Press Report 27th September 2022  

Essex Cross Country Relays Champs
Brentwood
Saturday 24th September

On a very hilly course in Weald Park the Ilford team excelled themselves.
Starting with two vets on legs 1&2 Ilford got off to a flying start with Paul Grange on leg 1 coming in with the leading group in 22:24 over the 6k course.
Leg 2 saw Tom Gardner take a slight lead in 22:19. With Havering chasing leg 3 Alex Richards. who’s recovering from his injuries, slipped back to 2nd place in 22:46.
With Havering now in the lead, leg 4 saw Ahmed Abdulle storm around the course passing Havering to bring home the victory for Ilford AC  in 20:08 whilst also achieving the fastest lap time of the day with a overall time of 1 hr 27 min 38 secs

South of England Athletics Association (SEAA) Relays
Crystal Palace
Saturday 24th September

Ilford AC entered a V40 team at the SEAA road relays at Crystal Palace this weekend with 4 runners taking on the challenging 6k course consisting of a notoriously unforgiving sharp hill that had to be negotiated twice.

Fabrizio Stefanoni set out on Lap 1, handing over to Diarmuid MacDonnell and then Sam Rahman. Last to take the baton was the gutsy Malcolm Muir. Whilst the team were always in contention they were unlucky to miss out on a medal place, coming in 5th place against some very strong opposition

Great Bristol 10k
Saturday 24th September

The Great Bristol 10k this year incorporated the Home Nations Championships with the best runners from all four Home Nations being selected by their countries to compete.
Ilford AC were very proud when our own Terry Knightley was selected to represent England for a second time. Terry did the club, and England, proud coming home in 40:07 which was the 6th fastest V60 time of the day and helped England to Victory

Valentines Park 5km (ELVIS)
Ilford
Sunday 25th September

The concluding race of the 2022 ELVIS series was held on a flat fast course in Ilford’s Valentines park. 

Ilford entered 25 runners who all performed well.

In the ladies race the winner was Ilfords Neringa Masilioniene, making it 4 wins in 4 races, in 20th overall in a time of 18.39. Third lady home was Jordan Hinds in 30th overall in 19:26. Sameena Ahmed came in 35th and picked up the 1st FV40 trophy in a time of 19:39 followed by Joanne Reeves 64th in 21:10. Next home for the club was Breege Nordin who picked up the 1st FV60 trophy in a time of 22:30 in 81st place. 6th home for the club, and completing the unusually large scoring team of 6 for an Elvis race was Mel Jones in 92nd place in 22:48.

There were personal bests on the day for Alison Sale in 98th place in 23 minutes exactly and a third personal best in 3 weeks for Launa Broadley in 199th place in 28:58.

The ladies team were second on the day and second in the series, missing out on top spot by just one point over 8 races.

Backing up the ladies team were Hannah Sheikh 99th 23:06, Gaye Young 104th 23:33, Mandy Reid 140th 25:21, Jenni Sheehan 161st 26:19, Diane Crisp 171st 27:32 Frieda Keane 200th 29:07 and Carol Muir 202nd 29:14

In the men’s race Stephen Philcox was first home, achieving 1st VM50 with his 17th placing in 17:53. Richard Woolterton continues to impress in his first season for the club coming in 26th place in 19:10, closely followed by Craig Livermore 36th 19:41 and a new personal best over the distance for Stephen Crane in 19:48 for 37th place. Coming in at 59th place in 20:45 was Steve Chissell before Andrew Catton closed the team of six in 97th place for 22:58.

The men finished 3rd on the day and third in the 8 match series.

Backing up the men’s team were Sean Costello with a new personal best of 23:24 for 102nd, Bradley Brown 103rd 23:32, Ramen 165th 26:43 and Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham 186th 28:10