Press Report 12th October 2021  

Three runners from Ilford AC travelled North to take part in the Manchester Full and Half Marathons. The Marathon, the 2nd largest in the country, started and finished outside Old Trafford Cricket Ground and is run over a fast course. Carlie Qirem represented the club in this event and kept to her plan of running just inside of 8 minutes a mile. The even paced approach was successful as she passed 1306 other competitors between 10km and the finish setting a new personal best time, by over 13 minutes,  of 3 hrs 26 minutes 22 seconds, finishing 1893th out of a field of 13850 finishers, and was 136th female to finish. This performance moved her up to 10th in the Ilford all time female marathon rankings.

In the half marathon Julia Galea had a good race just  one week after running the London Marathon, to record 2hrs 06 mins 40 secs for 6th in the F65 age category. Club endurance coach Rob Sargent also took part finishing in 2 hrs 03mins 47 secs.

Eden Marathon
Cornwall
Sunday 10th October

Cornwall’s biggest running event, the Eden Marathon and Half-Marathon took place in glorious sunshine on Sunday.

Ilford AC’s Diarmuid Mac Donnell decided to tackle the Cornish challenge having had to defer his place for the Chicago marathon taking place on the same day.

Starting and ending at the Eden Project the race is multi-terrain run over a very undulating and very scenic course. Having started off at a steady pace he managed to work his way up through the pack picking off pacesetters as the hills took their toll. Given the terrain a fast time was never on and he eventually crossed the line with a chip time of 3.42 finishing in 14th place out of 209 finishers.
In true Cornish tradition, the post race refreshment consisted of a complimentary pasty and ale.

Tiptree 10 Miles
Sunday 10th October

On Sunday A Trio of Ilford AC Athletes travelled to North Essex for the Annual Tiptree 10 Miles Road Race achieving some outstanding performances.

First Home for the Club was Terry Knightley in 13th Position for 63 Minutes and 57 Seconds.
Terry’s time smashed Ilfords V60 Ten mile record, which has stood for 40 years, by 2 Minutes and 8 Seconds.
Terry also Won The 1st Male Veteran Over 60 Trophy 

Next Home and destroying her own Personal Best by 8 Minutes and 27 Seconds was Alison Sale in 111th position out of 255 Athletes with 83 Minutes and 33 Seconds.

Frieda Keane completed the Ilford trio finishing just outside her personal best in 97 Minutes and 20 Seconds in 197th place.

Kosice Peace Marathon
Slovakia
Sunday 10th October

The 93rd edition of the oldest marathon in Europe was held this weekend in Slovakia.
Included in the starting lineup was Ilfords Zuzana Sinalova who is currently living back in Slovakia for the time being. Despite a lay off with injury hampering her training Zuzana was delighted with her finish time of 3:49:20

Adidas City Runs
Emirates Stadium

Sunday 10th October

Meanwhile, closer to home, a trio of Ilfords finest athletes travelled up to North London for the Adidas City Run. The race started outside Arsenal’s Emirates stadium and took in a mile long course which included a full lap of the stadium before heading on to local streets and back. The race was a One hour run with runners trying to complete as many mile laps as they could within the hour with countdown clocks lining the route.
Dennis Briggs completed most miles of the Ilford trio clocking over 8.5 laps, followed by Hannah Sheikh with over 7.5 and Billy Green who completed just over 7 laps
Following the race the runners were invited to collect their medals pitchside inside the stadium.
There was also a photo opportunity with Arsenal’s mascot Gunnersaurus who made national headlines during the pandemic when Arsenal made him redundant, citing the financial implications of Covid. After a huge outcry the football club backtracked and saved the Dinosaur from extinction.