Press Report 6th September 2022
Hillingdon 20
Sunday 4th September
Sam Rahman gave an excellent performance on Sunday in the Hillingdon 20 mile road race. The race, the oldest of this distance in England, is over 4 challenging undulating laps of suburban Ruislip.
Rahman was in the leading group from the start and reached halfway in 63 mins 30 seconds. The course took its toll in the second half and he came home in 2 hrs 10 mins 51 secs for 9th place in a field of over 230.
The result indicates that he is in good form and is hopeful of a sub 3 hours in the forthcoming Amsterdam Marathon
The Vitality Big London Half
Sunday 4th September
Three Ilford runners were amongst the 10,000 runners who took to the streets of the Capital in The Vitality Big London Half Marathon.
The race starts by Tower Bridge and finishes at the Cutty Sark, passing by some of the greatest sights our capital has to offer.
In a field of over 8,000 runners Sameena Ahmed run a 3 minute Personal Best to finish 5th in her age category in a time of 1 hr 26 mins 15 seconds.
Second home was Richard Woolterton in a time of 1 hr 30m 05 secs, followed by Steve Chissell in 1 hr 39 mins 19 secs
The Essex Way
Essex
Sunday 4th September
Ilford AC had 10 hardy runners flying the flag for the Club in the iconic 33rd running of The Essex Way.
This is one of the County’s truly inspirational events, with 82 teams from clubs from all over the county and beyond racing on the ancient trails and footpaths which make up the 82 miles of the historic Essex Way that runs from Epping Station to Harwich Old Lighthouse in a 10 leg relay.
The route takes runners across ploughed fields, through large crops, across many a stile and kissing gate and plenty of overgrown bushes and nettles.
There are also the logistics of getting runners back from their finish point to their cars where they started which is why the event is a true ‘team event’ with team members turning up at all start and finish points to both cheer on their colleagues and get them back to their cars where they started before moving on to the next leg.
Alison Sale duly set off from Epping Station at 8am on Sunday morning to represent Ilford on Leg 1 finishing 7.5 miles later at Chipping Ongar.
Leg 2 saw Anna Crawley, making her debut in the competition, run the 9.5 miles to Good Easter.
Leg 3 had Gary Coombes running another 9.5 miles to Little Leighs.
Leg 4 was Dennis Briggs running the 10.1 miles to Cressing Church.
Leg 5 saw Tony Young run the 9.4 miles to Great Tey.
Leg 6 had Billy Green set off to West Bergholt
Leg 7 saw Malcolm Muir run his usual leg of 11.2 miles to Dedham
Leg 8 saw Sharon Honey take up the baton to run the 8 miles to Bradfield
Leg 9 saw Mandy Reid take on the 6 miles to Ramsey.
The final leg had Stephen Lacey, another debutant of the event, take on the 5.5 miles to Harwich lighthouse
Of the 82 teams entered, Ilford AC finished a very credible 15th place overall
The day finished with a few of the team meeting up for the traditional Fish and Chips and photo on the Lighthouse.
A big thanks to Robin Davies, who every year makes sure the first runner is in place and gets back to their car, and is there for all the later stages giving lifts and grabbing a place for us in the Fish and Chip Queue
