A select number of Ilford AC’s athletes braved the winter showers to compete in the London Championships at Parliament Hill in Highgate last weekend.
A team of four women was headed around the muddy undulating 4 mile course by Bree Nordin, who came 11th in the masters category and a highly commendable 74th overall position. She was followed by Dianne Crisp who obviously found the tough conditions to her liking as she glided across the ground for an excellent 97th position. Sally Gillam is in a rich vein of form, finishing in 110th and Pam Jones continues to mix it with athletes 50 years her junior with a 122nd position to round up the squad for 12th London team.
The men’s race, like the women’s included the Southern Intercounties Championships for junior age groups and so included a high class field of 300 runners. Malcolm Muir had had a sticky week of training and started off up the first hill tentatively near the rear of the field. But the tough conditions suited Muir well as he worked his way up to 60th place by the end of the first of four laps of the 6 mile race. By the middle of the third lap, Muir had moved up to 38th behind a shoal of talented young Essex athletes and he continued to pick off tiring athletes over the last lap to finish an excellent 30th overall. The Ilford men’s team had suffered from some late dropping out and was down to two, with the excellent veteran Neil Crisp continuing to make great strides in his level of performance. Crisp also proved his strength by moving through the field throughout the race and showed true grit to finish an excellent 172nd place and 20th out of 95 in the masters category.
The next race will be the 4th Essex League race in Hockley on Saturday, which will be followed by the ever popular Ilford AC Presentation Disco at Ilford Sports Club.
