Press Report 5th December 2023  

Dec 042023
 

ESSEX VETERANS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Writtle
Saturday 2 December

The Essex Veterans Cross Country, for runners over 40, was held on a cold frosty morning in the grounds of Writtle College near Chelmsford.
All races were over 2 flat laps totalling around 4 ½ miles

The first race was for men in the age groups over 50 and was a successful one for Ilford AC. Finishing 10th overall in the event was Steve Philcox  in 28 mins 27 secs which won him the county title in the M55 Category. Dan Holeyman came in 26th in 29 mins 31 secs while Neil Crisp was 8th in the M60 group with 30 mins 38 secs. One place behind was Richard Woolterton in 30 mins 47 secs . Diarmuid Mac Donnell finished 70th overall in 32 mins 26 secs.  Ray Dzikowski placed 81st (33:46)  and Terry Knightley 85th (34:10 , both in the M60 group where they were 20 and 21st respectively. 

Steve Lacey finished 98th in 35 mins 48 secs. 

Andy Catton was the clubs second individual medal winner with the silver in the M70 age group in a time of 35 mins 55 secs.

In the team competition the Ilford M60+ team of Crisp, Dzikowski, Knightley and Catton placed 3rd and the bronze medals and in the M50 team competition Ilford (Philcox Holeyman, Woolterton, Mac Donnell) finished 5th

In the ladies race Ilford had 4 runners with Alison Sale finishing 45th overall and 7th in the F55 category in 36 mins 26 secs with Pauline Tester 58th with 38 mins 04 secs and 9th in the same group. Dianne Crisp was 5th in the F60 group in 41 mins 59 secs and Frieda Keane 8th in the same group with 45 mins 39 secs

In the last race of the day for the M40 males, Sam Rahman led home the Ilford squad in 32nd spot in 28 mins 35 secs for 17th in the M40 category. Seb Parris finished 40th with 29 mins 53 secs and Steve Crane 51st in 33 mins 56 secs


BRITISH MASTERS 5km CHAMPIONSHIP

The British Masters 5 km Championship was held in Battersea for the second consecutive year on a damp chilly morning and Ilford AC had two runners in action.
The race was over the usual fast flat two lap course in the park and Joanne Reeves ran a good race to finish in 21 mins 30 secs for 12th in the F45 category while Rob Sargent came home 13th in the M65 age group in 27 mins 52 secs, which was amazingly the exact same time he ran in this race on the same course last year!

  Press Report 28th November 2023  

Nov 272023
 

Chingford League
Trent Park Barnet

It was a Cold and muddy Trent Park that hosted the 3rd race in the Chingford league series  also incorporating the North London X Country championships.
U13 athletes Barney Perkins and Khalif Ali produced excellent performances finishing in first and third places respectively over the extended 3Km distance. 

In a closely contested race Barney stayed in 2nd place before producing a strong sprint finish over the last 200m to claim  his first victory in the series having finished second in his previous 2 races.
Khalif Ali ran a very strong consistent race to hold off his rivals and finish in an excellent 3rd position . Khalif has finished 3rd position in all 3 of his Chingford league races so far this season .

In the U15 race Ryder Islam rose to the challenging conditions with a great run over the longer 4Km distance and finished in ninth position overall but second in the Chingford league competition, just behind his Trent Park rival.

Just 7 Seniors competed at this week’s fixture, but all gave good accounts of themselves over the challenging muddy 2 lap 7.7k course with several short climbs on each lap.

Gemma Ellender came home 8th in the ladies division 2 match in 36 mins 44 secs and Joanne Reeves in 11th with 38 mins 03 secs .
For the men, also competing in Division 2, Ilford’s first home was Steve Chissel in 32nd place in a time of 35 mins 08 secs, closely followed by  Bradley Brown in 35th in 35 mins 48 secs with Tony Young following in 63rd place in 42 mins 49 secs.
The squad was completed by Sean Costello 71st in 45 mins 03 secs and Jim Tilbrook 77th in 53 minutes exactly 

In the division 2 fixture the Ilford ladies and men both finished 7th

 

 

London XC Championships
Parliament Hill

On an overcast afternoon, Parliament Hill, the spiritual home of Cross Country running, was the host for this year’s London Cross Country Championships.
The venue is notorious for its long hills which more often than not get very muddy, and this year was no exception.

Ilford had 6 runners however who were up for the challenge.

First off were the ladies over a 6k course.
Carlie was first home in 31m 06 seconds, followed by Alison Sale in 155th place in 32m 19 seconds.

The men ran a 10.7k course and were led home by Seb Parris in 50m 07 seconds for 239th place. Next home was Danny Holeyman in 254th place in 51m 04 seconds.
Coming in on exactly the hour mark was Bradley Brown claiming 396th place.

As if the gruelling course wasn’t hard enough, Stephen Lacey took a wrong turn and ended up running an extra Kilometre before making it back in a time of 1 Hour 8 minutes and 57 seconds. 

  Press Report 21st November 2023  

Nov 212023
 

Loughton 5m Interclub Vets

The annual match for runners over 40 took place at Loughton on the Roding Valley Country Park on Saturday. The rain held off for the event but the mainly grassland course was very wet underfoot.
 Ilford had a squad of nine in action on the day, all performing well in challenging conditions.

Leading the club home was Seb Parris in 9th place in 36:03, closely followed by Steve Chissell in 12th for 36:41.
 Next 3 men home were Tony Young in 46th place in 46:22, Edward Skinner 48th in 47:03 and Sean Costello 52nd in 48:35.

Ilford’s men finished 4th on the day

Joanne Reeves was the first Ilford lady home in 32nd place and 6th lady in 41:55.
The ladies team was completed by Frieda Keane in 61st 57:48, Julia Galea 62nd in 58:19 and Launa Broadley 63rd in 58:45. In the ladies match the ladies were 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Ilford’s ladies finished 5th on the day

Lucerne Marathon
Switzerland

Ilfords Jack Nixon traveled to Switzerland at the weekend to participate in the Swiss City Marathon.

Jack was in the lead group and went through at Halfway in just under one hour and thirteen minutes. He found the pace a little challenging at around the 15 mile mark and lost contact with the leading 4 but kicked on in the last 5-6 miles to finish 5th in 2 hours 30 minutes and 58 seconds

BRIGHTON 10km

The Brighton 10km was held Sunday on the flat fast Brighton seafront, but this year was more difficult due to a strong wind which was blowing.
Six Ilford Ac athletes traveled to the South Coast to take part.. 

First home for the club was Joel Denning in 341st in a field of over 2000 with 41 mins 56 secs while Terry Knightley recorded 43 mins 06 secs in 395th. Joanne Reeves ran her best race of the year to finish 74th female and 10th in the F45 age category in 44 mins 25 secs.
Rob Sargent came in 1371th with 57 mins 36 secs , his best time at the distance in 4 years . Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham recorded 61 mins 54 secs and Julia Galea completed the squad in 62 mins 15 secs


 

  Press Report 14th November 2023  

Nov 142023
 

CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Redbridge Cycle Circuit, Hainault

The latest round of the Chingford League was a 5km road race at the Redbridge Cycle Centre at Hog Hill Hainault. It is a hilly course, and another interesting feature of the race is that it is run in the dark in the evening.

The Juniors were the first to run over a shorter 2k course and our 4 runners all performed well.
In the U11 race, Arnav Rathi was 9th in 7:51 and in the U13 race Barney Perkins was 2nd in 6:47, Khalif Ali 3rd in 6:49 and Elias Furreedan 16th in 8:37.

The U15/17 race was run over the longer 5k course and again there were good performances by our runners. Sam Horsley finished in 1st place in 16:31, with Ryder Islam coming home in 7th place for 18:51

The Ilford AC Senior teams, who are competing in division 2 this season, put in another good set of performances in their matches.

The Ilford ladies won their event with 4 runners in the top ten and Jordan Hinds taking victory in an excellent time of 19 mins 38 secs.
Gemma Ellender is also running well now and came in 3rd in 21 mins 23 secs with Carlie Qirem 6th with 22mins 04 secs. Joanne Reeves finished 10th in 22 mins 49 secs and Alison Sale 18th with 24mins 19 secs. Julia Galea completed the scoring team and Launa Broadley (46th 31:41) and Frieda Keane (48th 32:08) were also in action.

The ladies are currently 3rd in the league table.

Ilford had 13 runners in the men’s race with Sam Rahman leading the way in 7th spot in 18 mins 25 secs. Josh Alder had another good race as he crossed the line 5 secs behind Rahman and Dan Holeyman was 17th in 19 mins 38 secs. Joel Denning showed improved form finishing 24th in 20 mins 35 secs. Recent recruit to the squad Tarik Qirem came home 31st with 21 mins 47 secs, and Steve Crane rounded out the scoring team in 32nd and 21 mins 46 secs

In the match the men finished 3rd and are 2nd in the division 2 table.

Also in action were:  Steve Horsley (37th 22:06) Craig Livermore (38th 22:09) Steve Lacey (39th 22:13)  Tony Young (52nd 24:17)  Sean Costello(59th 26:05) Batnmanader Ramen (65th 28:16) and Rob Sargent (68th 30:25)

STEBBING 10 (Miles)

The Stebbing 10 took place over a rolling course from the picturesque village of Stebbing on an unseasonably mild November morning and is always held on Remembrance Sunday.

The race starts just after 11 o’clock and a short Remembrance Sunday service.
Ilford AC had 3 runners on the day, with 2 achieving Personal bests over the distance.

First home for the club, with a PB was Tarik Qirem in 85th place in 1 hr 15m 05s, closely followed 5 places later by Carlie Qirem in 1hr 15m 20s.

Completing the team with the 2nd PB of the day was Alison Sale who came home in 161st place in a time of 1 hr 23m 17s

Elsewhere two newer members to the club were in action over the weekend.

Nick West crossed the Atlantic to run the New York City Marathon.
He found the bridges on the course challenging and suffered from cramp in the closing stages to finish in 4hrs 30 mins 35 secs, a new best time for the distance

While Jashim Uddin ran the half marathon at the Battersea Park Festival of Running in 1 hr 40 mins 40 secs for 239th in his first race at the distance.

 

 

  Press Report 7th November 2023  

Nov 072023
 

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
Writtle College, Chelmsford
Saturday 4 November

The third round of the Essex League was held on a muddy, slippery course at Writtle College near Chelmsford.
Ilford AC had 33 athletes competing, including an impressive eleven number from our expanding junior ranks.

The day started with the U13’s race over 3k.

For the boys Barney Perkins came in 16th and Khalif Ali 25th. Hawaa Patel came in 27th in the girls race.
Unfortunately, due to an admin error, no times were recorded.

Next up was the U15 race, and Ilford AC had 5 boys running over the 4k distance.
Sam Horsley continues his excellent season, coming in 2nd place in 13:40.  Next up was Ryder Islam in 17th 15:27 followed closely by Aron Berhe in 16:05 in 22nd. Completing the team were Luke Thake 41st 18:33 and Jayden-Kyle McDermott one place behind in 18:45.

Final Junior race of the day was the U17 race held over a tough 6k course.

For the ladies Leila Lauder came in 23rd in 35:18.
In the boys race Samuel Crane was 9th in 24:09 and Aaron Hick ran 26:34 for 23rd.

The Ilford AC senior teams found the conditions tough but put in respectable performances on a very hilly course.

Alex Richards had an excellent run to finish 6th in the 8km senior men’s race in 27 mins 11 secs, while Malcolm Muir gave his usual spirited performance to come home 59th with 30 mins 33 secs and the improving Josh Alder finished in 30 mins 54 secs for 63rd.
Steve Philcox was the 1st in the M55 age category to finish in 74th in 31 mins 27 secs and completing the scoring team were Dan Holeyman  in 131st and 33 mins 34 secs and one second and one place behind Neil Crisp.

In the match the Ilford team finished 10th and  in 8th spot in the league.

Also in action for the men were :   Richard Woolterton  146th, 34:21,  Seb Parris  148th 34:31,  Bradley Brown  213th 37:43  Steve Horsley 242nd 39:29,  Andy Catton  247th 40:01, Tarik Qirem 257th  40:56, and Tony Young 273rd 43:07

For The Ilford Ladies in their 7km event there was a creditable  run from Jordan Hinds in 26th in 32 mins 17 secs with support from Carlie Qirem with 34 mins 55 secs for 52nd just 2 places behind Carlie was Joanne reeves close behind in 35 minutes exactly. 

The team was completed by Pauline Tester in 97th with 39 mins 06 secs. 

Other Ilford ladies in action were:  Dianne Crisp  133rd 43:23, Frieda Keane  156th 47:42,  Julia Galea 158th 48:18 and Launa Broadley 168th 51:40

In the match Ilford finished 10th and are  in the same position in division 1.