Press Report 14th April 2015
Ilford AC’s run of the weekend came from Paul Holloway who continues to steadily crack all his personal bests. Sunday saw him on the South coast where he was among 9000 plus runners tackling the popular Brighton marathon. The Ilford man set off at a sensible pace running conservatively and reaching 10k in 41mins 34 seconds before keeping steady for the remainder of the race as it wound around the city to the finish on the seafront. Holloway was well pleased as he crossed the line in 2hrs 58 mins and 9 seconds, the first time he had cracked the magical 3 hour barrier which placed him high up the field in 75th position.
Further afield Peter Spelman competed in the Paris Marathon which starts and finishes by the Arc de Triumph and runs past most of the city’s popular landmarks. Peter went through halfway in 1.59 but was unable to keep the pace going in in the second half of the race partly due to the unusually warm Spring weather of around 19 degrees. Nevertheless he posted a creditable time of 4 hours 11 minutes 53 secs which placed him midway in a field in excess of 40000 in a time of 4hrs 11mins 53 secs.
The Hillingdon Half marathon based at Brunel University in West London saw Doris Gaga dip under 2 hours for the distance for the first time with a new best time of 1hr 58 mins 10 secs finishing 234th out of the 347 finishers.
Elsewhere on Sunday, five weeks after fracturing one of the metatarsal bones in his left foot at The Sidcup 10 mile road race, Ilford AC stalwart, Terry Knightley, returned to the road racing circuit at The St Clare Hospice 10K Road Race in Harlow.
Using the race as a very slow training run to nurse the injury and keep it at bay, Knightley finished in 47 minutes and 45 seconds in a field of over 300 athletes.
He was joined in the event by the evergreen Pam Jones who finished in 63 minutes and 21 seconds and was first over 75 female to finish.
Peter Ryan has also been racing prolifically recently at a variety of Southern venues. Firstly at the Weymouth Bay 10k on 22nd March he placed 31st in a time of 43.24.
Four days later he competed at the Weston Prom 5 miles finishing 91st in 35.21 which also put him as the 2nd over 60. Last week it was the turn of theYeovilton 5k to see Peter crossing the finish line in an excellent 20.50, placing him 56th out of 155 and once again good enough for runner up spot in the over 60s.