Press Report 14th October 2014  

Tiptree 10 miles – inc Essex Champs
Sunday 12/10/2014
A small but very competitive squad of runners from IlfordAC enjoyed some excellent racing as they took on the Essex 10 mile road championships around the quiet rural lanes of Tiptree last Sunday. Club captain Malcolm Muir led the way winning the race in an Essex Gold medal winning time of 55.56, over 30 seconds clear of the rest of the field.
He was backed up by a superb performance from Kevin Newell who recorded a personal best of 57.31 and together with fellow veteran Steve Philcox, also breaking the hour mark and equaling his best of 59.32, the Ilford trio finishing in bronze medal position in the team competition.  Newell was particularly delighted with his run slicing a massive 1 minute 23 seconds from his previous best effort over the distance.

Sam Rahman was another happy to improve on his best when also just dipping under the 60 minute barrier finishing 23rd in 59.44. Kevin Wotton 61.53 30th and over 50 Neil Crisp 62.43 34th also enjoyed good runs offering some great support.  Not to be outdone Declan Cullen also weighed in with a PB clocking 77.42 for a Ronnie O’Sullivan 147th.
In the women’s race multi county medalist Breege Nordin added an Essex silver to her collection in the FV55 category only just losing out to Harwich’s class act Claudine Tisbury and bringing the ladies home in73.26 for 114th. Jenni Sheehan 74.43 (PB) 127th and Dianne Crisp 85.01 219th completed the women’s scoring team. Carol Muir ran 92.54 for 298th recording yet another personal best in the process. 393 runners completed the course.

Chicago Marathon and Cardiff Half

Further afield Nicola Hopkinson competed in the 37th running of the Chicago marathon. Nearly 45,000 runners hit the pavement to participate in this year’s marathon ,sponsored by The Bank of America. The Chicago Marathon is one of the largest, most exciting marathons in the world. With over 1.7 million spectators lining the 26.2 mile course, the energy was high and the support was strong to cheer on their family and friends.
On a fast predominantly flat course and in near perfect conditions Hopkinson recorded an impressive 3.46.33 placing her in position8497 running even paced and going through halfway in 1.52.36.
The previous week Declan Cullen completed the Cardiff half marathon in 1.43.02. He reported that conditions were very good if somewhat crowded on the course with 20000+ runners – the 2nd biggest half marathon in the UK.