Press Report 17th October 2023
ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
One Tree Hill
The Essex Cross-Country League opened this winter’s fixtures on a warm sunny day at One Tree Hill in Basildon last Saturday. The races were held over the trials in the country park with the course featuring a couple of stiff climbs on each lap.
Ilford AC were very well represented across all age groups.
We had 10 athletes in our Junior races, which is a testament to our Coaches Ernie, Gary and Wayne, and the hard work they put in to ensure the future of the club is in safe hands.
In the year 5 and 6 grouping the 1st Ilford athlete with a very impressive debut in a high class field was Khalif Ali followed by Arnav Rathi also making an impressive debut .
Next finisher was Elias Furreedan with a really solid performance.
In a very high standard U13 race Barney Perkins finished in 14th place and he will no doubt improve on this performance as he gains more experience.
In the U15 boys race Sam Horsley ran a very impressive race to finish 2nd, and was backed up by good runs from Aaron Berhe in 19th and Luke Thake in 38th.
There were also 3 excellent performances in the U17 Men’s race with Samuel Crane in 9th place, Aaron Hick in 17th and James Thake 21st.
The senior ladies race was over 6.6km and an Ilford team weakened by injuries and non availability put in a good performance to claim 11th spot in their division 1 match.
Alison Sale led the team home in 72nd position in 32 mins 41 secs with support from Pauline Tester in 94th spot and Dianne Crisp in 119th.
Ever reliable Frieda Keane closed the team in 142nd in a large field,
The Ilford AC men had a big turnout of 18 for their 8km race over 2 laps.
First home for the club was Tom Gardner in an excellent 7th place and 3rd in the M40 category in 27 mins 29 secs. Next over the line in 17th was Alex Richards in 28 mins 21 secs with the ever reliable Malcolm Muir in 42nd in 30 mins 29 secs and 4th in the M45 age group.
Steve Philcox came in 64th and 2nd in the M55 group and Josh Alder 78th.
Dylan Harrod, who is still in the U20 age group, completed the scoring team in 110th.
This placed the club in 7th in division one of the league.
Neil Crisp was 3rd in M60 category and 125th overall and club stalwart Andy Catton 1st in the M70 grouping.
Backing up the team on the tough course were: Danny Holeyman 116th Richard Woolterton 129th Seb Parris 147th Ray Dzikowski 160th Bradley Brown 179th Steve Crane 189th Tony Young 44.02 Sean Costello 237th Rob Sargent 254th Jim Tilbrook 255th
CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5km
Olympic Velopark
The first fixture of the season in the Chingford League took place under the lights at the Olympic Velopark road circuit in Stratford. Ilford are competing in the second tier of this competition and produced good results on the night.
Off first was the U15/17 race and in a field of 60 runners Ilford had two U15 boys who had great races. Sam Horsley came first in a time of 16:51 followed by Ryder Islam in 8th place in 18:36.
Next off were the Senior women, led home by Gemma Ellender in 23rd place in 21:12. Coming in next was Alison Sale in 23:08 and Pauline Tester in 25:25.
Completing the ladies team were the ever reliable Launa Broadley 172nd 30:32 and Frieda Keane 183rd 32:32.
The ladies finished 6th on the night.
Last race of the day was the Senior men. In a large field of over 300 runners, Ilford AC had 10 runners competing.
First home was Ronan Edwards 14th 16:44, followed by Sam Rahman 34th 17:24.
Next in were 3 within a minute of each other, Danny Holeyman 100th 19:23, Joel Denning 112th 19:38 and Seb Parris 19:59.
The squad were backed up by excellent performances from Nick West 184th 21:43, Stephen Lacey 190th 21:55, Steven Horsley 202nd 22:17, Anthony Young 251st 24:09 and Jim Tilbrook 276th 26:21
Tiptree 10 (10 Miles)
The Tiptree 10 has been awarded ‘the best road race in the Essex AA area’ as voted by running clubs 3 times since 2008 and offers a beautiful scenic course through the Essex village.
This year the race incorporated the Essex 10 Mile championships, and in a large field Ilford AC had 10 athletes representing the club.
Leading the team home in an incredible sub 60 minutes was Malcolm Muir in 59:41 for 15th place. Just one place behind was Sam Rahman winning an Essex Silver VM40 medal in a time of 1:00:07. Sam was followed by Stephen Philcox who gained a VM55 Gold medal with a time of 1:04:20. Our other medallist on the day was Alison Sale with a well deserved Essex Silver in the VF55 grouping with a time of 1:24:22 for 186th place.
Backing up the medallists, all with great performances of their own were :- Danny Holeyman 46th 1:05:45, Richard Woolterton 61st 1:07:09, Terry Knightley 87th 1:12:17 Nick West 161st 1:21:04, Hannah Sheikh 241st 1:30:43 and Launa Broadley 349th 1:44:04
Essex Grand Prix
At the end of the Essex Road Championships season the top 3 runners in each age category are awarded prizes based on their season’s performances.
Ilford are proud to announce that Sam Rahman won a Gold medal in the MV40 grouping, whilst Terry Knightley added Essex County medal No 80 to his collection with a Silver medal in the MV60 grouping.