Essex League Cross Country

Braintree

Saturday 19 October

The first Essex League meeting of the 2013/14 was held at Great Notley
Country Park, Braintree. The weather was a mixture of showers and sunshine
and the course was quite tight and twisty with some slippery stretches.

The Ladies were the first up and their 6k course was over 2 large laps. Mel
Jones was first home in 36th [29:08]. She was closely followed by Breege
Nordin 38th [29:23]. A little further back was Dianne Crisp 49th [30:25] and
Jenni Sheehan 50th [30:26] who closed the team in a very creditable 11th
position out of 19 teams.

Also providing valuable back up were Nicola Hopkinson 69th [32:34], Pam
Jones 106th [39:02] and Meredith Floate 117th [47:05]

In the Men’s race held over 2 small and 2 large laps [8k] some excellent
packing by Kevin Newell 55th [31:06], Steve Philcox 56th [31:14] and Kevin
Wotton 57th [31:19] provided the foundation for a solid team performance.
Sam Rahman 78th [32:30], Neil Crisp 80th [32:36] and Andy Catton 118th
[34:40] closed the team in 10th out of 21 teams. Also competing were Bradley
Brown 127th [35:07], Gary Floate 169th [38:16]], Dan Cogan 179th [38:04], a
fine performance on his debut over the country and Steve Cheal 213th
[43:50].

Pictures courtesy of Jenni Sheehan on attached link
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/hpiqcpsho7z5oee/504hn27ofl

Report courtesy of Neil Crisp

Essex League results attached

Leigh On Sea 10k

Sunday 20 October

A small contingent of Ilford AC runners made the short trip along the Thames
to the annual Leigh-on-sea 10k. Bradley Brown was again in action finishing
in 41:28. He was followed by Carol Muir in 60:00 and Nicola Chester 61:01.

Report courtesy of Carol Muir

Cabbage Patch 10

Sunday 20 October

Steve Allen made the short trip to Twickenham to compete in the top quality
Cabbage Patch 10. He finished in a very creditable 1:29:55 for 1022nd
position.

Report courtesy of Steve Allen

World Masters Championships

Porto Alegre Brazil
Thursday 17 October

Ilford AC Coach and runner Rob Sargent travelled to the southern hemisphere
to compete in the World Masters Athletics Championships.

His first event was the 8km cross-country held over 8km on a 4 lap testing
course. The British team moved Rob and Archie Jenkins down from the older
categories so that they fielded a team in the M50 group. The race was at 8am
on a cloudy warm humid morning and most competitors found the conditions
energy sapping. Rob pushed as hard as he could to finish 38th in 38m 54s and
the GB team placed 5th behind hosts Brazil and strong Russian and
Argentinian squads.

Report by Ramon Racer

Ashford 10k

Sunday 13 October

Tony Hyde made the journey to Ashford for the local 10k. In the “worse
conditions of a race” he has ever known, the Race Director even thought
about cancelling it as parts of the course were under water, he ran well to
record a seasons best of 38:03. This was good enough for 32nd overall out of
a field of 750 runners. More importantly he won the silver medal in the
SCVAC V45 category

Report courtesy of Tony Hyde

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Hog Hill 5km – Chingford League
Tuesday 1st October

The opening fixture of the winter’s Chingford League was held on a fine
evening on the tough Redbridge Cycle Circuit at Hog Hill. The 3 lap course
incudes 4 climbs of the steep hill on the course. Eight runners from the
endurance squad at Ilford AC ran as guests in the event. There was a superb
run from Krystle Balogun who finished 3rd female and 76th overall in the
field of 232 in a time of 20m 48s, while top man from the club was Kevin
Newell in 21st in 18m 00s. Sam Rahman put in a good performance in 28th with
18m 31s while Kieran McKenna recorded 20m 42 in 75th and in 97th was Dan
Cogan in 21m 21s. Bree Nordin found the course not to her liking coming home
132nd in 22m 46s, while group coach Rob Sargent recorded 23m 05 for 141st
and Meredith Floate finished in 36m 18.

ELVIS Presentation
Friday 4 October

Last Friday the presentation evening for the East London Interclub Five
Series (ELvIS) for 2014 was held. The league is held over the summer with 7
matches between the competing clubs. This year Ilford were the dominant club
winning both the men’s’ and ladies’ team titles and picking up 5 individual
awards. Malcolm Muir placed 2nd in the men’s competition and Steve Philcox
won the M40 category. For the ladies Krystle Balogun was the runner-up with
Melinda Jones winning the F45 and Breege Nordin the F55 groups.

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Bournemouth Festival 10km
Saturday 5th October

At the 10 km race at the weekends Running Festival in Bournemouth which
included races from children’s 1.5km to a full marathon there were
outstanding results from runners from Ilford AC’s ‘Warriors of Time’
endurance squad who made the trip to the south coast resort with the runners
all finishing high up in their various categories. On a spring like
afternoon on a flat fast seafront course which included running up and down
the pier Kevin Newell led the club’s challenge with a controlled run which
placed him 3rd out of a 800 plus field in 36m 57s . Kevin Wotton was next
over the line in 37m 06s, which won him the M40 group, and Neil Crisp was
5th in 37m 57s winning the M50 category and wrapping up the team honours for
Ilford. Steve Parker took the M55 category with 44m 43s for 57th and Rob
Sargent was 2nd in the same group placing 92nd with 46m 57s.

For the ladies Dianne Crisp showed good form for 5th and 1st in the F50
group with 46m 30s and Nicola Hopkinson placed 10th and 2nd F50 in a time of
47m 54s. Jenni Sheehan continued her return from injury recorded 48m 35s for
116th overall, while Pam Jones took the F70 honours in 57m 34s

The next morning the half marathon was held on a fine morning over a similar
course but a couple of runs up the cliffs were included. Carol Muir showed
the same fine form as her teammates did on the previous day running a
personal best time of 2 hours 7 minutes.

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Southend 10km
Sunday 6th October

Another race held on a flat fast seafront course at the weekend was the
Southend 10km. Bradley Brown led the Ilford AC challenge with 41m 01s for
88th out the 1136 entrants. newcomers Kieran McKenna and Dan Cogan were next
up recording 42m 00s for 112th and 42m 53s in 127th respectively. Tony
Partridge recorded a personal best of 48m 33s in 346th and Maran Raju
finished in 48m 41s. Julia Ridley finished in 66m 25s and Robin Davis 67m
23s.

Valentines Park 5km, Ilford
29 September

There was another dominant performance from Ilford AC on Sunday in the last
round of this Summer’s East London Interclub Five Series (ELvIS) with both
the men and ladies winning the match and the league title.

The men, who have won every round they have competed in this year, were led
home by Malcolm Muir, who took the runners-up spot in 16 mins 31 secs. He
was supported by Tom Gardner in 4th with 16m 58s and Sam Rahman in 17m 19s
for 9th. The remaining scoring members were Neil Crisp in 17th in a time of
18m 20s placing him 3rd in the M50 category, closely followed by Bradley
Brown who put in a good run for 29th in 19m 17 and 4th in the M40 age group,
while Rohan Alexander recorded a new best for the distance with 19m 28s in
31st.

In addition other notable performances were from the returning to form Kevin
Newell in 11th recording 17m 31s, with 14 year old Usamah Patel 12th in 17m
35s. Jack Maher placed 24th with the time of 18m 56s which is a personal
best for the 15 year old. Kieran McKenna placed 37th in 19m 56s on his club
debut and Andy Catton took the M60 honours with 20m 20s in 62nd, and Martin
Clarke was 2nd in this category in 68th and 21m 38s.

Krystle Balogun was the first home for the ladies side in 19m 50s for 3rd
spot and 36th overall. Breege Nordin again took the F55 prize finishing 5th
lady and 56th in the race with 21m 10s, while Mel Jones set a new personal
best of 21m 54s, winning the F45 category. Dianne Crisp was the team’s 4th
scorer finishing 14th lady in 22m 31s, as the club beat East London in a
close match by 7 points. Jenni Sheehan returned to racing after injury to
finish 19th with 23m 09s.

Also run: Rob Sargent (83rd 22.20) Maran Raju (Club Debut 107th 23.40) Steve
Cheal (124th 24.46) Pathrose Louis (141st 26.00) Carol Muir (153th 26.41)
Suki Jandu (166th 28.00)

Report by Hank in the Bushes

Picture of some of the victorious teams

Half Ironman Triathlon – Stowe House
29 September

Steve Parker took on the Half Ironman Distance Triathlon at Stowe House in
Buckingham. The 1900m swim in the lake was three laps & cold. A long run
upto Transition 1 & a change onto two wheels for 85.4 Km bike ride. The
weather was kind. Two diversions were necessary though because of incidents.
Transition 2 & a run around five loops of very hilly off road course for the
Half Marathon & to complete the Triathlon in 6hrs 42m & 3rd in his age
group. Steve is happy with the result as it was his first Triathlon of this
distance

Report by the Man in the Lake

Berlin Marathon
29 September

Nicola Hopkinson was among the field of over 36000 for the Berlin Marathon.
The race is held over a fast, flat, city centre course passing a number of
the famous sights of the city. This year saw Wilson Kipsang of Kenya improve
the world best time for the distance to 2h 03m 23s.

Nicola ran a steady race and finished 120th female in 3h 45m 30s, just 5
seconds faster than in London in April.

Report by Klaus from the Bierkellar