Press Report 6th October 2020

Oct 052020

Open Meeting
Jim Peters Stadium
3rd March 2020

With gale force winds and rain predicted for the weekend, not much was expected from the open Meeting at the Jim Peters stadium at Barking, last Saturday.

However the young middle distance squad produced some great performances and achieved 8 personal bests

Joseph Grange was the only member of the group to do a 1500m and he had a very good run to record a time of 4.47.24 a pb by 16seconds.

Jordan Hinds was feeling ill before her race, but despite this she gave it a go and ran a time of 2.29.36.

U13’s Ryder Islam, Samuel Crane and Aaron Hick could count on one hand the amount of track races they had run, but all achieved pbs. All three of them went with the very fast first lap and all showed their strength to move through the field in the second lap. Samuel ran 2.45.85, Ryder 2.43.28 and Aaron a very impressive 2.30.05.

Bradley Deacon, new member Dylan Harrod and Ryan Holeyman, were all in the same race, which was slow to begin with, Bradley worked his way to the front and set about increasing the pace. He maintained his lead until the finish and crossed the line in 2.04.48 a pb of 6 seconds, Dylan ran 2.09.57 and Ryan ran his third pb of this shortened season a time of 2.14.75.

Jak Wright was up next and like Bradley he did the bulk of the work in his heat, especially on the second lap, he was just piped in the home straight, but a pb of 2.01.03 an improvement of 4 seconds

The last race of the day involved Aaron Samuel and Paul Grange. Despite being the fastest heat there seemed a reluctance to take the pace and the first lap was fairly slow. It sped up on the second lap, and Paul who was nicely positioned the whole way came in 3rd in a time of 1.55.90, Aaron was 2 places back in a time of 1.56.76, a pb by over 2 seconds.

Kosice peace marathon 2020
Kosice, Slovakia
4th october 2020

Established in 1924, the Kosice Peace Marathon is the oldest marathon in Europe and the sixth-oldest in the world.
Normally consisting of two laps in the historic city center of Košice, Slovakia, this year because of social distancing they had to change the course so ran 10 laps of 4,2km.
Zuzana Sinalova was the sole Ilford AC member running the race, in her first ever marathon.
Zuzana has previously spent many years living in London, where she became a popular member of the club and has decided to retain her membership since moving back and proudly ran in the Ilford AC vest. She finished in a time of 3 hours, 39 minutes and 41 seconds and was the 13th female to finish.

Virtual London Marathon
Various locations
4th October 2020

45,000 runners from around the world took part in this year’s Virtual London Marathon, including 7 from Ilford AC. Entrants had to run the 26.2 miles in the 24 hour period on the day the actual event was due to take place.

First to finish, mainly because they set off at 1am to avoid traffic and pedestrians were husband and wife team Rhoan and Brennie Gabbidon. Both have spent the previous months battling illness and injury so were delighted to complete their marathon journey, Rhoan in 6:59 and Brennie in 7:24.

Setting off at 7:15 and taking in several local parks were Launa Broadley and Karen Kufuor. Both had worked so hard in their marathon journey and enjoyed the support of many of their colleagues en-route and can be rightly proud of their achievements. Both finished in a time of 5:47.

Another who has worked very hard in his marathon journey has been Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham.
No one has been more meticulous in their marathon preparations, or more supportive of others than Sparra, and with tremendous support on the day from family, friends and club colleagues he was delighted with his time of 5:29.
Sparra also managed to raise a magnificent £3,015 for the National Deaf Children’s Society.

Lovedip Dhaliwal entered the race late when it re-opened as a virtual marathon, and despite very little training was pleased with her time of 5.22

Fastest Ilford Marathoner was Sam Rahman. Sam set off from Barking Park at 9am and had awful weather conditions to endure as he aimed to complete 17 laps of the park to rack up the 26.2 miles. Despite the weather Sam’s partner and son stayed to cheer every lap, and various club mates joined in at various points to offer support and encouragement along the way.
Sam was delighted with his time of 3 hours and one minute which placed him 670th overall in the field of 45,000.

2 Mile Handicap
Barking Park
3rd October 2020

With Road Races still in short supply, Ilford continued with their monthly handicap races over Barking Park, this month’s race was over 2 miles.

Storm Alex deterred a few of the runners, but 27 hearty soles toed the line. The start was staggered with 9 mins between the first and last runners.

Having been out a few months with injury, Gaye Young was using this as a test of her fitness, which on the evidence of Saturday is pretty good, as she splashed her way through the puddles to finish in an impressive 15.22.

Second home was Jim Tilbrook who was also on the comeback trail, he finished 15 seconds behind Gaye in a time of 14.37. Freida Keane made up the top three with a time of 17 minutes, just piping birthday boy Ernie Forsyth.

Gary Coombes was the fastest of the male runners in 5th place with a time of 11.06, Anna crawley was the fastest lady in a time of 14.16 for 18th place.

As well as the runners some of Ilford’s walking section took part and first to cross the line was Emma Dyos in a time of 18.16.

Full results

1 Gaye Young 18.22 3 15.22

2 Jim Tilbrook 18.37 4 14.37

3 Freida Keane 19.00 2 17.00

4 Ernie Forsyth 19.06 3 16.06

5 Gary Coombes 19.06 8 11.06

6 Sharon Honey 19.21 1 18.21

7 Steve Philcox 19.22 8 11.22

8 Alex ELR 19.29 1 18.29

9 Mandy Reid 19.32 3 16.32

10 Alison Sale 19.40 5 14.40