Press Report 31st August 2021
GREAT NIGHT FOR ILFORD JUNIORS
Watford Open Track meeting
Watford
Wednesday 25th August
Ilford juniors had a great night at the recent Watford Harriers Open Meeting, with 6 entrants in the 1500 and 1 in the 400m.
First up was Oliver Blainey in the 400m, running a PB of 52.99! a great achievement in his first full season of track racing.
Next up was Jordan Hinds in the 1500m, she stuck to her race plan for the first few laps, and just got tired over the last 200m , she achieved a PB of 5m:02, and the sub 5 race will come shortly.
Joseph Grange ran in race 8 and ran his second fastest time just outside his PB with 4:29. Joseph was pleased with his finishing kick, after a slow start to the race.
800m specialist Dylan Harrod was in race 10, Dylan has had a great season over 800m, but was not looking forward to the longer distance, but he dug in a produced pb of 4:15.
Mungo Prior and Bradley Deacon were both in race 12 and both ran PBs of 4:04 and 4:03 respectively, with Brad taking the win between them.
The final entrant was Jak Wright who also ran a PB. Jak achieved his seasons goal of a sub 4 minute 1500, running 3:58.59 in a well executed race and joining the sub 4 club.
INTERNATIONAL HONOURS FOR JOHN CRAWLEY
Portrush 5m Road Race
Portrush, Northern Ireland
Friday 20th August
John Crawley travelled to Northern Ireland to represent Ilford and England in the Portrush 5m road race last Friday evening.
Starting on the promenade at the seafront the race heads toward Portstewart following the coastline for 2.5miles before turning around and following the same route home.
John ran a well paced race and in a close finish just pulled ahead of his nearest runner to finish in 11th place of the 155 runners in a time of 31:52 to place him first overseas runner on the night.
ALISON AND MANDY FLY THE FLAG FOR ILFORD AC
Spitfire 10k
RAF Museum Hendon
Saturday 28th August
The Spitfire 10K is held to commemorate the Battle of Britain and all the men and women who defended Britain’s skies during the summer of 1940, with all the runners wearing the name of a Battle of Britain pilot with their race number.
The race takes runners around the historic London aerodrome in Colindale, out onto local streets before finishing through the museum past the Spitfire, through Hangar 1 and under the beautiful Short Sunderland Flying boat, before crossing the finish line.
This year Alison Sale and Mandy Reid represented Ilford AC with both achieving personal best times over the distance and both coming second in their age category. Alison finished in a time of 51:34 to claim second V55 female, and Mandy came in on exactly 1 hour to claim 2nd in the V45 female category
ILFORD LADIES SECURE TOP SPOT
Phipps 5km
Barking Park
Monday 30 August
The annual Barking Park event staged by the Barking road Runners, now named the Phipps 5km in memory of the Barking Road Runner and Ilford member Owen Phipps who sadly passed away 2 years ago of cancer.
The race was held over the usual flat twisty 2 lap course on a cloudy cool Bank Holiday morning. The race, which was also the 6th leg of this summer’s ELVIS races, was another successful outing for Ilford AC, with the ladies winning their 3rd match of the series and with one leg to go are in a strong position on top of the standings.
The Ilford ladies were led home by Sameena Ahmed with another strong race in 2nd spot equalling her personal best time of 19 mins 25 secs, just 4 seconds behind the race leader. Supporting her in 5th spot was Carlie Qirem, who is coming into good form, with 20 mins 22secs, a new best time for the distance.
Bree Nordin won the F60 category with 22 mins 08 in 16th, with Gaye Young also improving her personal best for the distance to 22mins 26 secs in 17th place.
The scoring team was completed by two more athletes setting new best times for the distance; Hannah Sheikh recorded 23 minutes exactly for 22nd and Alison Sale placed 25th in 23 mins 15 secs to add to her personal best in the 10k race just 2 days previously .
The Ilford men teams were led home by Joseph Grange in 16 mins 50 secs for 9th place with Malcolm Muir next in 13th place in 17 mins 24 secs and Steve Philcox 16th with 17mins 38 secs, which won him the M50 age grouping trophy.
Sam Rahman was next home in his first race of the year since injury with 18mins 17 secs in 23rd and there was another good run from Will Crossley in 29th with 18mins 46 secs.
Terry Knightley impressed in 33rd taking the M60 age category award in 19 mins 10 secs to complete the scoring with Diarmuid Mac Donnell just outside the scoring 6 in 35th place timed at 19mins 22 secs.
The Ilford men’s team placed 2nd in the match and remain 2nd in the league.
Another runner from the club scoring a new personal best on the day was Tony Young with 20mins 55 secs in 59th, while Vitor Martins-Duraes finished in 21mins 17 secs in his first senior road race.
Other Ilford results: Dennis Briggs (20.36 54) Adam Coals (20.45 57) Phil Davies (60 20.56) Bradley Brown (149 25.06) Sharon Honey (160 26.08) Rob Sargent (167 26.45) Sparra Everingham (171 27.06) Mandy Reid (178 27.26) Carol Muir (182 27.43) Julia Galea (27.58) Pramila Monro (151 28.17) Frieda Keane (192 28.23) Julie Gillender (228 33.26) Kim Baxter (231 35.36)
