Press Report 8th September 2014  

Essex Way – Sunday 7th September 2014
Ilford AC closed ranks to pull off a remarkable victory in the famous Essey Way Relay Race for the first time in their history. This race covers the 82 miles of the historic Essex way from Epping Station to Harwich Old Lighthouse in 10 stages and is usually run the first Sunday in September. The route is mostly cross country and can be difficult through crops and across ploughed fields.
For a long period it looked like a scratch Ilford team may have to settle for runners up to the traditionally formidable Springfield Striders outfit until an achilles injury forced the lattter’s 5th leg runner to retire thereby incurring a heavy points penalty and effectively putting them out of the running. Nevertheless teams from Southend AC and Benfleet RC were still pushing hard with the result still in doubt right up to the final leg. For some time Captain Malcolm Muir was uncertain as to whether he would have a runner at all for the last leg showdown with the late withdrawal of their intended runner. A call was therefore put out to Mike Horsey who made the trip to Ramsey just in time to finish the leg in Harwich in 14th postion which proved more than enough to bring the Club home in top spot. Ilford totalled 65 points to Southend’s 69 with Springfield recovering to 3rd with 70.
The Club also fielded partial teams in the open and veteran categories. 61 teams from all over Essex contested the prizes and apart from Ilford’s victory in the open category both the Ladies and Veteran category prizes went to Springfield Striders.
Ilford Runners and their leg positions were as follows:- Leg 1 Sam Rahman – 3rd, Terry Knightley 21st, Peter Spelman 56th , Leg 2 Steve Philcox 4th Sam Rahman (B) 13th , Leg 3 Neil McGoun 3rd Nicola Chester 52ndh . Leg 4 Kevin Newell 1st, Leg 5 Rohan Alexander 5th, Kevin Newell (B)10th , Leg 6 Iain Knight 22nd, Steve Cheal 28th Ray Rawlinson 51st, leg 7 Neil Crisp 7th, Leg 8 Harold Wyber 3rd Jenni Crisp 35th Dianne Crisp 36th , Leg 9 Malcolm Muir 1st , Leg 10 Mike Horsey 14th, Pam Jones 56th, Natalie Crisp 57th,

Essex Champs Day 3 – 30th August 2014
The Ilford AC team travelled to Southend-On-Sea to competein the annual Essex County Relay Championships on Saturday 30th August.
The day commenced on a high as the U15 boys won the 4x100mwith a time of 47.1. Anchor leg runner Muhammed Weyli held off their closestrival Newham & Essex Beagles to win the gold.

The senior men competed in the 4x100m and 4x400m, andmedalled in the latter thanks to 400m specialist Sam Malpass, finishing fast tosecure the bronze medal in a time 49.9s in the last leg, which he said “…feltso easy, didn’t feel like I ran that fast”
Following the disappointment of being disqualified in the4x100m, the senior women’s team rectified this by winning the goldmedal in the 4x400m. The senior women’s team (Victoria Onyeka, Tamara Chambers,Kehinde Ademola and Naomi Browne) showed patience for much of the race untiltheir anchor leg runner; Naomi Browne surged past the Havering AC athlete tocross the line in first place recording a time of 4:22.6 to win the title.

Report details supplied courtesy of Jeffery Nkrumah (IAC Sprints Coach)

Walking Report

ANOTHER NATIONAL TEAM TITLE FOR ILFORD AC
Ilford AC contested the annual British Masters’ Athletic Federation 10
Kilometres’ Road Walking Championship on a hot Sunday morning around 14
flat-and-fast circuits of Abbey Park Oval cricket ground close to Leicester city
centre. Pride of place went to protagonist Francisco Reis who led early on as he
and Olympian Ian Richards (Steyning AC) quickly opened up a sizable gap at the
head of the field. With one-third of the distance completed Richards made his
move, securing a gap which proved a winning one as he pressed on to break the
tape in 50 minutes and 19 seconds with Reis 2nd in 51.04. Ilford’s captain Steve
Uttley had the kudos of completing the frame when timed-in at 55.45. Team
Manager Stuart Bennett overcame a back injury and recent swollen knee to battle
around the course for an excellent 6th position in 58.34, with his best work
being seen in the early stages. With 3 Ilford members in the top 6 it was a
formality for the Cricklefields-based Club to win the team award by a wide
margin, so adding to their collection of titles. In their individual age groups
Reis and Uttley won gold medals in the M50 & M55 categories respectively with
Bennett claiming bronze in the latter.
The Championship was held in conjunction with the long established “Tom Sharlott
Open 10K” which saw Ilford AC repeat their 2013 victory in a contest requiring 4
scorers instead of the usual 3, as a downfield Dave Ainsworth added his
contribution to the aformentioned trio. A bonus came when Bennett collected the
1st Centurion Prize prize, competed only by those who’d previoulsy completed a
100 miles’ race in under 24 hours!
Issued by Ilford AC Walking Section (01708-377382)