Press Report 23rd June  

Eton Manor 5k

Tuesday 16th June

Leyton

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No less than 31 athletes from Ilford AC lined up for the Eton Manor 5k last Tuesday Evening. Held in Leyton on a multi terrain course believed to be slightly over distance this was the 3rd in this year’s 7 race “Elvis” series between 8 competing local clubs.

Once again without their captain Malcolm Muir and some of their faster track stars Ilford were always going to be up against it with both East London Runners and Eton Manor being once again out in force.

Nevertheless less the Club put in a good performance with Sam Rahman leading the way for the men in 8th spot in a tie of 18.06. He was well backed up by a legion of strong Ilford veterans namely Kevin Wotton (16th, 18.37), Tony Hyde (17th 18.38), Paul Holloway (19 th, 18-40), Stephen Philcox (20 th , 18.42) and Neil Crisp (24 th, 19.23). In addition Tony Hyde was the top male 50 runner of the day with Andy Catton (57 th, 20.46) taking the over 60’s prize.

Jenni Sheehan led the ladies home (75 th, 22.06) combining with the female over 55 winner Breege Nordin (85 th, 22.43), Melinda Jones (98 th 22.56) and Rachel Halpin (72 nd, 25.32) to close the 4 strong team.
East London Runners took top spot in both the Men’s and women’s Elvis team competitions with Ilford 2 nd and third respectively.

Other Ilford positions and times were as follows 38 th Terry Knightley 20-03, 43 rd Rohan Alexander 20.16, 76 th Bradley Brown 22-12, 84 th Stephen Parker 22-29, 85 th Peter Ryan 22-32, 94 th Declan Cullen 22-49, 110 th Billy Green 23-20, 124 th Gary Floate 24-05, 139 th Pathrose Louis 24-54, 159 th Doris Gaga 26-42, 161 st Sukhbindar Jandu 26-57, 162 nd Nicola Chester 26-58, 167 th Baldev Singh 27-27, 176 th Julia Galea 27-54, 183 rd Sharon Honey 28-27, 211 th Carol Muir 31-27, 213 th Pam Jones 31-42, 226 th Kim Baxter 34-16, 228 th Julie Gillender 34-36, 234 th Meredith Floate 35-46.

The next race in the series is at Dagenham’s Eastbrookend Country Park on 1 st July.

British Masters 5km Championship
Horwich
Sunday 21 June

5 Runners from Ilford ACs endurance squad travelled to Horwich, just north of Manchester to compete in the British Masters 5km Road Championships.

The squad were led home, over a 3 lap course featuring 600m climb on each lap, by Peter Ryan in 101st place in 20mins 53 secs which earned him 11th spot in the M60 category. Rob Sargent recorded 23m 43s for 14th M60, while Julia Galea recorded a personal best of 27m 09s for 7th in the F55 grouping.

Pam Jones won another British age group title by the taking the gold medal for the F75 category in her best time of the year of 29m 48s. Carol Muir was feeling unwell on the morning of the race but bravely battled on to finish in 35m 13s.

The ladies combined together as a team in the F35-44 group and were rewarded with silver medals for taking second spot in the club competition.

Out and About

Ilford legend Tony Nixon continued his one man assault on the Harwich 5k series posting yet another superb time in the 3rd of the 5 race handicap series last Tuesday evening. Held along a windy promenade out and back loop Nixon blasted along the Dovercourt seafront and despite saying he felt tired afterwards still stopped the raceclock at 19.38. The organisers always also give an age related time which came out as an unbelievable 14.50 for the 67 year old Nixon. However the Ilford stalwart then went on to prove that he is not completely unaffected by the ravages of father time by departing with half his kit still left in the changing room.

Meanwhile the only genuine Fell race in Essex saw 2 Ilford men tackle the 5k course comprising of some of the more notorious hills of Epping forest and hosted by Orion Harriers. Robin McNelis came home a creditable 27th in 25m 48s while Billy Green recorded 33m 31s for spot 82.

SCVAC League

Allianz Stadium Hendon

Monday 15th June

A very small but yet high calibre “team” competed in the Southern Vets T & F league at the Allianz Stadium, Hendon on Monday 15th . Amazingly 3 Ilford Athletes managed to cover most of the evenings events finishing a truly creditable 6th out of the 9 clubs with 96 points (Malcolm Muir 38, Pete Whiting 33, Andy Catton 25)

Malcom Muir :-

100m M40 9th 15.3

5000m M40 1st 16:39.2

400m M40 4th 62.6

1500m M40 3rd 4:35.9

TJ M35 5th 6.01

Discus M35 6th 13.75

Pete Whiting :-

100m M50 4th 15.3

400m M50 6th 74.1

1500m M50 8th 7:35.3

TJ M50 3rd 7.98

Discus M50 3rd 21.48

Shot M35 8th 6.46

Andy Catton :-

100m M60 4th 17.7

5,000m M50 7th 20:54.0

400m M35 6th 80.6

1500m M60 2nd 5:37.0

The Ilford trio confessed to being disappointed that they did not have a fourth person for the medley relay !