Press Report 18th February 2019
CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5 MILES
Victoria Park
Saturday 16th January
The endurance squad of Ilford Ac opened there spring road season on Saturday by guesting in the Chingford League 5 mile race on the flat fast course in Victoria Park in Hackney.
In good weather conditions the 12 strong contingent produced results which showed that the squad have trained well during the winter.
Leading home the Ilford athletes was Gary Coombes in 20th spot in the mens race with a good time of 28 mins 40 secs. Next home was Seb Parris with a fine run who took nearly a minute off his pb with 29 mins 27 secs in 27th. Diarmuid Mac Donnell also recorded a new best time for the distance of 30 mins 25 secs for 39th place.
Haydn Newland made a successful club debut in 54th with 32 minutes exactly.
There were creditable runs for Tony Young with 37 mins 21 secs for 113th, Alan Pearl in 98th with 35 mins 05 secs and Ernie Forsyth in 38 mins 59 secs for 125th. Ray ‘Sparra’ also set a new personal best of 45 mins 18 secs for 222nd place, and Jim Huddart had his best run at the distance for more than 5 years with 51 mins 15 secs in 149th spot.
Alison Sale was the leading Ilford lady recording a new personal best of 43 mins 19 secs in 73th place in the female race. Frieda keane was the 5th Ilford runner to set a new best time on the day in 80th of 45 mins 26 secs.
One place behind Mandeep Bassi raced the distance for the first time setting a good debut time for the 5 miles of 45 mins 34 secs.
St Luke’s Hospice Test Track 10
Dunton
Sunday 17th February
On a bright and mild Sunday morning Linda Day, the sole runner from Ilford A.C. ran the St Luke’s Hospice Test Track 10.
It is run on the challenging banked Ford test track at Dunton Essex, so offers runners the opportunity to see areas normally prohibited to the general public.
Linda, in only her second run for the club, put in a fantastic performance to finish in 79:19 which placed her first female vet on the day.
Lindas finishing position was 106th in a field of 460 runners.
Hampton Court Half Marathon
Sunday 17th February
The Quicksilver Hampton Court Half Marathon is run over a fast, flat and visually interesting course that borders the river-side grounds of the magnificent Hampton Court Palace to the South West of London.
Phil Davies, another newcomer to the club, ran his first Half Marathon in the Ilford colours.
In the second impressive performances for an Ilford runner on Sunday, Phil ran a great race to knock 7 minutes off of his previous PB over the distance.
Phils time of 87:54 placed him 156th of over 4000 runners.
