Press Report 24th February 2015  

English National Cross-country Championship
Parliament Hill Hampstead
Saturday 21 February

The English National Cross-country Championships returned to Parliament Hill, Hampstead last weekend after a gap of 3 years. This course is considered to be the toughest in the country and was harder than usual this year due too heavy rain during the preceding week turning much of the course into a quagmire .

First up were the junior races where two ever present u/17 Ilford athletes,Ahmed Abdulle and Usamah Patel took on the mud and the hills. Both lads found the going tough with Ahmed coming home with a creditable 37th place and Usamah in 231st .

Tom Gardner headed the challenge in the senior mens’ 12km race with a fine run placing 211th in a field that finished over 2000 runners recording 45mins 22secs. He was backed up by another gritty performance from Malcom Muir in 273rd with 46m 29s and Paul Holloway, showing his London Marathon training is going well, in 741th with 52mins exactly. Sam Rahman came home 958th with 54m 11s on his least favourite surface and Bradley Brown battled well in 1453 at 60m 22s. Steve Parker closed the team in 66m 43s in 1777th spot. Overall the team finished 87th , the third Essex based team in the rankings.

The club only fielded 2 women in the senior ladies 8km race. Jenni Sheehan showed she is currently in great form coming home 284th with 40m 07s in afield of 860 plus, while Dianne Crisp finished in 47m 59s for 619th

Middle Distance Evening
Lee Valley Athletic Centre
Wednesday 18 February

Sam Rahman took to the boards at the Lee Valley Indoor Track in the evening of middle distance indoor races. He took part in both the 800m and the 1500m just missing his personal best times in both.

In his heat of the 800m he was at the back on the field at the halfway point and came through strongly in the second half to take 2nd in 2m 15.57secs
He also placed 2nd in his a his 1500m heat recording 4m 41.18s in a competitive race.