Press Report 23rd January 2024
CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Epping Forest
Saturday 20th January
The latest match in the Chingford League took place in Epping Forest on Saturday.
First race of the day was the U13 race, and our boys continue to impress in the series.
Barney Perkins continued his excellent form of late with a first place in a time of 07 mins 45 secs over the 2km course.
Barney was closely followed and supported by Khalif Ali in 6th place in a time of 8.10.
Elias Furreedan continued his improvement this season with another great performance in 43rd position in a time of 9.54.
Both Barney and Khalif have great opportunities to finish in the top 3 of this Season’s competition at the final race on February 3rd.
Luke Thake had a really impressive race in the U15 competition, and produced a season best performance over a very tough and testing 5km course, finishing in 10th position, in his category in an impressive time of 24.08
The course for the senior race was a 2 lap 8km event with 2 hills to climb on each lap over ground still frozen and rutted which made the going tough for the runners. Ilford AC turned out full teams in both the mens and ladies division 2 league match.
The ladies team were led home by Alison Sale in 9th spot and 1st in F50 category in 41 mins 48 mins, with Carlie Qirem 1 place and 1 second behind.
Pauline Tester was next home in 23rd spot with 51 mins 23 secs, and Mandy Reid recorded 53 mins 38 secs for 29th.
Julia Galea placed 29th in 59:43, Frieda Keane 39th in 1:00:44 and Launa Broadley completed the squad in 42nd in 1:06:59. In the division two match the Ilford ladies claimed 2nd place and are 3rd overall for the season and with 2 more fixtures to come are in the mix for promotion to the top league.
The men’s event had a number of teams with strong turn outs in action. The Ilford challenge was led by the inform Steve Chissel placing 22nd and 2nd in the M50 age category in 40 mins 18 secs. Joel Denning battled through the field to come home 26th in 41 mins 14 secs while Bradley Brown was 37th with 43 mins 51 secs. Ray Dzikowski was 36th in 44 mins 15 secs and Tarik Qirem 46th with 45 mins 49 secs.
Andy Catton finished in 49th and 1st in the M70 age category in a time of 46 mins 14 secs.
The team was completed by Jim Tilbrook in 74th with 1:11:02, compounded by the fact he started 10 minutes late due to getting lost on his way to the start line.
In the match the Ilford men finished 6th but remain in 3rd place in division 2.
Benfleet 15
Sunday 21st Jan
Ilford AC fielded 3 runners in the Benfleet 15 held at Hadleigh Downs on Sunday.
The course is a very challenging multi terrain course comprising hard sections of the Canvey Island sea wall contrasting with marshland and the undulating Hadleigh downs.
Starting downhill and finishing on a mile long big climb, the race is not for the faint hearted.
This year nearly 800 participants took on the challenge
Leading the way for the club was Danny Holeyman, finishing in 52nd place, which also earned him a 2nd place in the M50 Category, in a time of 1 hr 53 mins 05 specs.
Just 10 places behind, in a time of 1 hr 54 mins 58 secs was Seb Parris.
Completing the trio was Diarmuid Mac Donnell in 2 hrs 16 mins 14 secs for 249th place
The overall race record is still held by Ilford’s Amin KoiKai who clocked 1.22.17 in the 6th running of the race back in 1996, a time that no runner has recently been able to even approach.
