Press Report 24th October 2023  

CHINGFORD LEAGUE

EastbrookEnd Country Park

Saturday 21 October

The second round of this winter’s Chingford League was held on Saturday over a new 2 lap twisty hilly course around the EastbrookEnd Country Park in Dagenham. 
The event attracted 285 entrants which was split into 2 divisions for both men and ladies.
Ilford AC impressed in division 2 despite only fielding small squads. 

The ladies team were in great form finishing first, second and third  and having four runners in the top ten in their division 2 match.
Gemma Ellender led the way with victory in 34 mins 12 secs for the approx 8km race with Carlie Qirem just 7 seconds behind and Joanne Reeves in 3rd with 35 mins 03 secs. Joanne was also first female in the F40 category.
Alison Sale was first  in the F50 grouping and 7th overall female in the Div 2 match in 36 mins 50 secs. Launa Broadley in  41st and Frieda Keane who was 44th completed the team .
In the match Ilford ladies finished 3rd and are currently 3rd in the second division.

The men were headed by a good run from Sam Rahman in third place and first M40 with 28 mins 06 secs.
Backing him up was Dan Holeyman in 12th with 30 min 45 secs and the in-form Joel Denning who came home in 31 min 26 secs for 17th.
Next over the line was Bradley Brown in a fine 20th in 32 mins 37 secs with Nick West, who will be tackling the New York Marathon in a couple of weeks , 39th with 36 mins 10 secs.
The evergreen Andy Catton, who was first M70, closed the scorers in 37 mins 01 secs.

Also in action were Sean Costello (52nd) Ed Skinner (59th) and Rob Sargent (62nd).
In their division 2 match the men finished 2nd and are 2nd in the league table after 2 matches.

European Masters Athletics Championships (Pescara, ITA)

Krystle Balogun represented GB & NI at the recent European Masters Athletics Championships and contested the 200m & 4x100R in the W35 category.
After bowing out of the 200m in the Heats having narrowly missed a place in the Final, Krystle was a late call-up to a relay team consisting of several international GB athletes.
Krystle ran the 3rd leg in the 4x100R and the team dominated the competition in winning the Gold medal and finishing just outside the CBP (Championships best performance).
A great ending to an indifferent outdoor season which has seen Krystle overcome several nagging injuries. She enters 2024 with the prospect of the European Indoor and World Outdoor Championships respectively to look forward to

Krystle returned to training last week and showed off her medal to her team-mates which should inspire the next generation

Centenary Celebrations

Last weekend Ilford AC hosted an in-house sports day at Cricklefields Stadium as part of our centenary celebrations.

Various events were arranged for our ever expanding youth development squad including long jump, 200m and 1500m races.

Main event of the day however was a 100 lap 400m relay event with members, across all our age groups, running a lap to commemorate our 100 years as an athletic club. 

The prestigious last lap was run by club President John Batchelor, who despite being in his 82nd year ran a very impressive sub 2 minute 400m whilst being followed round by other club members, some of whom struggled to keep pace!

During the day the club also took the opportunity of a team photograph.