Newman Hilly 5 miles race

A massive turnout of athletes from the host club secured victory for both the men's and women's squad as Ilford AC successfully staged their annual off-road 5 mile race, "the Newman Hilly 5", last Tuesday. The the idyllic setting of Hainault Forest at Chiqwell Row coupled with some glorious weather secured a record turnout of nearly 250 entries and some superb spectator support. Held in memory of much loved ilford AC member Newman Sargeant the race helped raise a sizeable donation of nearly £500 for local charity St Francis Hospice and their fundraising Manager, Lynda Head, came down in person to say a few words and receive the cheque at the prizegiving after the race from race organiser Peter Spelman.

Athletes from as far afield as Great Bentley made the trip down the A12 to help make the evening a resounding success as Billericay's Crispian Bloomfield battled the notoriously challenging 2 lap course to lead the field home in 27minutes 10 seconds from off-road specialist Rob Warner of Havering Mayesbrook 27.52. Ilford's Malcolm Muir was back in third clocking 28.38. In the women's race the classy Debbie Appleton of Havering Mayesbrook cruised home in 32.24 from former winner Karen Levison of East London Runners 34.36 and Tracey Alexandrou of Springfield Striders 35.37

The husband and wife team of John Barker (Thrift Green) and Lindsey Barker (Ilford) took the top vet prizes with the excellent Ron Vialls of Barking and Sue Spong of Havering 90 taking MV50 and FV35 prizes respectively. The senior superveteran winners were Chris McDonnell of Havering 90 and Ilford's  Pam Jones.

The strength of Ilford meant they dominated the accompanying "Elvis" interclub series with the men's scoring squad of Muir, Darren Bottrill 29.38, Robin McNelis 31.37, Neil Crisp 31.39, Abdi Berleen 32.32 and Rohan Alexander 33.28 top of the tree with 83 pts from Havering 90 172 pts, Barking 210 pts and Dagenham 88 409 pts. It was a similar story in the women's race with the team of Bree Nordin 36.43, Lindsey Barker 37.21, Nicola Hopkinson 38.18, Jenny Cass 39.50, Dianne Crisp 40.02 and Pam Jones 42.46 amassing an even more miserly 66pts to Havering 90's 113pts with Dagenham 88 on 198pts. and Barking on 202pts.

Other Ilford runners and times were Iain Macdonald 32.03, Ben Jones 32.22, Gary Floate 33.40, Liam Leddy 33.46, Steve Allen 33.50, Steve Crane 35.06, Steve Parker 35.07, John Mackenzie 37.27, Martin Clarke 37.49, Peter Spelman 38.10, Jack Webb 39.08, Henry Ricketts 39.09, Steve Cheal 39.12, Ray Rawlinson 39.15, Mick Herring 41.08, Gerry Trill  42.03, Sulakan Jandu 42.05, Pete Whiting 46.27, Sukhbinder Jandu 47.14, Owen Phipps 50.04, Steve Port 58.41,  Lydia Hall 46.10 and Sharon Honey 46.21.

 

High Ongar 10k

Ilford AC women's squad continued their recent success at the High Ongar 10k on Sunday. The race which doubled as the Essex 10k road championships, saw  the Cricklefields based trio of Bree Nordin 43.46, Lindsey Barker 45.10 and Mel Jones 45.42 packing well to come away with the Essex silver medal. Some excellent backup was there if needed in the form of Dianne Crisp 49.34 and Sally Gillam 54.18 who were both competing in their 2nd race within a week . The course comprising many off road areas of rough gravel track and tight turns proved to be somewhat of a misnomer as far as an Essex  road championship was concerned. Nevertheless there were some good performances with Neil Crisp leading the Ilford men home in 38.39, ably supported by Abdi Berleen 39.41 and Terry Knightley 39.50. Peter Spelman closed the team in 45.34 getting the better of a returning to fitness Martin Clarke 46.20 with Harrier Gerry Trill improving his 10k pb to 49.57. Crispian Bloomfield of Billericay once again took both the major race and county honours with a winning time of 32.46.