• Press Report 6th July 2009

    Three of Ilford Athletics Clubs "Golden Oldies" put in some excellent performances at the British Masters Track and Field Championships held in Birmingham this weekend. Pam Jones, only days away from her 73rd birthday, clocked 25:08.08 in once again winning the W70 5000m title in a mixed-age group race. The race was notable for a world W60 record of 19:04.03 set by Angela Copson of MMAC, who has only been running for three years and just managed to hold off another 60 year old, Jannette Stevenson of SVHC, who recorded 19.05.70.
     
    John Batchelor managed to regain his M65 5000m title for the third time in four years. In a race marked by the absence of most of the top M65s through injury Batchelor led from the start but was closely chased by regular rival Gordon Orme of Birchfield until he shook him off at 4K and finished 25 seconds ahead in 19:15.69.
     
    Iain Campbell was in action in the M45 5000m and starting conservatively picked his way through the field to finish with the silver medal in his age group in 16.08.19.
     
    The club also fielded 5 athletes in the second of the Epping Forest  5 mile Trail series of races hosted by Orion Harriers on a blisteringly hot Saturday morning. Peter Spelman was best of the bunch with 40.27 just getting the better of Vanessa Burns 40.51. Gerry Trill 41.20 was next home with Sally Gillam 42.43 in close attendance. Carol Muir returned to action after a short break with 53.48. Robin Tuddenham of Serpentine was the overall winner in 29.17 while Clare Thurgood of the host club was first lady home in 33.29. The following day Abdi Berleen was in action at the Rhys Daniels 5 mile race in Epping where he performed exceptionally well to finish in 2nd place with a time of 30.37.
     
    Ilford now look forward to hosting their own Hilly 5 race at 7.30pm on Wednesday evening at Chigwell Row where a large turnout is expected.