Press Report 12th February 2024  

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
Hainault Forest
Saturday 12 February

The final round of this winter’s Essex Cross-Country League was staged by Ilford AC over a very muddy course at Hainault Forest, The club had a very good turnout of runners participating in this round throughout the age groups.

First race of the day was the U13 boys and girls race, which was over a distance of approx. 3k.

Barney Perkins ran a gutsy 13:26 for 20th place backed up just 12 seconds and 3 places later by Khalif Ali.
For the girls, Hawaa Patel ran 17:22 for 24th female place.

Next up was the U15 boys on an approx. 4k.
Sam Horsley, who last week ran a brilliant 7th place in the South of England Championships, ran another great performance to claim 2nd place in a time of 14:07. Aron Berhe was next in 18th place in 16:07, closely followed 2 places later by Ryder Islam in 16:25. Luke Thake came in 33rd in 19:39 with Jayden-Kyle McDermott closing the squad in 37th in 20:34

The next race was the U17 Men and Women, held over a 7k course.
Aaron Hick led the Men home in 10th place for 20:29 followed just one place later by Samuel Crane in 20:49.
James Thake completed the Men’s team, who finished 4th on the day in a time of 23:17 for 21st place.
Leila Louder, making her cross country debut on probably the hardest course of the season, was Ilfords only female in the race, but she ran an impressive 30:00 for 10th place in the women’s category.

Penultimate race of the day was the Senior women’s race, again held over an approx. 7k course.

The ladies were led home by Jordan Hinds, who has had a good Cross country season, in 11th place in a time of 26 mins 52 secs.
Next home was Anna Crawley in 29 mins 42 secs for 37th and Carlie Qirem in 40th  with 30 mins 01 secs. The scoring team was completed by Alison Sale with 31 mins 18 secs for 52nd  spot  and 3rd in the F55 age category on the day. 
Dianne Crisp in 83rd place in a time of 36:11 earned her 2nd place in the W60 Category on the day.
The other Ilford ladies in action were:  Pauline Tester 66th 33 mins.17 secs  Frieda Keane 101st  41 mins.02 secs Julia Galea 104th  42 mins.12 secs and Launa Broadley 109th 46 mins.31 secs

The senior men raced over 8 km and first home for Ilford in their squad of 18 runners was Alex Richards, who is in top form at present, in 2nd place in 27 mins 47 secs.
Rohan Edwards was next home in 33rd with 31 mins 06 specs and Malcolm Muir 53rd in 32 mins 57 secs . Josh Adler took 60th spot in 33 mins 48 secs and Dylan Harrod placed 62nd with 33.53 secs. 
Steve Philcox closed the scoring team in 34 mins 37 secs for 75th and 3rd in the m55 age group in this race.

Further down the field Andy Catton finished as 2nd in the M70 category in 188th place in 44 mins 01 secs.

The rest of the Ilford team in action were: Seb Parris 86th  35 mins13 secs  Dan Holeyman 87th  35 mins14 secs  Akwasi Nkumah 98th  35 mins 50 secs  Dave Thomas 127th  37 mins.39 secs Neil Crisp 129th 37 mins 45 secs Steve Horsley 163rd  41 mins.24 secs  Tarik Qirem 174th  42 mins 17 secs  Bradley Brown 183rd  42 mins 57 secs  Steve Lacey 201st  45 mins.58 secs and  Jim Tilbrook 223rd  53 mins 46 secs

In the match Ilford ladies had a good day finishing 7th and that placed them 10th in league and secured their division 1 status next year.
The men were also 7th in this match and finished in that place in division 1 this season.

Individually for the series there were 1st place age category awards  for  Steve Philcox  (m55) and Andy Catton (M70) and husband and wife Neil and Dianne Crisp both were placed 2nd in their respective 60 age category