Press Report 6th January 2015  

Witham Boxing Day 5 Miles

Friday 26 December

While a number of their clubmates were in action in the Annual Boxing day Handicap in Hainault Forest 2 Ilford AC members took to the roads of Witham
Malcom Muir was in good festive season form coming home in 9th spot in 27m 18s to take the M40 category prize. Meanwhile sister Carol placed 277th in a field of 376 in 47m 08s.

Essex Cross-Country Championships
Claybury Park, Woodford
Saturday 3 January

This years Essex Cross-Country Championships were held in the toughest conditions for years as heavy overnight rain turned the course around Claybury Park in Woodford into a muddy quagmire with freezing drizzle persisting throughout the event.

Best performance for Ilford AC came from Ahmed Abdulle in the mens u-17 age group where he took the bronze medal. Finding the conditions tough going Ahmed was up with the 2 leaders as they broke away from the pack but slipped back in the closing stages and had to settle for a creditable 3rd place in 19m 23s.
His training partner Usamah Patel steadily worked his way through the field for 8th place in 20m 08s and both of the athletes have now been selected to represent essex. Closing the team was Jack Maher in 32nd place with 23m 47s.
The day started with the 3000m races for the u-13 age groups. In the boys event for Ilford were Manraij Gill in 19th in 13m 37s, Bradley Deacon placed 34th with 14m 43s and Aran Mangel finished 38th in 15m 02s, while the girls were represented by Isabella Hick recording 16m 56s for 36th spot in her first outing in these championships.

The senior ladies raced over a 5 mile 3 lap course and the Ilford team were headed by Krystle Balogun who ran a strong last lap to finished 17th in 35m 43s while Jenni Sheehan showed a big improvement from last year coming home 44th in 39m 10s. Mel Jones gave her usual gritty performance in 52nd with 41m 33s. Bree Nordin closed out the team in 42m 31s for 60th. Ilford were the 8th club to finish a team. Also running were Nicola Hopkinson in 78th with 45m 11s and newcomer to the squad Doris Gaga came home 114th.

The last race of the day was the senior mens championship which was also over 3 laps but the total distance was 7.5 miles, Ilford were led by Malcolm Muir who battled through to place 17th in 42m 26s, closely followed by Tom Gardner in 42m 45s for 19th. Steve Philcox showed good form in 51st with 46m 28s , while Kevin Newell placed 67th in 47m 30s with Paul Holloway next over the line 5 seconds later. Sam Rahman closed the scoring 6 in spot 89th with 49m 26s. It was a good performance from Ilford who were the 4th club to finish a team. Also in action were Neil Crisp (100th 50m 3s) and Terry Knightley (170th 59m 13s)