Press Report 9th December 2014  

Essex Cross-Country League

Great Notley Country Park, Braintree
Saturday 6 December

The third round of this winter’s Essex Cross-Country League was held at Great Notley Country Park, Braintree on Saturday and Ilford AC produced their best results of the season.

The u-13 boys raced over 3000m on the grassland course which featured one tough climb. Arun Manget headed the squad in15th spot in 10 mins 39 secs, with Manraj Gill 2th with 11m 04s and Bradley Deacon 34th in 11m 10s. Together the boys placed 8th in the team competition.

The u17 men gave the team their best results of the afternoon with an excellent run by Ahmed Abdulle coming 2nd in 18m 26s for the 6km course with took the hill in twice with Usamah Patel supporting well in 9th with 19m 31s. In this category Ilford were 8th team.

The women raced on the same course and Krystle Balogun produced her best ever run on the country to take 9th spot in 22m 43s, while Jenni Sheehan continued to show good form in 26th in 24m 02s. Bree Nordin continued her dominance of the F55 category in 36th with 25m 48s and Nicola Hopkinson closed the team with 49th place in 27m 11s. Dianne Crisp returned to the team following illness recording 30m06s in 67th and Doris Gaga in her first season on the country came home 82nd in 32m 56s. The team finished in a superb 5th spot.

The senior men also ran over 2 laps but their distance was 7.5km. Malcom Muir headed up the squad in 9th with 24m 44s and was the first M40 to finish. Tom Gardner was next home in 25m 31s for 15th and Kevin Newell put in a spirited run for 50th with 27m 36s. Sam Rahman showed good form in 57th in 27m 59m and Paul Holloway was next over the line for 59th in 28m 00s.Kevin Wotton placed 64th with 28m 10s and closed the team while Neil Crisp was 7th M50 and 78th overall in 29m 05s. Also in action were Steve Cheal (142nd 36m 34s) and Rob Sargent (145th 6th M60 38m 19s). The team were placed 7th in the match.

Bedford Half Marathon
Sunday 7 December
Kevin Newell followed the Essex League match with a run out in the annual Bedford
Half Marathon. A a cold blustery Sunday morning with the onset of rain gretted the athletes as they stood at
the start line. Newell made a steady start, tackling tough hills at 6 and 9 miles,
with strong cross winds also making it tough for the runners. This was followed by an easier
downhill section before a slight climb in the last mile. The Ilford man finished ina
creditable 79.59 which gave him 13th place out of 957 runners.
Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5k
Hyde Park
Friday 28th November
Two of the oldest active Ilford AC members took part in a field of 264 runners. John Batchelor at 73 years young placed 86th and leading M70 in a time of 21:05, just four seconds faster than in the October race while Pam Jones, now 78, managed 255th in 30:46, still showing a fair few runners a clean pair of heels.Conditions this time however were cold and breezy, in contrast to warm sunny weather for the previous race. Carol Muir (FV40) was 220th in 26:40.