• Press Report 26th March 2007
     

    Ilford AC had yet another hectic weekend of competition with athletes partaking in a variety of events throughout the country.
     
    Well over 200 runners braved the notorious undulations of the 53rd running of the historic Orion 15 mile cross country course on Saturday, the first official running of the race, with 33 entries, being back in 1954. Unfortunately Ilford AC’s Malcolm Muir was unable to defend his title this year due to illness. Nevertheless he was still able to lend his considerable and inimitable raucous support popping up at strategic points round the course on a mountain bike accompanied by vets captain Martin Clarke.
    This year’s lack of any significant mud led to some quicker times than of late and it was fitting that veteran Richard McCormick of Barnet and District should take the spoils in a time of 1.31.07 after the mishap of last year when he took a wrong turn whilst leading the race.
     
    Ilford fielded 4 distance exponents all using the race as part of their marathon preparations. Abdi Berleen was first home in 2.02.58  just in front of the ever improving Peter Spelman 2.03.33. Sally Gillam was delighted to improve her 2006 clocking by a massive 13minutes to finish with 2.17.26 and Sulakhan Jandu ran 2.27.05 despite being given 2.02.10 in the official results.
     
    Record numbers of nearly 2000 attended the "Equity Insurance Group" 26th Brentwood Half Marathon and Fun Run which took place on a pleasantly cold Sunday morning. The Club’s pride of place goes to Darren Bottrill who had earlier posted his intention to break 90 minutes for the first time. Despite a slight hiccup at the start where he had to send pacemaker Matt Maple back for his forgotten gels, Bottrill recovered well and working together with Maple to smash his PB with a superb 86.11 clocking with Maple chaperoning him home with 85.50(chip time). Robin McNelis, despite running the quickest time for the day 80.14,still confessed to being strangely out of sorts with himself and was far from happy with his performance. Bree Nordin had her customary solid run with 91.04 finishing just behind Neil Crisp, another one slightly disappointed with his.90.17 time.However  Duncan Turner (95 32) and Keelie Brooks (98.41) were more than happy as too were  Ian Burdin(100.23) who ran a PB and , Sally Gillam(111.43) competing for the 2nd time this weekend. Tony Partridge (99.40), Dianne Crisp (110.47), Leon Thomas(111.21), also completed some good running for the Cricklefields club.
     
    In the Fun Run Liam Leddy and Alex Richards both got away clean enough  but then both got swallowed up in the customary stampede as the 800 strong mass start hit the downhill section. Richards recovered well to work his way back to record 10th  position and a time of 17.46  for 3 miles. Leddy was not far behind for  20th spot in 19.02 after having to stop a couple of times to stretch a troublesome hamstring.
     
     
    On the same day Terry Knightley put in a top class performance in the the Reading Half Marathon which incorporated the South Of England Half Marathon Championships.
    Despite a cold and damp morning the race attracted an enormous field of circa 14,000 entries. Although advertised as a “predominantly flat” course Knightly soon became aware of the misnomer as he hit the first of the nasty hills and climbs.
     
    Unphased by this Knightley finished in an excellent time of 75.35 which placed him 57th overall and first male British man in the vet 45 category. The race was full of internationals and top quality athletes including race winner Simon Kasimili of Kenya whose time of 63.35 was well outside Ilford AC’s honorary member Paul Evans’ course record of 61.38. Knightley elated by the occasion said afterwards:-
    “The Race was huge in Organisation and it felt like running London with the atmosphere and crowd support etc and it had a fantastic finish on the pitch at The Madjeski Stadium (Home of Reading Football Club)”
     
     
    Elsewhere the Club’s superveterans Pam Jones and Iain Campbell competed in Saturday’s British Masters Cross Country Championships at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield.
    Pam Jones was in Race 1 and tackled the 6k course knowing she had a race on her hands against fellow adversary Heather Goodman of Kendall who had beaten her on their last meeting. Pam’s hard work eventually paid off as she came away with a gold in 31.46 to Goodman’s 32.13 in the women 70 plus category

    Campbell went off in Race 2 which included veterans from 35 to 60 but failed to get off fast from the start and became detached for the whole way. He confessed to being somewhat displeased with his performance despite finishing in 30th position and 9th in the MV45 category .He said afterwards :- “I  did not lose any places but merely stayed constant. My legs were heavy from the start and cannot fathom why”.
     
    The previous week Campbell had  been  pleased with his  5th place in the Police Cross Country champs at Cromer on a course which he described as “Hellish” There was a shingly beach,  a 270 step climb from the beach  and 2 and potholes on the cliff top. Nevertheless Campbell felt strong on the 7 mile plus course plus and felt strong, compared to his run at Mansfield.
     
    Young Athletes – by Paul Cheal
     
    Sunday saw Ilford AC take part in the Spring Warm-up meeting at Hornchurch stadium organised by Havering Mayesbrook with some good performances including some debutants.
     
    In the U/13 Boys George Hadler took part in his first track races for Ilford in the 600m and 150m. The 600m had him come home in - 2m 17.9s and 26.9s in the 150m. The other debutant was Ciaran Rodway who did the 1200m which saw him run a very good race finishing in a time of - 4m 37.9s. In the U/15 Boys there were good performances from two of the throwers. Youcef Zatat throw 1cm short of his PB with - 9m 24cm and this was a very good feat especially as he is going up in age group and weight. Also Andrew Townsend did very well getting a PB with a putt of - 6m 30cm. Jerrell Alleyne ran two sprints the 80m & 150m and look solid when finishing with 10.0s and 19.0s respectively. In the U/17 Boys Simeon Stuart had an indifferent day which culminated in him pulling out of the 150m with a hamstring injury, hopefully not to serious. Prior to that he ran the 80m in a time of - 9.8s and competed in the long jump with a distance of around - 5m 75cm.
     
    In the Junior Men Gary Madigan also ran the sprints and was equally impressive finishing with 9.5s in the 80m and around 16.8 or 16.9s in the 150m. The only senior was Sam Malekout who took part in the long jump and leaped a distance of - 5m 65cm.
     
    In the Girls U/15 category Clare Rodway competing in this age group for the first time did a good sprint of 80m in a time of 12.1s which will benefit her for when she tackles her discipline of hurdles this year. Emma Light also in this category for the first time did the 1200m in a good time of - 4m 32.5s and the long jump with a distance of - 3m 25cm. The other two to compete were Lydia Hall & Laura Townsend in the U/17 Women. Laura did the 300m in a time of - 47.2s and Lydia also did this distance running a very impressive time of - 43.8s for a PB, this was over a second faster than her coach had predicted for her. She also did very well in the 600m coming home in a time of - 1m 49.5s.
     
    Overall there were some good performance especially taking in to consideration the problems Ilford AC have had with the track this year. Next stop is the open meeting at Chelmsford (Melbourne Park) on Easter Saturday 07th April.