Press Report 9th April 2024
Essex AA and Suffolk AA County Road Relay Championships
Sunday 7th April
Colchester
Four men’s teams and two women’s teams were in action, representing the club, in the prestigious County Championships on a very windy and blustery but sunny afternoon in Colchester
The Veterans race was the first of the day with teams competing in the V40, V50 and V60 categories.
Ilfords men’s V40 team, consisting of Sam Rahman, Berekhet Berekhy and Malcolm Muir, found the competition fierce and finished just seconds outside of the medals in 4th place with a combined time of 51 Mins 49 seconds over the 3 x 3 mile course
The V50 team consisted of club 5k specialist Steve Philcox, club captain Danny Holeyman and Fabrizio Stefanoni. The trio battled admiralty in the blustery conditions and were rewarded with the silver medal, coming 2nd out of 17 competing teams in a combined time of 52 minutes 57 seconds
The club put up both a men’s and women’s team in the V60 category.
The ladies were represented by Beverley Thomas, Joint club President Dianne Crisp and Pauline Tester. Amazingly this was the same team that represented the club in the Seniors category at the same event in 1984. The ladies put in a stellar performance to bring home the second Silver medal of the day in a combined time for the 9 mile course of 1 hr 15 mins 05 secs.
The men’s V60 team consisted of club legend Terry Knightley, joint President Neil Crisp and Dave Thomas which meant both our V60 teams were represented by 2 husband and wife teams. The men matched the success of the ladies, bringing home the third silver medal of the day in a combined time of 58 minutes 27 seconds.
The final race of the day was the Seniors, with the men running 4 x 3 miles and the ladies 3 x 3 miles.
The Senior ladies consisted of Jordan Hinds, Anna Crawley and team manager Carlie Qirem.
The ladies put in a gutsy performance in very blustery conditions to finish in a very credible 6th place, out of 15 competing clubs, in a combined time of 58 minutes 40 seconds.
The men’s Senior race had 22 teams competing for Essex medals. Ilfords team consisted of Tom Gardner, Josh Adler, Jack Nixon and Alex Richards. Tom started off with a fantastic 15:04, handing over to Josh, in his first Essex event who came home in 16:35. Josh handed over to Jack, who ran an incredible 14:38, who then handed over to Alex.
Alex started the leg in third place, but was able to overtake the Braintree runner in a nail biting finish, coming home in 14 mins 50 secs to secure Ilfords 4th Silver medal of the day in a combined time of 61 mins 09 secs for the 12 mile course.
Overall a very successful day for the club in the Essex Championships.
Paris Marathon
Sunday 7th April
Steve Lacey was Ilfords sole representative in this years Paris Marathon.
Despite a knee injury that affected his training, Steve was pleased with his finishing time of 4 hours 38 mins 36 secs.
Steve ran in his West Ham shirt, meaning that the Hammers shirt will be represented twice in Europe this week with West Ham playing in European competition in Germany on Thursday evening.
VAC 5km
Battersea Park
Tuesday 2nd April
The first of Veterans AC summer races in Battersea Park was held on a gloomy wet evening last week. The 5km event, over the two lap flat fast course, produced fierce competition and great times
Ilford Ac had 6 competitors in the field with Joel Denning in good form crossing the line in 34th spot in a new personal best time of 19 mins 20 secs.
Tarik Qirem improved his best time for the distance by 20 seconds to finish in 58th pace in 20 mins 42 secs, His training for London Marathon is on track to record a good time on April 21st.
Carlie Qirem also posted a good time finishing 11th in the ladies race and 63rd overall with 21 mins 19 secs. Joanne Reeves also had a good run for 14th female and 72nd overall in 23 mins 31 secs.
Rob Sargent came home 91st with 29 mins 28 secs while Launa Broadley recorded 30 mins 28 secs in 94th place
