Press Report 9th November 2021  

Interclub Vets Race
Loughton
Saturday 6th November

Four male vets ventured across town to the home of Loughton AC to compete in their annual Interclub vets race at Loughton. Reigning male team champions IAC were slightly depleted in numbers due to very late notification of the event being received but they equipped themselves well finishing third overall on the day in a strong field comprising 7 teams.
Gary Coombes had a fantastic run on the undulating 5.2 mile 3 lap course  finishing 2nd overall in a time of 31.15. He was closely followed by Ilford debutant Fabrizio Stefanoni in 7th place (33.36) with Danny Holeyman finishing in 11th spot (33.59) with Diarmuid McDonnell in 20th place (36.19) making up the team.

Billericay 10k
Sunday 7th November

On Sunday Two intrepid Ilford AC athletes travelled to the Essex Town of Billericay to compete in the 25th Annual Billericay Striders 10Km Road Race.
In ideal weather over a one lap rural course and against a huge field of over 600 athletes the two Ilford Runners did the club proud.

First home in 24th position and winning the First Male Veteran Over 60 prize was Terry Knightley in a season’s best time of 38 Minutes and 6 seconds. Knightley had won the race outright back in 1998.

Following him home in 97th place was the ever dependable Adam Coals who clocked 43 Minutes and 52 seconds.

All finishers received a commemorative medal and Mars Bar.

Roding Valley Half Marathon
Sunday 7th November 

Starting and finishing at Ashton playing fields in Woodford, the Roding Valley Half Marathon follows one small lap of approx. 1m before looping out along two longer laps of approx. 6 miles each.
This year in it’s 37th running the race had 2 Ilford entrants, Alison Sale and Frieda Keane.

Alison, who had been chasing a sub 2 hour half marathon for a while, was delighted with her PB time of 1:56:21 to finish in 94th place. Frieda was equally pleased with her time of 2:08:43 which was just 1 second outside her best time for the distance and placed her 126th

British Masters 5km Championship
Barrowford, Lancs
Sunday 7th November

Rob Sargent of Ilford AC travelled north again, this time to compete in the British Masters 5k Championships. The event was held on an overcast breezy Sunday morning over 4 1/2 laps at the fast flat cycling circuit in Barrowfield, near Burnley in Lancashire.
Rob ran a steady race throughout to finish 14th in the M65 age category in 27 mins 14 secs.