Press Report 28th November 2023
Chingford League
Trent Park Barnet
It was a Cold and muddy Trent Park that hosted the 3rd race in the Chingford league series also incorporating the North London X Country championships.
U13 athletes Barney Perkins and Khalif Ali produced excellent performances finishing in first and third places respectively over the extended 3Km distance.
In a closely contested race Barney stayed in 2nd place before producing a strong sprint finish over the last 200m to claim his first victory in the series having finished second in his previous 2 races.
Khalif Ali ran a very strong consistent race to hold off his rivals and finish in an excellent 3rd position . Khalif has finished 3rd position in all 3 of his Chingford league races so far this season .
In the U15 race Ryder Islam rose to the challenging conditions with a great run over the longer 4Km distance and finished in ninth position overall but second in the Chingford league competition, just behind his Trent Park rival.
Just 7 Seniors competed at this week’s fixture, but all gave good accounts of themselves over the challenging muddy 2 lap 7.7k course with several short climbs on each lap.
Gemma Ellender came home 8th in the ladies division 2 match in 36 mins 44 secs and Joanne Reeves in 11th with 38 mins 03 secs .
For the men, also competing in Division 2, Ilford’s first home was Steve Chissel in 32nd place in a time of 35 mins 08 secs, closely followed by Bradley Brown in 35th in 35 mins 48 secs with Tony Young following in 63rd place in 42 mins 49 secs.
The squad was completed by Sean Costello 71st in 45 mins 03 secs and Jim Tilbrook 77th in 53 minutes exactly
In the division 2 fixture the Ilford ladies and men both finished 7th
London XC Championships
Parliament Hill
On an overcast afternoon, Parliament Hill, the spiritual home of Cross Country running, was the host for this year’s London Cross Country Championships.
The venue is notorious for its long hills which more often than not get very muddy, and this year was no exception.
Ilford had 6 runners however who were up for the challenge.
First off were the ladies over a 6k course.
Carlie was first home in 31m 06 seconds, followed by Alison Sale in 155th place in 32m 19 seconds.
The men ran a 10.7k course and were led home by Seb Parris in 50m 07 seconds for 239th place. Next home was Danny Holeyman in 254th place in 51m 04 seconds.
Coming in on exactly the hour mark was Bradley Brown claiming 396th place.
As if the gruelling course wasn’t hard enough, Stephen Lacey took a wrong turn and ended up running an extra Kilometre before making it back in a time of 1 Hour 8 minutes and 57 seconds.
