Athletes from Ilford AC turned in some excellent performances in round 2 of the Essex Cross Country League held at Basildon’s Gloucester Park on Saturday. Pick of the bunch was a well earned 6th place for Karen Sindall in the senior women’s race..
Never a great lover of this course with its challenging hills, Karen ran a controlled race using it as preparation for next month’s Essex 10k Road Championships at Chelmsford. Daniel Sale of Orion easily won the race from Colchester veteran Margaret Deasy.
Veteran Bree Nordin (22nd), club captain Keelie Brooks (29th) and super veteran Pam Jones (46th) closed the women’s squad in 7th position. Sally Gillam recovering from last weeks Abingdon Marathon finished in 50th place.
The men’s squad were boosted by the return of Rob Nixon who despite some way off full fitness still managed to ably support Malcolm Muir’s 8th place by being 2nd man home in 34th. Not to be outdone father Tony also decided to give his cross country shoes a rare airing, skipping over the course to finish 92nd. Triathlete Matt Herbert had a stormer to come home in 39th while Andy Catton 51st once again got the better of Matt Maple 55th . Under 20, Iain MacDonald continues to show real improvement finishing with plenty in hand in 68th just ahead of Darren Bottrill 75th. Macdonald was the final scorer for the squad who improved to 6th in the team standings.
Martin Clarke 92nd finally saw off the challenge of team mate John Mackenzie 101st after being locked together for most of the first lap. Duncan Turner ran a more controlled race this time but suffered on the hilly sections in 112th place just ahead of Henry Ricketts 119th.
In the junior races Lydia Hall ran 23rd in the U15 girls. Liam Leddy still recovering from illness placed 35th in the U15 boys with Nathaniel Whitfield 41st in the same race. Bakr Ali-Akku competed in the U17 men finishing 20th.
