Press Report 24th March 2014  

Mar 242014
 
ESSEX ROAD RELAYS – CHELMSFORD SATURDAY 22ND MARCH
Vet 45 Ladies shine once again!!
Last Saturday saw 20 runners from Ilford AC participate in the annual Essex Road Relays at Chelmsford. Ilford AC were able to field 2 teams in the Ladies race and 4 in the Men’s which made us one of the best represented teams there.
Over the normal 3.5mile  [approx] course round the country lanes of Chelmsford the Vet Ladies 45 team were the pick of the teams as Mel Jones [26:18 1st leg], Dianne Crisp [27:48 2nd leg] and Nicola Hopkinson [27:58 3rd leg] sealed an excellent team performance taking the bronze medal.
In the Senior Ladies race Jenni Sheehan [26:30 1st leg], Krystle Balogun [24:18 2nd leg] and the evergreen Pam Jones [35:34 3rd leg] finished a very creditable 6th.
Due to ineligibility on the part of our youngsters and Blair McWhirter, Ilford AC were unable to field their strongest Senior Men’s A Team. However, this did not prevent some excellent performances on the day.
The Men’s A Team of Sam Rahman [21:32], Tom Gardner [19:36], Kevin Newell [21:58] and Malcolm Muir [18:51] finished a fine 7th place. The Men’s B team of Usamah Patel [20:05], Blair McWhirter [18:35 and 3rd quickest of the day], Jack Maher [21:29] and Michael Horsey [23:00] combined well to finish 8th overall.
In the Men’s V40 race Steve Cheal [28:07], Kieran McKenna [23:23] and Rob Sargent [27:12] finished 11th.
The Men’s V50 team of Neil Crisp [22:20], Steve Parker [25:54] and Satha Alaganandasundaram [27:04] were just out of the medals in 5th place.
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Orion 15
Club stalwart Iain Wilson was Ilford’s sole representative at the 60th running of the classic Orion 15 on Saturday morning. In the usual very sticky and tough hilly conditions Wilson acted as pacemaker for his wife Mary who is training for May’s Edinburgh marathon.
Brentwood Half Marathon
After a good run in Saturday’s relays Ilford’s Sam Rahman was back in action the following day to post a  time of 82.19 for 32nd place in the Brenwood Half Marathon. Robin McNelis led the troops home with a fine 79.40 for 16th ahead of Steve Philcox who ran 81.37 for 26th place. Paul Holloway was not far adfrift clocking 85.30 for 51st and Richard Mould chipped in with 89.42 for 102nd. Breege Nordin was the only female Ilford representative producing her usual consistently good performance when recording 95.12 for 194th. Kent AC’s James Connor headed the field of nearly 2500 finishers.