Press Report 7th February 2017  

Feb 072017
 

Young Athletes
A small number of Ilford AC young athletes competed in some high quality races in the last week doing the Club proud with their performances

In the year 7 Essex Schools X country Championships, 253 athletes competed. Matthew Hick, representing his school, as opposed to the borough, went off with the leaders from the start. Matthew continued to battle during the race and was outsprinted by 2 athletes at the end , but came a very promising 6th. As a result of this performance Matthew has been picked to represent Essex in the intercounties in March. Subsequently Matthew’s team won the team event and he won his first ever Essex medal.
In the Havering Mini Marathon trials, Matthew Hick and Jack Halil competed in the trials fighting for a place in the Havering team. Matthew finished 3rd to claim his place but unfortunately despite running extremely well in a high quality under 15 race Jack just missed out on a place in the team

Aaron Samuels represented Essex in the Intercounties at the weekend. Aaron , who recently won the Essex Schools gets better with every race, came a superb 5th position in a top quality race. Ahmed Abdulle, also Essex Schools champion and 9th in the Southern Counties, finished a brilliant 2nd.

London Winter Run
Club captain Billy Green was Ilford AC’s sole representative in last Sunday’s Club London Winter Run when 15000 runners from all over the world toed the line raising money for Cancer Research. Billy is a great supporter of this type of event and greatly enjoyed the run which started in Trafalgar Square and finished in Whitehall taking in many of the Capital’s iconic sights along the 10k route. Billy’s time was 52.01.

 

 

 

 

 

DOUBLE SATURDAY SUCCESS FOR SEB

Ilford’s Seb Parris had a busy Saturday as he came 2nd in the morning Valentine Park parkrun. Not one to rest on his laurels, he travelled to Lee Valley Indoor Arena to line up in the Essex County 1 Mile Championship, where he comfortably landed a gold medal in only his 2nd appearance on an indoor banked track. His 9 minutes 26 seconds was well ahead of defending champion Keith Palmer (Southend), winner in both 2015 & 16. Ilford AC gained 2-of-3 individual medals on offer as stalwart Dave Ainsworth claimed the bronze medal in 12.12, making it a remarkbale time span – as his first Essex individual medal was in the 1975 County 50 Kilometres 42 years’ ago!

Issued by Ilford AC Walking Section (01708-377382)

 

  Press Report 31st January 2017  

Jan 312017
 

South of England Cross-Country Championship
Parliament Hill Fields
Saturday 28 January 2017

The Senior Men’s race was contested over the usual 15km course which is one of the toughest in the country. Ilford AC entered 4 men and were led home by the ever reliable Malcolm Muir who put is usual 100% effort to finish 136th in a field of over 1000 runners from all over the South of England in a time of 53 mins 49 secs. Paul Holloway battled away to record 61 mins 17 secs for 390th with Neil Crisp 518th in 64 mins exactly. Seb Parris was running at the venue for the first time came home 539th with 64 mins 28 secs.
100 up for Julie
Ilford AC also extend congratulations to Julie Gillender who completed her 100th parkrun at Raphels Park last Saturday

  Young Athletes Report 24th January 2017  

Jan 242017
 

Aaron & Ahmed storm to victory

Ilford AC only had a small representation of athletes at the Essex Schools X Country Champs in Colchester on Saturday but still came away winning 2 of the 6 County individual titles available.
First up on Saturday,on a very cold day ,was the Junior Boys race. The Club had 2 athletes in this age group and had high hopes of success before the start of the race.
Aaron Samuel ,who has gradually improved during the X Country season took the lead from the very star and immediately raced into a 20 metre lead. He maintained his momentum as he continued to pull away from the field. Coming to the final part of the race he still had the power and speed to sprint and win the race by over 20 seconds and become Essex Champion. Aaron will now go to the Essex Schools where Ilford have high hopes for Aaron to do well.
Also in the race was Farris Patel.Farris has been injured for 3 months and has only just returned to training. He went off quickly and was with the front group but lack of training took its toll and Farris struggled to maintain his position and finally ended up 16th,which was still a great run and we will now see Farris improve for the rest of the season.

In the Intermediate Girls race Jordan Hinds came 31st
In the Intermediate Boys race Mungo Prior, stayed with leaders for the start of the race and battled to a respectable 11th place,in a very high quality field. Also in this Race was Leo Ronson, who came 48th. Leo is only new to the club and ran very gamely.
The final race of the day was the Senior Boys race,where Ilford’s Ahmed Abdulle was the pre race favourite. Even though Ahmed had a slight injury he made sure he ran a very controlled race to win by just over 6 seconds and win Ilford AC’s second title of the day. He too will now go to the English schools with very high hopes.
A great weekend for the Ilford youngsters.

 

  Press Report 16th January 2017  

Jan 162017
 

Essex Cross Country League
Braintree 14/01/2017

Ilford Young Athletes had some encouraging runs at the fourth Essex League held at Braintree on Saturday. The snow from Thursday had but gone, but the freezing conditions meant that parts of the course were still frozen and slippery underfoot.
First up was Matthew Hick in the Under 13 race. After a slow start Matthew began to move up through the field and on the twisty part of the course he was flying along. The final part of the course involved a switchback followed by a steep uphill section and long downhill run into the finish.After negotiating the switch back, Matthew flew up the hill and was still taking people as he came into the finish for an excellent 8th place.
The U15 boys have been Ilford’s most successful team this season. However they have failed to close a team since the first match and yet again late illness meant they only had three runners competing. However all three had very good runs. The team was made up of Aaron Samuel, Mungo Prior and Bradley Deacon, all of whom made good starts with Mungo and Aaron being up with the leaders and Bradley working his way through. By the end of the small lap a lead of group of about eight had been established of which Aaron and Mungo were a part. A little further down the field Bradley was making good progress. In the final mile the lead group brokeup with Leon Wheeler of Thurrock stretching away for Victory. Despite almost falling on one of the hills, Aaron had his best run of the season for 3rdplace. Mungo was in his own battle which he just lost on the line yet still ended up in 5th place. Bradley was still moving through the field and powered up the last hill to take 28th place, which was his best position yet in the league and reward for all his recent hard training.
Jordan Hinds was Ilford’s sole runner in the U17 ladies race and after a season interrupted by injury and exams is gradually racing her way back to form. After a steady start she was nicely positioned inthe middle of the field. Her long flowing style is not ideally suited to muddy cross country, but as the race went on she was moving through the field. As with the others the final part of the race involved a steep hill, and the Saturday morning hill sessions clearly paid off as she pulled away from other runners to take a best place in the under 17 category of 11th.

The Club seniors once again had a disappointing turnout due to illness, injuries and other commitments and now both mens and ladies squads have a hard battle in the last round at Basildon on February 11th to stay in the top division of the league.
The women’s race was over 5.2km and the in form Nicola Hopkinson led home the clubs trio of runners placing 35th in the field of 90 finishers in 26 mins 48secs. Next home was Dianne Crisp in 50thwith 28m 43s and Jenni Sheehan was not far behind with 29m 03s for 52nd spot.In the match the team placed 10th in the 12 team division 1 and are 11th in the league.
The mens race was traditionally longer at 7.5km event where Ilford were led home by the ever reliable Malcolm Muir in 9th pace, and 2nd in the M40 category, with 25m 45s.Paul Holloway put in a good performance to come home 34th with 27m 28s and Neil Crisp placed 71st in 29m 57s. Dennis Briggs returned from a back injury to finish 123rd in 35m 23s. Another back from injury, Ed Skinner was138th in 40m 45s, while the 6 man scoring team was closed by Rob Sargent, 139th with 41m 14s. In the match the Ilford squad finished 7th, their best result of the season, and have climbed to9th in the division 1 table, just above the relegation zone.

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  Press Report 9th January 2017  

Jan 092017
 

Essex County Cross County ​Championships – Claybury

Ilford AC had athletes competing through the various age groups in the Essex Cross Country Championships held at Claybury last Saturday. On a comparatively dry course and mild conditions the star performance of the day came from Ahmed Abdulle who was competing in his first year as an Under 20 in these championships. Ilford’s talented 18 year old narrowly missed out on the Essex Gold clocking 27.19 to finish within 5 seconds of Chelmsford’s Callum Charleston.
In the under 17 women’s race Jordan Hinds was Ilford’s only competitor and finished 13th in 28.03.
The senior ladies race saw Nicola Hopkinson lead the Ilford ladies home in 53rd place and 40.50. She was flowed in by the mother and daughter team of Dianne Crisp, 68th in 43.00 and Jenni Sheehan, 85th in 45.21.
Malcolm Muir produced his normal gutsy run for the men’s squad with a time of 40.49 taking 15th spot. Paul Holloway, racing virtually on his doorstep, was next home recording 44.07 for 54th. He was followed in by Neil Crisp, 47.05 86th, and Sebastian Parris, 53.27 and 144th.
Liz Davies of Springfield Striders and Tom Frith of Southend were crowned senior women’s and men’s county champions this year.