Press Report Ilford AC 27th January 2015  

Jan 272015
 

South of England Cross Country Championships – Brighton

Ilford AC continued to maintain a strong presence in these championships with Club captain Malcolm Muir drawing on his elite troops in the Senior race.
Held over 9 miles at Stanmer Park , Brighton, last Saturday on a hilly but dry course and on a cold crisp day, 5 Ilford athletes travelled down to compete in the race.

The race was won by Ben Tickner of Brighton Phoenix in 50.21. The Ilford athletes’ times were as follows:
1. V40 runner Malcolm Muir – Position 122nd, time 57.05
2. SEN track runner Tom Gardner, Position 129th, time 57.20
3. V45 runner Paul Holloway, Position 434th, time 66.23
4. SEN Sam Rahman, Position 475th, time 67.28
5. SEN Michael Horsey, Position 751st, 80.05
857 runners finished the race.

In the Under 17 race Ahmed Abdulle & Usamah Patel both acquitted themselves well. The eventual winner was Mohammed Mohammed of Southampton ac to whom Ahmed had previosly finished 3rd in the Inter Counties champs . However this time Ilford’s Abdulle was carrying a hamstring injury so held back on the 1st lap of 2 coming through to take 22nd place in 21-49 for the 6k event. Usamah was feeling under the weather yet ran gamely for 80th place 23-27.

Essex Schools X/c champs Colchester 17th January

Ahmed & Usamah both running for Redbridge Schools both put in excellent performances, Ahmed chasing home the eventual winner Soloman of Woodford for 2nd place with Usamah having his best run of the season in 6th place,both athletes have been selected to run for Essex in the English Schools X/c champs.

South of England Indoor Champs Lee valley 18th January

Krystle Bologun making her debut at this level ran a fine race in the heats of the 800m coming 2nd,just missed out on a podium place in the final finishing in 4th

Victoria Park 10k

Ben Jones competed in the Victoria Park 10K in a field of over 500 coming 10th in a time of 36.36.

  Press Report 20th January 2015  

Jan 202015
 

Ilford AC fielded 2 runners in the 25th running of the Benfleet 15 held at Hadleigh Downs on Sunday. On a very challenging multi terrain course comprising hard sections of sea wall contrasting with very boggy marshland and thick mud Bradley Brown was first home for the Club in a respectable time of 2 hours 5 mins 45 seconds for 129th place. The mud was so severe in places that at one point it claimed the running shoes of Peter Spelman who enlisted the help of a marshal to retrieve them. Undeterred by this Spelman still battled on to finish over 30 minutes quicker than last year’s time to dip under the 3 hour mark in 2 hours 56 minutes 58 seconds. This gave him 509th place out of a large field of nearly 600 runners.
The race was won by Woodford Green’s Thomas Beedell in 1hr 31 minutes 31 seconds with St Edmund Pacers Odette Robson narrowly getting the better of Havering AC’s Debbie Appleton to take top spot in the women’s race clocking 1hour 46 minutes 23 seconds with Appleton just over 2 minutes behind.
The overall race record is still held by Ilford’s Amin KoiKai who clocked 1.22.17 in the 6th running of the race back in 1996, a time that no runner has recently been able to even approach.

The previous day Ilford’s Terry Knightley made his parkrun debut when finishing in 10th place out of 221 runners in freezing and windy conditions along the Southend seafront. Over a 3 lap course Knightley also placed first in the 50-54 category age group recording 19 minutes 59 seconds. He was accompanied by his partner Kim Baxter.

  Press Report 13th January 2015  

Jan 132015
 

Essex Cross Country League
Epping Forest, Chingford
Saturday 10 January

There was a good turnout from Ilford AC at the 4th round of this winters Essex Cross-Country League held on the usual tough course set by host club Orion Harriers in Epping Forest at Chingford. This near the conditions were harder than usual as the recent weather meant the course was soon churned into a quagmire.
Four young Ilford athletes took on a very tough and muddy course finding the the going difficult and mainly trying to keep their feet, but still gave a good account for themselves. Matthew Hick placed 5th in the u/11 in 5-24 with sister Isabella Hick 31st u/13 girls 22-50 Manraj Gill was 38th in the u/13 boys (13-24) where Bradley Deacon placed 40th (13-28). Under 17 Usamah Patel is starting to return to full fitness and put in a solid run for 9th place in 27-40.

The senior ladies event was over the same distance and Jenni Sheehan continued her good form on the country and finished in a season high 24th in 32m44s while Bree Nordin was once again the leading F55 in 38th with 37m 42s. Doris Gaga went off course on the 2nd lap of the race but soon corrected herself without losing too much time to finish 82nd. The ladies finished 13th in this match.

There were 12 Ilford vests on the start line of the senior mens 9km race and the team were led home by an excellent run from Tom Gardner in 8th with 29m exactly. Malcom Muir was his normal gritty self to lead home the M40 category in 14th spot overall in 30m 00s, while there was a good run from Steve Philcox for 36th in 32m 15s. Ben Jones recorded 34m 07s in 60th and Neil Crisp placed 77th with 35m 47s. Sam Rahman, racing on his least favourite surface, closed the scoring team in 79th in 35m 57s. The men placed 7th in this match but were 3rd in the veterans match. Andy Catton finished 81st and leading the M60 age group with 36m 03s and Bradley Brown 115th in 40m 16s. There were two runners having their first race of the winter; Mike Horsey (125th 41m 18s) and Matt Maple (140th 45.15) , and completing the line up for the team were Steve Parker (130th 42.18) and Steve Cheal (133rd 42m 57s)

With one match left this season, at Colchester on January 31st, Ilford are 8th in senior mens table and the ladies are also 8th with the u17 men 10th. The mens veterans team are 3rd and the veteran ladies 10th.
On the individual front Tom Gardner is 7th senior man, Malcolm Muir 1st in the M40 group and Steve Philcox 8th in the same category, while Neil Crisp is 5th M50. For the senior ladies Krystle Balogun is in 5th place and Jenni Sheehan 10th. Bree Nordin is leading the F55 group and Usamah Patel is 13th in the u17 men.Andy Catton

South of England Indoor Champs Lee Valley
Saturday 10th January
Running in his first ever 1500m indoor Ahmed Abdulle took a excellent silver medal. With a very slow early pace Ahmed stayed with the lead runner to nearly half way. With two laps to go the leader made his move with Ahmed in chase but had to settle for 2nd place in a time of 4.21.

 

  Press Report 6th January 2015  

Jan 062015
 

Witham Boxing Day 5 Miles

Friday 26 December

While a number of their clubmates were in action in the Annual Boxing day Handicap in Hainault Forest 2 Ilford AC members took to the roads of Witham
Malcom Muir was in good festive season form coming home in 9th spot in 27m 18s to take the M40 category prize. Meanwhile sister Carol placed 277th in a field of 376 in 47m 08s.

Essex Cross-Country Championships
Claybury Park, Woodford
Saturday 3 January

This years Essex Cross-Country Championships were held in the toughest conditions for years as heavy overnight rain turned the course around Claybury Park in Woodford into a muddy quagmire with freezing drizzle persisting throughout the event.

Best performance for Ilford AC came from Ahmed Abdulle in the mens u-17 age group where he took the bronze medal. Finding the conditions tough going Ahmed was up with the 2 leaders as they broke away from the pack but slipped back in the closing stages and had to settle for a creditable 3rd place in 19m 23s.
His training partner Usamah Patel steadily worked his way through the field for 8th place in 20m 08s and both of the athletes have now been selected to represent essex. Closing the team was Jack Maher in 32nd place with 23m 47s.
The day started with the 3000m races for the u-13 age groups. In the boys event for Ilford were Manraij Gill in 19th in 13m 37s, Bradley Deacon placed 34th with 14m 43s and Aran Mangel finished 38th in 15m 02s, while the girls were represented by Isabella Hick recording 16m 56s for 36th spot in her first outing in these championships.

The senior ladies raced over a 5 mile 3 lap course and the Ilford team were headed by Krystle Balogun who ran a strong last lap to finished 17th in 35m 43s while Jenni Sheehan showed a big improvement from last year coming home 44th in 39m 10s. Mel Jones gave her usual gritty performance in 52nd with 41m 33s. Bree Nordin closed out the team in 42m 31s for 60th. Ilford were the 8th club to finish a team. Also running were Nicola Hopkinson in 78th with 45m 11s and newcomer to the squad Doris Gaga came home 114th.

The last race of the day was the senior mens championship which was also over 3 laps but the total distance was 7.5 miles, Ilford were led by Malcolm Muir who battled through to place 17th in 42m 26s, closely followed by Tom Gardner in 42m 45s for 19th. Steve Philcox showed good form in 51st with 46m 28s , while Kevin Newell placed 67th in 47m 30s with Paul Holloway next over the line 5 seconds later. Sam Rahman closed the scoring 6 in spot 89th with 49m 26s. It was a good performance from Ilford who were the 4th club to finish a team. Also in action were Neil Crisp (100th 50m 3s) and Terry Knightley (170th 59m 13s)

  Press report 30th December 2014  

Dec 302014
 

Ilford AC had 14 hardy club runners contesting the annual Boxing Day cross country handicap held over 3.3 miles of a very muddy traditional course at Chigwell Row last Friday.
Rachel Halpin, in training for this years London Marathon, showed her intent by running well above expectations heading home the field in a total time of 32.49 ,net 29.49, over a minute ahead of 2nd placer Declan Cullen, 33.50, 27.20. Neil Crisp was 3rd in 34.02, 23.02.
The fastest net time of the day was posted by Ilford’s rising young star Ahmed Abdulle whose 20.42 was achieved in full training attire and 6 seconds faster than mentor Tom Gardner , 20.48, times good enough toplace them 9th and 10th respectively.
Members entered into the xmas spirit of the event with many runners sporting festive garb including reindeer antlers and Santa hats.
Three other club runners, Mel Jones, Natalie Crisp and Rob Sargent also ran the course acting as guides for those unsure of the route.
Other performances were 4th Billy Green 34.33, 29.33, 5th Doris Gaga 34.58, 33.58,6th Julia Galea, 35.01,33.31, 7th Jenni Sheehan 35.05, 26.05, 8th Kevin Newell 35.09,22.09, 11th Paul Emery 36.15, 28.15,12th Di Crisp, 36.15,30.15, 13th Peter Spelman 40.15, 33.15, 14th Pam Jones 40.57, 40.57.

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