Press Report 18th February 2025  

Essex Cross Country League – Hockley
Juniors

Ilford AC had a small turnout of four younger athletes for the final fixture of the season at muddy and wet Hockley but all performed well.

Competing in the U11 race, over a distance of 1.5k was Danilo Reina for his fourth appearance of the season. Danilo had his best run of the year to finish in 17th place in 6 mins 01 secs. Danilo will move up an age group next year and has shown good endurance in training sessions which will help him over the slightly longer distances.

In the under 15 boys were Fabio Reina making his league debut for the club and Luke Thake racing over a challenging 4k course.
Both had performed well in the previous week on the road surface at Victoria Park but this was a very different experience with the course getting tougher as each race made the ground more difficult. Fabio started cautiously but moved well through the field to finish in an excellent 19th place in 16 mins 55 secs. Luke like his older brother will excel on the track in long term but displayed good endurance to finish in 33rd place in 18 mins 14 secs, and now looks forward to the upcoming track season with confidence

Finally we had Samuel Crane in the under 17s race over a very challenging 6k.
Samuel has had a mixed cross country season but had his best league race of the year to finish in 6th place in 18 mins 36 secs. He is racing in the national cross country championships at the weekend and hoping for another good result at the iconic parliament hill course.

Mercury 10 Epping Forest 

Saturday morning saw the 102nd running of the Mercury 10 in Epping Forest.
Incorporating tough muddy hills the 10 mile race, whilst picturesque in places, is a real challenge for runners and one really only for the brave.
This year saw a large field of 176 runners ready to take on the challenge, including 4 from Ilford AC.
Leading the team home was men’s captain Danny Holeyman, who has been having a great Cross Country season, in 23rd place in a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 33 seconds.
Danny was chased all the way by teammate Seb Harris who finished just a place and nine seconds behind him.
Jim Tilbrook ran an impressive 1 hour 37 minutes and 54 seconds for 93rd place and completing the team was women’s captain Alison Sale, who ran a strong race for 104th place in a time of1 hour 41 minutes 31 seconds