Press Report. February 26th 2019
Midweek Indoor Middle Distance Meeting
Lee Valley
Wednesday 20 February
Four athletes from Ilford AC entered the middle distance meet on the indoor 200m track at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre.
In heat 1 of the 800m there was a good race from Alex Richards to take second in 1 min 58.98 secs, while Farris Patel impressed on his first indoor race finishing 6th in 2 mins 01.92 secs. Tom Gardner placed 6th in heat 3 in 2 mins 10.65 secs.
In the 1500m Sam Rahman was involved in bunched race and coped well to come through in 5th in 4 mins 38.74 secs,
National Cross Country Champs
Leeds
23rd February 2019
The National cross country championships, held by the English Cross Country Association was held at Harewood House, Leeds, on Saturday.
Pitting himself against the finest athletes in the country was Ilford’s sole entrant Trevor Robinson.
Over a demanding and hilly 12.k course Trevor gave a very good account of himself, finishing in a time of 1:10 which placed him in 1,963rd place.
Brighton Half Marathon
24th February 2019
Over 7,000 runners ran the Brighton Half Marathon this year in unseasonably warm weather.
Ilford’s sole representative Carlie Qirem made the trip down south for what she describes as one of her favourite races, 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.
Carlie showed that her hard work this season is paying dividends by smashing her PB by over 3 mins to record a time of 1:41:42 which placed her 1001st on the day in the large field.
Southern Counties Veterans Athletics Club (SCVAC)
English Masters
Lee Valley
24th February 2019
Although Ilford AC Super-vet John Batchelor continues to struggle with Injury he still put in a couple of fine performances at the English Masters this weekend.
In the M70 800m race John finished 3rd with a seasons best time of 3:10:34, before moving on to the 1500m. This race was always going to be a tougher one for John as he had to step down an age category to compete in the M60 class, but once again John recorded a seasons best to finish in a time of 6:41 for 10th place
Hillingdon 10k
24th February 2019
Doris Gaga, fresh from her Half Marathon in Ethiopia two weeks ago stepped down a distance to race in the Hillingdon 10k at the weekend with her sister.
The race is a popular one in the running calendar and starts and finishes in the modern surroundings of Brunel University in Uxbridge.
Doris’ recent hard work in training showed as she ran an excellent race to place 3rd V50 on the day with a PB time over the distance of 50:56.
The result also placed her 62nd on the day in a field of almost 300.
ENGLISH MASTERS INTER AREA INDOOR CHALLENGE
LEE VALLEY ATHLETICS CENTRE, ENFIELD
24/02/2019
Two Ilford club members were selected to represent their masters area club(VAC) at this year’s Indoor Inter Area Challenge at Lee Valley. The annual event, organised by the English Athletics Masters Association (EAMA), is open to all Masters area teams in the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The competition is organised for men and women in four age groups, 35-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70+. Sunday‘s event featured the Welsh Masters team plus 6 other area teams covering the English counties.
Stuart Bennett and Seb Parris both towed the line for the Veterans Athletic club in the 2000 m men’s race walk. 10 laps of the banked indoor 200m track. Both had a solid race recording seasons bests. Seb came 5th in 10.57 (1st v35-49) and Stuart came 7th in 11.30 (4th v60-69) out of a field of 14.
VAC ended the championships in 5th place for both the men’s and women’s teams.
