Press Report Ilford AC 26th April 2016  

Virgin London Marathon
Sunday 24 April

A very chilly morning day provided some good running conditions for the 39000 plus finishers in the 36th staging of the London Marathon first run back in March 1981. This suited the 11 strong squad from Ilford AC enabling them to produce some good results. They were cheered through the 19 mile mark at Canary Wharf by a team of dedicated volunteers many of whom had braved the cold since early morning to man the Ilford AC water station with their customary enthusiasm and encouragement.

First Ilford vest to coss the finishing line in The Mall was Blair McWhirter who recorded a notable 74th position overall in a time of 2h 28m 12s having passed the half way mark in 72m 10s. Next home in a new personal best time of 2h 48m 17s was Robin McNelis , with Sam Rahman crossing the line in 2h 55m 44s Neil Crisp ran his first marathon for over 10 years reached half way in 1h 29m 07s suffered slightly along the last miles on the Embankment to record 3h 12m 12s. Rohan Alexander maintained an even pace throughout going through halfway in 1h 43m 41s and finishing in 3h 30m 25s. Declan Cullen once again improved his best time for the distance for the 4th time in as many races to 3h 36m 26s.

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There was also a personal best for Rachel Halpin , who was at halfway in 1h 51m 31s, of 3hrs 53m 50s, the first time she had broken the 4 hour barrier. Jenni Sheehan ran a steady race on her debut at the marathon distance to finish in 3h 55m 50s, while Julia Galea set a mark on the Club record books as the only over 60 woman yet to have a time recorded for the distance with 4h 18m 30s. Peter Spelman was very disappointed with his time of 4h 44m 05s admitting that running Paris and London again so soon afterwards may have been foolish. Completing the team was Nicola Chester who improved her best time for the marathon by over 20 minutes to 4h 48m 50s.

For those inspired by the London Marathon and wanting to take up running or if you just want to improve your parkrun Ilford AC are holding a beginners and improvers course starting on Wednesday 4th May. The sessions are suitable for all standards from complete beginner to running 4 miles around the park. It is a small friendly group and there will be 2-3 coaches in attendance so you will get plenty of encouragement and 1 to 1 assistance. If Interested come along on Wednesday 4th May Melbourne Rd entrance at Valentines Park.

London Mini Marathon 24th April
Ahmed shines at the Marathon

Nine Ilford athletes had to previously come through tough Trials to represent their local borough in this years London Mini Marathon on Sunday. All of the young athletes competed to a very high standard, but it was Ahmed Abdulle ,who shined through to win the U17s Boys 3 mile race. Ahmed beat a very high quality field to win by over 20 seconds in an outstanding 15:05.
In the same race Usamah Patel , running with an injury came home in 91st with a time of 18:07
In the U15 Boys, Mungo Prior gets better with every performance and came a very promising 19th place. His time of 16:57 was outstanding , for an athlete who has only been in the sport for 6 months
In the U 13 Boys, Ilford AC had 5 athletes competing and all of these performed well against a very tough field. Farris Patel, after a bad start , came through the field to come a very credible 10th Position, in a time of 17:26. Farris once again is getting better with every race this year and used his speed at the end to take over many of the other athletes.
Bradley Deacon ran his fastest time in the Mini Marathon to come 92nd and Matthew Hick,only 11 and 2 years left in the age group,came 100th. Bradley ran 19:22 and Matthew 19:31 respectively.
Euan Johnstone, also only 11, ran 21:53 for 166th and Mehdi Hurun was 168th

In the Girls U15s race, Jordan Hinds and Katie Deacon were Ilfords representatives. Jordan came 59th in a time of 20:31 and Katie 29:00 to finish 172

It was great to see so many of the Ilford youngsters perform to such a high standard

Woodford Open Meeting 23rd April

A number of Ilford ACs youngsters competed at Woodford open meeting on Saturday in a very testing conditions. As usual the conditions at Woodford was windy and cold but we still saw some good performances

Isabella Hick,14, ran her first ever 300m hurdles race in the u17s age group came third , in a very promising 55.87.She followed that up with a 200 m and came 4th in a time of 30.63
Young sprinter Anthony George ran in the 75 m Hurdles, 200 and 300 . Anthony ran some very good times, all against the wind . He ran 15:00 seconds in the 75M Hurdles for 3rd, 27.11 to win the U15s 200 m and came third in the 300m in 41.36
Krystle Balogun moved down events to show her speed over 200 and 300 respectively. Krystle came 4th in the 200 in 28.97 and 4th in the 300 m in 45.14