GREAT EASTON 5
Sunday 15 June

The Great Easton road race was run a calm Sunday morning over a challenging undulating course around the village of Great Easton, near Dunmow in north Essex. The race this year incorporated the Essex County 5 mile Championship and the endurance squad of Ilford AC were in top form claimed 9 medals which included 9 golds.

The race was won in 25mins 18 secs by Paul Whittaker of Southend Ac with Ilford’s Kiwi Blair McWhirter second in 25m 58s. Whittaker was disqualified from the Championship for not wearing his club colours and hence McWhirter won the county title, trophy and gold medal, his first since fulfilling the residence period to compete in county races. In form Malcolm Muir was placed fifth in 27m 08s and was third in the county race and won the Essex MV40 title. Tom Gardner was backing up well his teammates in 9th spot with 27m 55s. the three combined to win the Essex team title.
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Next home for the club was Steve Philcox in 17th with 29m 00s to place third in the Essex MV40 category, with Kevin Newell 21st in 29m 42s and Sam Rahman
recording 30mins exactly in 24th spot. Neil Crisp is returning to from and recorded 30m 54s for 6th in the county MV50 group and Rob Sargent was 6th in the MV50 age group with 38m 37s.

Also in action for the men were Mike Horsey (49th 32m 3s) Declan Cullen (76th 37.02) Billy Green (104th 38.15) and Satha Alaganandasundaram (109th 38m 51s)

Krystle Balogun led the way for the Ilford women in a fine 8th palce in 33m 03s. Bree Nordin finished 17th with 35m 14s to win the FV55 category and Mel Jones was one place behind in 35m 30s which gained her her first county title as she took the gold in the FV45 section. Dianne Crisp crossed the line 30th in 39m 15s, which gave the club an expected team bronze medal for Nordin, Jones and herself. Carol Muir continues to improve with every race in 47th with 44m 31s and the evergreen Pam Jones took another county gold as she gained the FV65 county title by just 17 seconds in a close race with Barbra Law of Great Bentley,

Another strong set of results form Ilford AC endurance runners who are producing improved results race by race.

Report by Red Hank
Havering Midweek 5 miles – Elvis 2
Tuesday 10th June
There were some great Ilford ACperformances at the second leg of the Elvis series, hosted by Havering 90joggers which saw both the Mens and Ladies teams win the team prizes and both  races. Blair McWhirter brought the race to a finish in a time of 26.08, followed by Malcolm Muir in 2nd in a time of 26.32. The 3 man team was closed by TomGardner in 4th position in a time of 26.45.
The Ilford vests were there in highnumbers and the winning team were supported well by the rest of the team; StevePhilcox (28.51) Kevin Newell (29.23) Kevin Wotton (29.55) TonyHyde (30.07) Neil Crisp (30.41) Michael Horsey (32.30) RohanAlexander (33.10) Bradley Brown (33.56) Terry Knightley(34.07) Andy Catton (34.42) Satha Alaganandasundaram(38.29) Billy Green (38.49) Steve Cheal (41.09) Sukhi Jandu(44.36). There were 154 finishers in the Mens race.
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In the ladies race Krystle Balogunrecorded her second win for the Elvis season in a time of 32.18. The ladies team trio was completed by Mel Jones, who took the 1st vet45 prize(35.07) and Jenni Sheehan (35.15) who are both running well at the moment and
finished in 5th and 6th positions respectively to take the team prize. Like the men the ladies were out in full strength with some great performances:
Bree Nordin, taking the 1st vet55 prize(35.40), Nicola Hopkinson (38.32), Dianne Crisp (38.38), Carol Muir who achieved a pb of over a minute (43.23), Nicola Chester (43.32), newcomer Julia Galea (46.33) and legend Pam Jones (47.21)
There were 85 ladies who finished therace.
Thanks to Havering 90 for organising the 5 mile race over a new 2-lap course around the twisty turvy refurbished Raphaels park, the unexpected T-shirts in the goody bags
and the free sports massage which some of our ladies made the most of. We are looking forward to leg three of the series on Tuesday 17th June at Eton Manor.

Report by Jenni Sheehan

ESSEX TRACK & FIELD CHAMPS DAY 2
Chelmsford
Saturday May 24th

After the success on day 1 5 Ilford AC athletes kept the good run going. Usamah Patel opened the account with a excellent run leading from the start & crossing the line in 1st place & gold medal in the u/17 3000m in 9-13-60 Pb.Tom Gardner improving with every race took 2nd place and a silver medal in the Senior 1500m recording a season’s best of 4-12-51.
The race of the day was surely the u/17 800 with the first 3 home being ranked in the top 6 in the country and a winning time of 1-53. Ilford’s Jack Maher was a bit off the pace and had to settle for 5th place in 2-03-23. The Club’s sprint specialists Sam Malpass and Gabriel Yiadom put in some solid performances with Sam 3rd & bronze medal in the u/20 200m in 22-78 (season’s best) and .Gabriel Yiadom 3rd and bronze medal in the u/17 200m in a personal best 23-28. The 5 Ilford athletes over the 2 days of the championships have amassed 9 medals 1 GOLD 3 SILVER 5 BRONZE.. The Club also took yet another Gold in the Vets section with prolific racer Malcolm Muir winning the Vets 40 1500m in a close finish with Matthew.Bland of Havering in 4-18-86. Muir was also 4th in the senior 5000m recording a seasons best 0f 16.12.81 and Wes Clarke threw a distance of 39.53m for 4th place in the senior hammer.

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Report by Gainsy (with some Mr C extra input)

Dagenham 5km (ELvIS Round1)
Eastbrook End Country Park Dagenham
Wednesday 21 May

The first round of the 2014 East London Interclub five Series (ELvIS) was held on an off road course in the Eastbrook End Country Park in Dagenham and Ilford AC put in a fine set of results and made a good start to the league with a fine set of results.

The ladies were in excellent form with Krystle Balogun dominating the race from start to finishing winning in 19min 43secs. She was backed up by Mel Jones in 5th spot and 2nd F45 in 21m 35 and Jenni Sheehan who gave her best performance of the year in 6th with 21m 39s. Bree Nordin took the F55 honours in 10th with 22m 04s. This quartet won the team race.
Also in action for the ladies were Dianne Crisp 917th 23.12) Nicola Hopkinson (23m 24s) Rachel Allen (31st 25m03s) Carol Muir (45th 26m 39s) And Pam Jones who was the 1st F65 in 29m 35s.

The men were led home by Steve Philcox in 7th place and 2nd in the M40 group with a time of 17m 23s, closely followed by Sam Rahman taking 9th with 17m 29s.
Kevin Newell was the next across the line in 17m 50s and 13th. Kevin Wooton came home 18th with 18m 25s , Neil Crisp 24thin 18m 55s and Rohan Alexander closed the scorers in spot 36 in 19m 34s. In the team competition the team were a close second to East London Runners.
There were plenty more Ilford men in the event led by Declan Cullen 76th (22.06) and Rob Sargent 92nd (22.59). Others in action were Billy Green (95th 23.03) Satha Alagandasundaram (100th 23.18) Peter Spelman (142 25.47) and Suki Jandu (26.42 159th)

The next match is the Havering Midweek 5 miles in Raphaels Park on Tuesday June10th

Veterans AC Track and Field Championship
Ewell
Sunday June 1

There was more success for the endurance squad at Ilford AC on Sunday in the Veterans AC Track and Field Championship held in warm, muggy conditions at the Ewell track in Surrey. This year the Championship were combined with the Surrey and Sussex Veterans Championships making for larger fields in this Masters only met.

Kevin Newell took part in 2 events, starting with the 1500m where he took silver in the M35 grouping in 4mins 55.88 secs. He had more success later in the day in the 5000m winning the gold in the same category in 17m46.79s. Rob Sargent also ran in the 5000m finishing in 22m 29.77s for 2nd in the M60 age category

Iron Horse 5km
Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Sunday June 1

Mike Horsey took the opportunity to take part in a road race while on a trip to the USA. The Iron Horse road races are held on a flat scenic course on the outskirts of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut and feature a half-marathon, 10km and 5km. Mike took part in the 5km and ran a seasons best of 19m 36s to finished 6th in a field of 462 and place 2nd in the M35 category.

Reports by H I T B

Essex Track and Field Championships
18th May 2014 – Chelmsford

5 ilford athletes competed in day 1 of the Essex Track and Field Championships held at Chelmsford each winning individual medals.

Opening the account was Tom Gardner in the 3000m and although not back to full fitness ran a well controlled race for 2nd place and a silver medal in a seasons best of 9mins 4.7seconds.
Usamah Patel was up against 2 highly nationally rated athletes in the under 17 1500m and therefore had to settle for 3rd place running a personal best of 4mins 21secs for his bronze medal.
Sam Malpass although not at full fitness though injuries still put in a gutsy performance in the 400m and was only caught over the last few meters recording 50.13 2nd place and a silver medal.
Jack Maher dropping down in distance to build up his speed for the 800 had a excellent run snatching 3rd place on the line for a bronze metal in the u/17 400m and a pb of 51.71.
Another u/17 snatching 3rd place & bronze medal was sprint specialist Gabriel Yiadom in 11-65 for the 100m.
It was excellent to see how the Ilford athletes each other over the events of the day.
CONGRATULATIONS

Ian Gains

Woodford Green Open Meeting
Tuesday 13 May 2014

There was a good turnout from Ilford AC at the first midweek open track and field meeting at Woodford Green.

Two new members from the under 13 age group made their first appearance on the track in the 800m, Bradley Deacon clocked 2m 49.1s with Arun Manget close behind in 2m 49.2s.

The seniors were led by 16 year old Jack Maher, who recorded the fastest time of the evening with 2m 00.8s . This places him in the top 50 in the rankings for the season in his age group. There were good times for Malcolm Muir of 2m 11.9s and Sam Rahman with 2m 13.3s, equalling his personal best. Kevin Newell recorded 2m 23.9s, Kieran McKenna 2m 24.6 and Mike Horsey 2m 29.1s in his first race at the distance.

Krystle Balogun continued to show improvement with a new best time of 2m 23.7s.

the Ilford challenge in the 3000m was headed by Tom Gardner who took the victory in 9m 7.8s, with Malcom Muir second in 9m 22.7s and Usamah Patel third in a new personal best of 9m 23.3s. This ranks the 15 year old 32nd in the u-17 age group rankings for the summer.

Following behind came Steve Philcox (9m 56.4s) Sam Rahman (10m 06.6s) Kevin Newell (10m 09.0s) and Bradley Brown (11m 28.1s). Bree Nordin finished in 12m 22.2s, which ranks her #6 in the country in the F55 category.

Sam Malpass was the only club member in the sprints finished in 11.3s in the 100m for 4th and 1st in the 200m with 22.8s.

Report by Rob

Great Baddow 10 mile Road Race
Chelmsford – 18th May 2014

Malcolm Muir was Ilford’s sole representative in this a field of over 500 runners on Sunday. The Ilford man had to battle the searing heat as well as the demanding course profile to come home in a goodish time for the conditions in 56.37 for 2nd place. Muir was eclipsed only by Paul Whittaker whose time of 53.57 was the best of a field of over 500 runners.

Report by Martin