Ilford AC Press Report – February 26th 2018
Saucony English National XC Championships
Parliament hills Fields
Saturday 24th February
A small contingent of Ilford Athletes made their way to the “Home” of Cross Country last Saturday. The course was a little drier than in previous years and the sun was out but the hills remained the same!!
In the Ladies race Launa Broadley & Sheila Sinclair, in their first National, started steady and completed the 8km course in 57:50 and 61:06 respectively. There were 1113 finishers.
This was a huge achievement for both Ladies and is the culmination of an excellent Winters Training. They now look forward to a great Spring now!!
In the Men’s race held over 12.5km, and after a very congested start, Malcolm Muir running strongly was first man home in 734rd [51:22]. He was backed up by Neil Crisp 1189th [55:50] and Bradley Brown 2175th [72:02]. There were 2328 finishers.
Many thanks to Robin, Pam and Dianne for their support and pictures.
Roding Valley Half Marathon
Sunday 25 February
On a bitterly cold Sunday morning over 400 lined up for the 35th Roding Valley Half Marathon on the usual challenging course around Woodford. The field included 4 entrants from Ilford AC, three of whom were running the distance for the first time.
One of the distance debutants was the first home for the club in 177th slot. Adnan Karim clocked a creditable 1hr 49 mins 16 secs for the 13.1 miles.
Two female Ilford runners were also first timers for the half with Frieda Keane finishing 327th, and 6th F50 category female, in 2h 09m 20s and Natasha Mansouri recorded 2h 17m 32s for 369th spot.
The Ilford quartet was completed by the experienced Peter Spelman with 2h 13m 24s in 2h 13m 24s, 11th in the M60 age group.
Brighton Half Marathon
Sunday 25th February
Over 13,000 runners braved the cold sea air for the Brighton Half Marathon this year.
Ilfords sole representative Carlie Qirem made the trip down south for the race as part of her London Marathon preparations, which continue to go well.
The race is run almost entirely along the seafront, on an out and back course which takes in local landmarks such as Brighton Pier, Brighton Marina and the Royal Pavilion.
A bracing wind, hilly course and large field means the race isn’t suited for PB’s, but even so Carlie was delighted with her time of 1:48:30 which placed her 2,047th in the large field.
South of England and Vets AC Indoor Championships
Lee Valley
Sunday 25th February
Ilfords super-vet John Batchelor won the M75 golds in both concurrent championships in all the three events I competed in last weekend.
John improved by 1 second over last week’s 800m time, placing fifth in an M60+ race in 2:55.33.
An hour later he took third place in an M70+ field in the 400m behind two younger specialists at the distance, improving by two seconds over last week with a time of 76.17 seconds. (Managing your age in seconds in this age sector is regarded as something of a landmark, so at 77 a reasonable achievement).
The 3000m, another hour later, at the end of the meeting, found John struggling with fatigue behind a field of rather younger runners, and he settled for a final time of 13:41 to take the M75 title.
Great Cornard parkrun
Saturday 24th February
Another of Ilfords ‘super-vets’ Anthony Nixon did the Great Cornard Parkrun on Saturday.
Anthony finished 6th in 19.57 which takes him to the top of the UK over 70’s Parkrun rankings by 36 seconds
Anthony joins John Batchelor and Pam Jones to make it 3 Ilford vets who top the UK rankings for their age group events