SEAA Cross Country Championships – Parliament Hill Fields

Saturday 25 January

Last Saturday saw the annual SEAA Cross Country Championships at Parliament
Hill Fields. As a result of the recent wet weather conditions were
challenging to say the least. All races started just in front of the lido
with the first of many climbs being the familiar 500m “slog” up to the
supporting fans. First up for the club was Usamah Patel. Looking for a top
20 position he had trouble with the condition & had to settle for 44th place
in the U15 race. Jack Maher, using these races in preparation for the track
season found the going even tougher finishing 173rd place in the U 17 race.

The weather was still bright when the Women’s race set off over two laps of
5 miles. Jenni Sheehan, on her first appearance in the Southerns didn’t
disappoint as she was fist Lady home in 238th . She was closely followed by
Dianne Crisp in 267th and Breege Nordin, despite a fall in the closing
stages in 277th. There were 466 finishers.

The last race of the day was the Men’s held over the “classic” 9 miles. By
now the course was well churned. Malcolm Muir had an excellent run as he
finished in 87th. Paul Holloway, also on his first appearance at these
Championships, battled his way round for 314th. Kevin Newell, off the back
of a few races, found the course challenging and was 391st. At this time the
heavens opened as Ben Jones finished in 482nd. Tony Hyde was 607th, Bradley
Brown 705th and Darren Bottrill 795th. The team was 59th and there were 988
finishers.

Report and pictures courtesy of Ian Gains, Neil “Wellies” Crisp & Jenni
Sheehan

Essex Cross-Country League – Hockley
Saturday 11 January

The penultimate round of this winters League was held at Hockley on Saturday
in very wet and muddy conditions. The courses were shorter then usual due to
the tough going.

There was a poor showing from the senior men of Ilford AC, who fielded only
4 runners in the 4 mile event. Paul Holloway showed good form coming home
39th in 26 mins 48 secs, while Bradley Brown ran the second half of the race
well to move up to 71st with 29 mins 49 secs. Chris Togwell turned out for
the team for the first time in a few years finishing 78th in 30m 30s, and
Steve Cheal completed the team in 115th in a time of 38m 52s. Only having 4
of the necessary 6 for a full team meant the club could only place 13th on
the day and are now in 10th place overall for the season

The Ilford women fared better than their male colleagues fielding 5 runners,
despite losing one of their leading cross-country runners Mel Jones who is
out with a broken wrist. This injury was suffered in last weeks race.
Dianne Crisp put in her best run of the winter finishing 35th, and 2nd in
the F45 category, in 26m 39s for the 3.25 miles race and Bree Nordin was
once again the leading F55 competitor, in 37th with 27m 13s. They were
backed up by Jenni Sheehan in 42nd in 27m 41s and the consistent Nicola
Hopkinson placed 48th with 28m 47s. The evergreen Pam Jones came home 76th
and is the leading lady in the F65 category over the season. The team
combined to finish 9th team and like the men are 10th overall for the
season.

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Pictures Courtesy of Natalie Crisp and Jenni Sheehan

https://db.tt/4HceDxL8

South of England Indoor Championships
Lee Valley – Sunday 12 January

The first day of the 2014 South of England Indoor Championships was held at
the Lee Valley Indoor Athletic Centre and the programme included the 800m.
Krystle Balogun represented Ilford AC in the event and ran in the first
semi-final. She ran hard for the first 2 laps and was rewarded by finishing
5th in 2 mins 24.55 secs, a massive new personal best by over 5 seconds. The
performance ranked her 8th in the senior ladies competition.

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Endurance Training

For further details of the endurance training (middle distance to marathon)
at Ilford AC please contact warriorsoftime@hotmail.com

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