Press Report 23rd July 2019
TRACK
SIAB Schools International
Swansea
20th July 2019
Samuels wins on England debut
Aaron Samuels of Ilford AC was picked by England to compete in the annual competition against Scotland, Ireland & Wales, in Swansea last Saturday. This came as a result of his stunning win in the English Schools 1500m Steeplechase the previous weekend
Aaron came home first again to win convincingly again in a time of 4:30 to end a great couple of weeks of success
Eight Counties U17 Inter Counties Championships
Chelmsford
21st July 2019
Wright competes for Essex in Inter Counties
Jak Wright competed for Essex on Sunday in the Intercounties, after his great success of winning the Essex u17 3000m title, earlier in the summer. Jak came a very credible 11th in 9.28
BMC Regional Races
Eltham
17th July 2019
Grange storms to worlds best
A number of Ilford athletes competed at the British Milers Club competition last Wednesday night.
Top performance of the night must go to Paul Grange. Paul , who recently hit 40 ran in the A race 800 and competed against some quality younger athletes. Amazingly Pauls performance was one of the best performances by an Ilford AC athlete for some time. Paul ran 1.54.9.and as a result ran the fastest time for a 40 Year old in the WORLD in 2019. Well done Paul
Also competing on the night was Mungo Prior in the 1500. Mungo ran 4.06, which was a big Personal best. Farris Patel and Alex Richards both ran in the 800 and both are getting fitter again after exams and injury respectively. Both ran 1.57 and expect both those time to come down very soon
ROAD
NEWHAM HILLY 5
Hainault
18th July 2019
Ilfords Men take top honours
Ilford Ac staged the annual Newman Hilly 5, which celebrates the life of former club official Newman Sargent, over a challenging two lap course at Hainault Country Park with 330 entrants. The Ilford club also ran well in the event, fielding 32 runners, with Ahmed Abdulle winning the 5 mile race with an impressive performance by over 90 seconds in 26 mins 27 secs. he was supported by Malcolm Muir in 7th spot with 29 mins 19 secs and taking the trophy for the first in the M40 category.
Next home was Paul Holloway as first athlete in the M50 age group and 10th overall in 29 mins 53 secs, with Gary Coombes one place behind in 30 mins exactly. Rounding the scoring Ilford team were two of the club’s young prospects Jak Wrignt, 15th 30.55, and Bradley Deacon, 17th 31.02.
The club won the team race in the 4th round of the ELvIS competition and are now joint top of the league table with East London Runners.
Jenni Sheehan was in fine form for the Ilford ladies finishing 6th in 37 mins 13 secs and was well supported by Carlie Qirem in 8th with 38 mins 21 secs and Anna Crawley with 38mins 24 secs for 9th. Bree Nordin came home 16th with 39mins 28 secs to claim the F60 category prize while Nicola Hopkinson ran 41 mins 33 secs for 25th. Alison Sale closed the team scores in 60th spot in 46 mins 42 secs.
The team finished 3rd in the ELvIS match are in second place in this years competition.
James Rigby, a recent recruit to the club, had a good run finishing 20th in 31mins 10 secs while Steve Philcox was 2nd in the M50 age group in 31 mins 28 secs.
There were good performances from two more of the club’s masters runners; Diarmuid MacDonnell recorded 32mins 40 secs in 33rd pace and in 38th was Dan Holeyman with 33 mins 18 secs.
Other Ilford runners were: John Crawley (39 33.29) Will Crossley (44 33.55) Terry Knightley (51 34.55) Adam Coals (71 36.28) Steve Chissell (80 36.57) Alan Pearl (90 37.24) Andy Catton (106 38.27) Tony Young (138 41:14) Bradley Brown (157 42.29) Steve Parker (158 42.30) Adnan Karim (163 42.57) Julia Galea (219 47.13) Mandeep Bassi (228 47.49_0 Sparra Everingham (233 48.26) Doris Gaga (265 51.17) Karen St John-Kufour (309 58:21)
BBC Women’s Couch to 5K
Olympic Park
21st July 2019
Anna Crawley powers home for a PB at the Olympic Stadium
The BBC Women’s couch to 5K was a free event that allowed athletes entry to the Anniversary games after, and despite the name was open to runners of all abilities.
This was a race that Ilford runner Anna Crawley had targeted for a first ever sub 21 minute 5K and a PB.
Setting off at a hard pace, Anna decided to see how long she could hang for. A quick first 2 miles saw Anna on target, and although the pace was beginning to tell she knew if she could push on she could reach her goal.
The final part of the race finishes on the track in the Olympic Stadium, and as Anna entered the stadium she saw the clock getting closer to the 21 minute mark which made her put her foot down for the line.
To Anna’s delight she came home in 7th place overall with a time of 20:53, her first Sub 21 and a massive PB.
Two other Ilford ladies took advantage of the opportunity for free entrance to the Anniversary games, Zuzana Sinalova and Nicola Hopkinson.
Both were happy with their times of 21:28 and 24:03 respectively.
Felsted 10k
21st July 2019
Terry takes home a seasons best
Ilford AC Super Veteran Terry Knightley was the sole club representative at this years annual Felsted 10K Road Race around the surrounding country lanes in rural Essex.
Having won outright the first ever edition of the race in 1999 this year was a different story.
Competing against a huge field of 468 other Athletes in hot conditions Knightley finished in 40th place overall in a seasons best time of 41 minutes and 1 second for 4th position in the MV50-59 Age category.
