Press Report 13th August 2019
Forest Five
Epping Forest
Saturday 3 August
The sixth round of the ELvIS series for 2019 was held over a 5 mile off road course in Epping Forest at Chingford. Ilford AC fielded a team of 19 for this fixture and in form Gary Coombes headed the squad with a fine 6th place finish in 29 mins 13 secs and took home the 1st M40 trophy. He was supported by Sam Rahman in 17th with 30mins 34 secs and Steve Philcox in 30 mins 58 secs for 19th, a position which won the M50 age category. Seb Parris placed 20th with 31mins 13 secs, while Dan Holeyman came home 25th in 32mins 09 secs and Diarmuid Mac Donnell was one place back with 32 mins 15 secs. John Crawley was a further 15 secs behind in 29th and Adam Coals recorded 34 mins 46 secs in 58th.
In the team competition Ilford placed second to the home Orion Harriers squad and are joint top of the league with East London Runners.
The Ilford Ladies team was weakened by the non-availability of several of the usual scorers. Bree Nordin led the side home in 14th spot with 38 mins 09 secs and was the winner of the F60 grouping. One place behind was the improving Anna Crawley with 38 mins 09secs. Alison Sale placed 79th in the ladies race with 47mins 03 secs and Doris Gaga came home in 90th spot in 48mins 20 secs,. the team was completed by Mandeep Bassi in 106th with 50 mins 02secs and Launa Broadley with 55 mins 38 secs for 137th place. the depleted squad still managed to place 5th in the match and the club remain in second spot in the league.
Other Runners: Dennis Briggs (87 36.45) Tony Young (115 38.59) Ray Everingham (251 48.02) Sheila Sinclair (321 56.22) Jim Huddart (339 63.48)
Ride 100
London
Sunday 4th August
4 Ilford athletes took part in the Prudential ride 100 event at the weekend, an unforgettable traffic free ride through London and Surrey. The event is also part of the 3 part ‘London Classics series’ with the other two being the London Marathon and swim Serpentine.
Nicola Hopkinson, Alan Pearl and Steve Parker were riding as a team of 3 raising money for their local charity ‘MIND’ in Stratford. In completing the event Nicola Hopkinson earned the ‘London Classics’ medal for completing all 3 events whilst Steve Parker having previously done the London Marathon in April claimed his second of the 3 events. Riding as a team rather than looking at times, all 3 were pleased with their efforts.
Carlie Qirem, along with her husband Tarik, both had a day to remember. Back in 2017 both had recorded times of over 8 hours, and this year after a lot of training they had set themselves a target of under 7. Expectations were smashed though, when both came home together in a time of 5:47:27, knocking almost 3 hours off of their previous time. Carlie had already earned the ‘London Classics medal’ after completing all 3 disciplines.
The Miles of Miles Festival 2019
Chelmsford
11th August 2019
The mile is the classic race.
Since 1976, the mile has been the only non-metric distance recognised by the IAAF for record purposes. The current male record is 3:43.13, while the female record is 4:12.56.
On Sunday Chelmsford athletic club hosted its annual ‘miles of miles’ event inviting athletes to race the mile distance on the stadium track in a series of seeded races. Three Ilford athletes took on the challenge, John Crawley and father and son pairing Danny and Ryan Holeyman.
John Crawley had never ran a mile race before so was unsure how to pace himself. Although very pleased with his 5:11 time which placed him second in his heat, John felt he could have pushed a little harder in the earlier stages of the race so looks forward to having another crack at a possible sub 5m mile in the future.
Father and Son team Danny and Ryan Holeyman always carry a little friendly rivalry in to their races, although Danny concedes that his son has the edge on him now, and so it proved on the night with Ryan winning his heat in a time of 5:24 with Danny coming in at 5:34.
Burnham Beeches Half Marathon and 10K
11 August 2019
The Burnham Beeches Half Marathon and 10k offers a choice of two distances, both on a mix of closed roads and hard surfaced woodland paths through the cool shade of the Burnham Beeches ancient woodland in South Bucks. It’s the perfect setting for a summer half marathon or 10k.
Two Ilford AC athletes attended the event. Julia Galea took on the Half Marathon and was pleased with her time of 2:06:41.
Meanwhile in the 10k Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham was also pleased with his time, recording 56:59 for his second fastest ever 10k race.
In the same race Sparra’s wife Wendy, who trains with the club, also recorded her second best 10k time coming in at 1:15:33
