Press Report May 6th 2024

May 072024

WITHAM MAY DAY 5

The annual May day Bank Holiday 5 mile road race attracted over 250 entrants and was run on the usual undulating but fast rural course from Witham Rugby Club on a dry cool morning.

There were five Ilford AC runners on the day and in a very close finish, with just 90 seconds separating the front 4 runners, the team was led home by Tom Gardner in 3rd place in a time of 26 mins 12 secs. Next home was Alison Sale running well for 114th place in 40 mins 10 secs. Alison was closely followed home by Billy Green in 40 mins 44 secs to claim 123rd place. The team were completed by Rachel Halpin, securing 164th place in 43 mins 43 secs and the ever reliable Frieda Keane in 201st place in 48 minutes 05 seconds

TED PEPPER MAY DAY 10k
Bromley

The Ted Pepper 10k is a long established trail race first run in 1979 as a memorial race to Blackheath runner Ted Pepper, who sadly lost his life whilst taking part in the Three Peaks Race.

Ilfords Andy Catton was the only Ilford runner on the day, and he instantly regretted his decision to run in flats rather than trail shoes,

The course is off road, mainly in muddy forests and farm tracks with the recent heavy rain, and constant drizzle on the day making it a very testing run for all concerned.
Andy said he had never seen so many runners slip and fall in a race, including himself.
Despite this Andy ran a steady 50 minutes 02 seconds to finish 56th on the day and winning Gold in his age grouping and first Southern Vets m70 finisher