Essex Cross-Country Championship
Hilly Fields, Colchester Saturday 4th January

There were a good set of results for Ilford AC in this season’s Essex
Cross-Country Championships at Hilly Field in Colchester, where the going
was firmer than was expected

Best result of the afternoon for the club came in the under 15 boys race
where Usamah Patel put in a storming run to take the bronze medal in 16m 49s
and was selected for the Essex team for the Inter-Counties Championship in
Nottingham next month. His training partner Jack Maher not his favourite
surface had a solid run for 21st place in the u/17 race.

The Ilford senior ladies continued their run of good performances with
Krystle Balogun leading home the side in a creditable 18th spot in 35m 13s
for the 8km course. Breege Nordin was next across the line in 52nd with 39m
34s. Supporting her were Dianne Crisp in 60th with 40m 45s and Jenni Sheehan
placed 63rd in 40m 56s in a field of 122. Together they were placed 10th in
the team competition. There was however misfortune for Mel Jones who fell on
the first lap and broke her wrist.

The senior men had a good team on the start line for their 12km race and
were lead home by Malcolm Muir who showed good form to place 9th in 42m 28s.
Next up was Steve Philcox in 46th and 46m 01s. Kevin Newell showed his
winter training is going well in 56th with 47m 320 and Paul Holloway came in
72nd in 48m 57s. Sam Rahman showed improved form in 79th with a time of 50m
16s. Taking the last scoring spot was Tony Hyde in 81st with 50m 16s, who
just pipped Neil Crisp on the line after a sprint finish. The squad was
completed by two runners on the comeback trial.; Darren Bottrill finished
108th (52m 43s) and Matt Maple 174th (67m 37s)

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Picture of Usamah and Jack courtesy of Ian Gains

Picture of Dianne & Jenni courtesy of ERR

New Years Day

There were 3 athletes from Ilford AC who started 2014 with a race on new
Years day. Best performance came from Spencer Hempsted in the Lamberhurst
10km run on a challenging, scenic course around the grounds of Scotney
Castle in Kent. Spencer put in a good performance to take second in 36 mins
35 secs. Meanwhile, in Hyde Park Carol Muir found the going tough in the
wind and rain during the Serpentine New Year’s Day 10km finishing in 68m 24m
for 214th female in a large field. Krystle Balogun avoided the poor weather
conditions by running indoors at Lee valley. In an open meeting to kick off
the year she came 5th in heat 4 of the 800m in 2m 31.39s.

Report by Hank in the Bushes and Warrior Dog

London Marathon

Are you running the London Marathon? Would you like help, advice and
training group to prepare for the race?
The Ilford AC endurance group is here to assist you. The squad has over 10
entries for this years event and has a range of standards ranging from a
2:25 runner to first time marathon runners. The group is led by an UKA level
3 endurance coach and meets three times a week. Interested come along to
Cricklefields Stadium, High Road Ilford on Tuesdays at 6.30pm or e-mail
warriorsoftime@hotmail.com for more details

South of England Masters Cross-Country Championships
Shuttleworth Park, Biggleswade
Saturday 14 December

A group of masters athletes from Ilford AC travelled to Shuttleworth Park in
Biggleswade to compete in the South of England Cross-Country Championships
over a firm parkland course and once again produced good results.

The ladies were the most successful grouping for the team, racing in 4
different age groupings, all racing over a distance of 6km. Mel Jones
continued her good form of the winter with 14th place in the F45 category in
29mins 06 secs, while in the F50 Dianne Crisp came home 15th in 29m 54s and
Nicola Hopkinson 17th with 30m 54s. In the F 55 group Bree Nordin put in
her usual gritty performance to finish 5th in a time of 28m 42s. The ever
green Pam Jones took an individual medal in the F65 category finishing 2nd
spot for the silver.

Nordin combined with Crisp and Hopkinson for the F50 team competition and
finished in 2nd spot behind Arena 80 from Sussex with Winchester third.

[shashin type=”album” id=”125″ size=”small” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”y” order=”date” position=”left”]

The men raced over a 4 lap course which was slightly longer than the
advertised 10km. There were determined runs in the M40 from Steve Philcox
and Paul Holloway who finished 18th and 23rd respectively in 39m 12s and 39m
42s. Neil Crisp was in god form in the M50 category coming home 21st with
41m 07s while Steve Cheal was 52nd in the same race in 54m 54s.

Report by Hank in the Bushes
Pictures Courtesy of Hanks Friends

Indoor Open Meeting – Lee Valley Athletics Centre
Sunday 15 December

Ilford ACs Krystle Balogun was in the action in the 800m, raced over 4 laps
of the banked indoor track, at this meeting. She improved on her showing in
her debut race earlier in the month to finish 4th in the senior ladies race
in 2m 30.13s, which beat her outdoor personal best of the summer.

Report by Warrior Dog

Southend 5 miles Rudolph race

Sunday 15 December

Four runners from Ilford Ac took part in the Southend 5 miles Rudolph race.
It was a great fun nice course which was very flat. Tony Hyde was 3rd in
30.39. Bradley Brown was very pleased with his 8th position. Carol muir had
a solid performance(144) in a time of 44.56 and Julia Ridley came home in
(280) 54.17. There were 329 finishers.

The results are up on www.nice-work.org.uk

Report by Carol Muir

Southwark Parkrun

Saturday 14 December

Here is the next instalment,

Dad and I took part in our fourth Park Run on the 14th. Dad was in good form
after another full week of running to and from work and his toe was starting
to feel much better after the op. We took our usual place on the starting
grid, anticipating a good time. The starting gun went, well actually someone
said go, and we were away. But what happened? Lots of people shot past us
before I had a chance to put on my scary face and we were well down the
field. I turned on the buggy motor and we were able to stabilise our
position at around 6:20 pace, but Dad was having trouble keeping up, so I
turned the motor off again and we settled into a much more realistic pace.
Fortunately, everyone else saw the error of their ways and slowed too.

Dad hooked on the tail of the 2 runners in front and this helped pull us
around. We were now able to enjoy the run and bask in the winter sun as we
cruised around the rest of the course. Nearing the finish, someone must have
been cooking eggs and bacon or something at the finish line, as everyone
around us including Dad started running really fast. We came in at 22:05, 8
secs up on last week. The eggs and bacon was a false alarm, but someone did
offer Dad a banana; I got a rice cake.

Report by Lukas Togwell

 

Essex Veterans Cross-Country Championship
Claybury Park

Saturday 30 November

There was a good turn out of the older members of Ilford AC s endurance
squad for the Essex Veterans Cross-Country Championship held over a
demanding 3 lap 5 mile course in Claybury Park last Saturday.

Top performance of the day for the club came from Spencer Hempstead in the
M40 category he placed 2nd to race winner Adrian Mussett of Colchester
Harriers in 28 mins 26 secs to take the silver medal. Backing up were Steve
Philcox in 14th with 30m 03s and a fine run from Paul Holloway in 30m 57s
for 23rd. Closing the team was Kevin Wotton in 26th spot with 31m 29s. The
team placed 4th in the club competition. Also in action were Gary Floate
(62nd 36.09) and Dan Cogan (68th 37.44)

In the M50 plus race Neil Crisp, just returning to racing after injury, led
the way for the below strength team in 24th with a time of 33m 02s. next
home was Terry Knightley in 37m 39s for 57th, with Steve Parker close behind
in 59th with 38m 05s. Club coach Rob Sargent turned out and despite a tumble
on the first lap closed the scorers for the club with 39m 59s in 73rd. The
team in this race finished 11th. Steve Cheal came home 89th in 43m 20s,
while Graham Williams finished 4th M70 in 100th and 47m 45s.

In the ladies race for women in category F35 upwards the Ilford team put in
a fine team performance to finish 4th overall despite their team featuring
no runners in the F35 age group. Leading the way was F55 race winner Bree
Nordin (her 6th county gold medal of the year) in 23rd overall with 38m 13s.
Following her home were Mel Jones in 39m 15s and 27th, placing her 8th in
the F45 event, and Dianne Crisp in 32nd with 40m 03s for 11th in the F45
grouping. Closing the team was 15th F45 Nicola Hopkinson in 43th and 41m
26s.

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Picture and attached link courtesy of Jenni Sheehan

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/4vyn2jgsatb1s8v/PX9y98k1dA

Pictures below courtesy of Kim “The Blur”

Nene Valley 10m

Peterborough

Sunday 1 December

Further afield the Brother and Sister duo of Malcolm and Carol Muir took
part in the Nene Valley 10m road race. Malcolm was 7th in 54:48 and Carol
put in a sterling performance to finish in a new PB of 1:34:20.

Report by Carol Muir

Serpentine Monthly 5K

Hyde Park

Friday 29 November

John Batchelor was in action at Last Friday’s Serpentine 5K on Friday. He
finished 94th out of 275 runners and was the first M70 by around 4 minutes.
He commented “I felt like I was running around 21:30 so was delighted to
clock 20:52 in quite breezy conditions, 7 seconds faster than my last race
there in May”. If he’s stay free of injury he may now focus on the indoor
season and go for the World Masters Indoor Championships in Budapest in late
March.

Report by John Batchelor

Saint Francis Hospice Santathon

Dagenham

Sunday 1 December

On Sunday 1st December more than 400 fundraisers took to the streets of
Dagenham to bring some festive cheer to Saint Francis Hospice by dressing as
Father Christmas and taking part in the Santathon. This was a 5km run around
a looped course from Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club. This is the fifth
Santathon run in partnership with Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club.
Participants’ walked, ran and jogged the route and several dogs in costume
took part too!

A few runners from Ilford AC joined in with the festive fun, Steve Philcox
and Sam Rahman battled the whole way around the course but Steve just came
out in front to win the race. Nicola Hopkinson, Jenni Sheehan and Dianne
Crisp enjoyed the run and made the most of the fun crossing the finishing
line in tandem. Julie Gillenden improved her time from last year by 10
minutes which was a brilliant effort.

Report & picture courtesy of Dianne Crisp

Left to Right, Santa’s Steve Philcox, Nicola Hopkinson, Dianne Crisp, Julie
Gillenden, Jenni Sheehan and Sam Rahman