A small group of Ilford A C athletes made the journey to Battersea Park on Tuesday to compete in the Vets A C 5k Championship. On a very Balmy slightly humid evening times were a little slower than expected. First home for Ilford A C in his inaugural run on the course and finishing 5th overall was Neil Crisp 2nd M45 in a time of 18.32s, next in for the club in 7th place overall winning his category the M70 by over 5 minutes was the intrepid John Batchelor. Steve Parker had a good run for 2nd in the M55 group in 21.29. Dianne Crisp, also running here for the first time finished an excellent 3rd lady and 1st W50 in 22.12s. Pam Jones in the W75 category ran 27.10s. Steve Allen finished 2nd in the 5 mile walk with a time of 45.54s.
Report by Pam Jones
Hank now in the Czech Republic !!

SCVAC Report for match 4 Ilford Vets team travelled to Lee Valley for the final match of the league season on Monday 16 July. The evening started with fine victories in the 2000m walk with Francisco Reis and Steve Allen winning the A string and over 50 age group in 9.19.8 and 10.47.5 respectively. Malcolm Muir put in his usual gritty performances placing second in the 800m B string with 2.12.9 and winning the 3000m A string in 9.35.2. Neil Crisp also completed the 3000m in 10.55.7 as the B string athlete putting in a spirited finish to snatch 2nd position in the last 50 metres. Tony Hyde debuting for the club won the 800m B string with a storming finish in 2.24.9. Rowland Lyons also debuted for the club in the over 50 age group completing the 800m and 200m in 3.07.0 and 38.5 placing sixth and seventh respectively. He also guested in the 3000m finishing in 13.17.2. Andy Catton competed in the 3000m as the scoring athlete finishing third in 11.16.9. John Batchelor competed in the over 60 age group where he ran the 200m and 3000m in 36.4 and 11.49.2 for fifth and third place respectively. Henry Ricketts managed a season best 27.2 in the A string 200m for seventh place. A 1m high jump secured fourth place and 23m 31 javelin placed him sixth. His best result was a 5m 00cm long jump to finish second. Jason Praill covered the B string 200m finishing in 29.9 for seventh. He also ran as a guest in the 800m to finish in a time of 2.30.0. Pete Whiting covered the over 50 field events clearing 1m 10 in the high jump for fifth. His javelin of 22m 96 also placed him fifth and his leap of 3m 70 in the long jump secured fourth. The 4 x 200m relay team of Henry, Jason, Tony and Malcolm finished in fourth with a time of 1.52.5. Diane Crisp competed as a guest in the ladies 800m finishing in 2.51.0. An excellent evening resulted in the team finishing third on the night just pipping Herts Phoenix by a point. Over the season the team also placed third. Report by Henry Ricketts Ilford Vets Track and Field Manager Meltdown race series in Shelbyville, Indiana Rob Sargent, Ilford AC coach, recently took part the Meltdown race series in Shelbyville, Indiana while on a trip in the United States. This is a series of 5km races on the same morning; one at 8am, one at 9am and finally at 10am. There were 118 for the first event which took place in overcast conditions with the temperature in the mid 70s, a welcome change for the locals who had been suffering in 100F the week before. Rob ran a hard race trying for a good position in the first heat. He finished 23rd in 22m 16s for 3rd in the M50 category. Just over half an hour later he took to the line again for the second race, with the field reduced to 99. It was a bit warmer but still cloudy. Rob found the going hard and dropped to 27th in 23m 06s but was second in his age group. At 10am the last leg started with 9 more not making the line. Rob put in a better run and remained 27th, but the tiredness of the event was showing. The light rain shower, the first in the area since early May, cooled the runners a little but it was now over 80F. His time was 23m 55s and he again took the award for second in his age group. Report by Hank’s US Cousin Welch (in the bushes)