Five athletes from Ilford braved the cold and windy conditions on Good Friday to take part in the Last Friday 5k, this event is held every month and usually attracts fields of over 200 runners who fancy a race in their lunch hour.
Although numbers were slightly down this month the quality of the field was very high, with the race being won by Matthew Fayers of Hillingdon in a fast 15.09. After making a slow start Iain Knight worked his way through the field to finish in 23rd place with a time of 18.01, which pleased both Iain and coach Gainsy. Next home was Gary Floate who struggled throughout but still managed a season’s best in 67th place with a time of 20.38. Eileen Sheridan has not raced since last year’s London Marathon due to injury, and despite only arriving with 2 minutes to go before the start was pleased with her run of 26.21 for 119th place.
Carol “Parkrun”Muir was the 4th finisher in 130th place with a time of 28.11, this was Carol’s fastest run around the Hyde Park course. Meredith Floate was rewarded for her recent spell of hard training with an excellent time of 32.23 which was almost 2 minutes faster than her last race and her best time for over 18 months.

PHYSICAL SHIELD RELAY – LOUGHTON

The Warriors of Time endurance training squad of Ilford AC travelled to Loughton for a midweek relay event on a cold Tuesday evening. The Physical Shield Relay is a long standing event and is currently run over 4 legs of a hilly residential course. each leg being 2 laps of the route totalling 2800m.

Ilford entered 2 men’s and a ladies team and gained impressive results with the men placing 2nd and 5th and the ladies 3rd in their competition.

Sam Rahman led off the A team and handed over 3rd after a run of 9mins 54secs, the 7th faster runner of the night. Paul Holloway (10m 08s) and Kevin Wooton (10m 29s) kept this position before a storming last leg by Steve Philcox overtook the last leg runner from Victoria Park Harriers to finish 2nd behind a very strong Eton Manor side. His leg of 9m 36s made him 5th fastest individual in the race.

There was an excellent opening leg for the B team by Richard Mould of 10m 24s which placed the team 5th. During the middle legs by Ted Skinner ( 12m 13s) and Steve Parker (12m 17s) the team slipped to 6th but a determined last leg by Gary Floate of 11m 18s re-established the team into 5th.

Inga Hayden-Cooper opened for the ladies and placed them 5th in their category with 12m 34s. Next up was Nicola Hopkinson who held the position with a time of 12m 35s for her leg before handing onto Dianne Crisp, who moved them up to 4th running 12m 18s. Anchor leg runner Jenni Sheehan then chased down the Victoria Park B team runner and just pipped her on the line to claim 3rd with a fast time of 11m 58s for her run. The Victoria Park Ladies A team won the event.

Report by the Man in the Shadows

Individual_Leg_Times_2013.pdf

Results_by_Team_2013.pdf

On a cold windy snowy morning over 2100 runners lined up for the 32nd
Brentwood Half Marathon.

The field included six athletes from Ilford AC who were well up the field in
the fast downhill start. They kept up their challenge as the race progressed
through country lanes on the outskirts of the town with Robin McNelis
heading up the team with a fine 19th spot in 1hour 20 mins 36 seconds just
12 seconds and 1 place ahead of Steve Philcox. Sam Rahman was 22nd in a new
personal best time of 1hr 21m 03s while there was a big breakthrough for
Richard Mould in 85th position setting a new best time for the distance by
over 4 1/2mins with 1hr 28mins 28 secs. The mens team was completed by Paul
Holloway who had a steady run in 189th with 1h 35m 08s

Breege Nordin was the only lady in action for the club finishing 251st
overall, which placed her 19th in the lady’s race and 1st in the F50 age
category, in a time of 1h 38m 03s.

Report by Hank Shivering in the Bushes