this winters Essex League was held in the grounds of Writtle College near Chelmsford. The course was mainly soft grass which caused some runners problems in the sticky muddy sections. The senior ladies race was over 6 km and leading the challenge for Ilford Ac was Nicola Hopkinson in 46th place in 30 mins 16 secs, which ranked top of the F55 category. Close behind in 49th was the improving Carlie Qirem with 30 mins 42 secs, while Anna Crawley placed 77th in 33 mins 11 secs. Closing the teams scorers was Julia Galea with 36 mins 39 secs for 101th and 4th in the F55 grouping. …Read More