Press Report 28th February 2023  

Feb 282023
 

LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km
Hyde Park
Friday 24th February

The last Friday of the month 5k is held around the Serpentine in Hyde Park and is a flat, fast course.

Sam Rahman of Ilford AC tested his current fitness in this fast lunchtime race last Friday as he prepares for the forthcoming Boston Marathon.
There are two races on the day, an ‘A’ race for those who expect to compete in under 22 mins and a ‘B’ race for everyone else. Sam competed with the elite runners in Race ‘A’
This month’s event was held in chilly conditions and Sam set off towards the front of the field of around 200 and kept a steady pace throughout to eventually come home 27th place in 17 mins 15 secs, his best time for the distance for 8 years.

Former ILFORD AC Olympian has died

Sadly, at the age of 89, Ilford AC’s first Olympian has died. She was born Phyllis Green at Horfield in Bristol on 22nd February 1934. She competed at the highest level as Phyllis Perkins and was known as Phyllis Winger in her later years.
As Phyllis Perkins she became the Club’s first Olympian when competing in the 800 meters at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Phyllis was eliminated in a heat when clocking 2:15.41.  Further major events came her way as in the 1962 European Championships in Belgrade, over the same distance, she failed to make the final by just 1/10th of a second when clocking 2:08.4.  In the same year over 880 yards at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth she was 4th in 2:09.4.

At one time Phylis was the world record holder for the 1500m distance and part of a team that held the 3 x 800m World Record.

Phyllis also competed at a high level in Cross Country running and was part of the Ilford AC team that won the National Cross Country Championships in 1960 with 4 runners in the first 22.
She is pictured here, on the left, with Muriel Critchley, Pam Jones and Joan Dryden.

  Press Report 21st February 2023  

Feb 282023
 

Friday Night Under the Lights 5k
Battersea Park
Friday 17th February

The PUL5K race is a joint collaboration between Friday Night Under the Lights 5K and Podium 5K held in Battersea Park in South West London. This annual get-together of the UK’s finest distance runners and ambitious club athletes always delivers fast results and this year was no exception.

3 Ilford runners made the journey South of the river and all managed to break the 16 minute barrier.

Mungo Prior was 25th in a time of 15:24, Joseph Grange 29th in 15:28 with Paul Grange coming home in 44th place, and 3rd in his age category in 15:45

Friday Night in the dark 5k
Hainault Forest
Friday 17th February

Meanwhile in Hainault Forest, Ilford AC held its own ‘Friday Night 5k’ in Hainault Forest.

The event is held at 7pm and takes in the Hills and terrain that was used for the previous week’s Essex League race but in the pitch black so all entrants need to wear chest or head torches, especially if not within sight of other competitors.

This year’s race was dominated by the ladies with Jordan Hinds a clear winner in 23 minutes 23 second, a full minute and 10 seconds ahead of second place Anna Crawley in 23:33 and Alison Sale grabbing third in 23:45

First male home was Billy Green who finished in 26 minutes exactly after a sprint finish with Wayne Hick, who was 5th just 3 seconds later.

Sharon Honey, who is running well after a little lay off with a hip injury was 6th in 27:53 with Jim Tilbrook coming home in 7th place a little way back in 28:43 followed by Manju in 29:06 and Julia Galea in 30:21.

A small award ceremony was then held in the clubs headquarters  

  Press Report 14th February 2023  

Feb 142023
 

ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Saturday 11th February
Hainault

The final leg of this winter’s Essex  League was held at Hainault Forest over a traditional tough and hilly cross country course in good weather conditions.
The match was hosted by Ilford AC who also fielded 23 athletes in the fixture.

One of the first races of the day was the u15 boys who raced one large lap of the course, approx. 4.5k. Ilford AC were able to put out a full team and the promising season for the boys continued with good placings for all.
Samuel Crane came home in 7th, Ryder Islam 15th, Aron Berhe 21st and James Thake  23rd.

The team finished 5th on the day and 4th overall for the season

The senior ladies raced over 6k and were led home by Jordan Hinds who has had an excellent season in 12th place in 26 mins 20 secs. In the individual table for the league Jordan placed 9th. 
Next home was Anna Crawley with 29 mins 07 secs for 31st with Alison Sale in 46th with 30 mins 51 secs and 5th in the F 55 category. Alison just missed a medal in her age group placing 4th by 1 point.
A good run from Pauline Tester closed the club’s scorers as she came home 62th in 32 mins 53 secs.

In this match the ladies finished in 6th and occupied the same position in the final division 1 league table.

Also in action were Hannah Sheikh in 69th, Dianne Crisp 83RD and 4th in the F60 group. Julia Galea 102th and 1st in the F65 age category and Frieda Keane 105th.

The senior men’s race was over 8km and the Ilford squad were led home by Tom Gardner in 15th with 31 mins 30 secs. Tom is another runner who has had a good winter placing 6th in the individual table for the season. Steve Philcox was also in good form finishing 48th with 34 mins 28 secs and 1st in the M545 age group. Over the season Steve placed 2nd in his category and took home the silver medal.
The ever reliable Malcolm Muir came home 66th with 35 mins 44 secs and won the bronze medal in the M45 group for the winter. 
Berekhey Berakhy who is taking part in cross country for the first time this year placed 77th in 36 mins 38 secs and U20 runner Dylan Harrod was 84th with 37 mins 02 secs, which placed him 7th in his age group..
The last scoring runner for Ilford was Seb Parris in 89th with 37 mins 46 secs.

In this fixture Ilford finished 5th and their final division 1 placing was 6th, the same as the senior ladies.

Supporting Ilford runners were  Alex Richards who was leading the pack before having to pull out with a calf injury, Steve Crane 108th, Neil Crisp 111th, Dan Holeyman 129th and Bradley Brown 143th 

The club would like to thank the army of volunteers, some of whom were in position for over 3 hours, some who volunteered before their own races and some of whom turned up at 8am to mark out the course. Without volunteers there would be no race, so thank you very much

  Press Report 7th February 2023  

Feb 072023
 

CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5Mile Road Race
Saturday 4th February
Victoria Park

The latest round of the Chingford League was held in good conditions on the fast course in Victoria Park, Hackney. There was a good turnout of 18 Senior runners from Ilford Ac in the event and the good results, including 5 new personal bests for the distance, showing that their winter training for the upcoming spring marathons and road races is going well.

In this competition Ilford raced in division two and the men’s squad was led home by Sam Rahman, who showed great form to finish 8th in the match in 28 mins 23 secs just 1 second off his best time for the distance. Paul Holloway came back from a spell of injury to set a new best time for 5 miles of 29 mins exactly in 11th spot. Berekhet Berakhy raced the distance for the first time and returned a fine performance in 16th place in 30 mins 52 secs. Richard Woolterton also recorded a new personal best of 31 mins 09 secs for 19th while Diarmuid Mac Donnell came home in 26th with 31 mins 49 secs. Steve Crane closed the teams scorers in 30th with 32 mins 51 secs as the team finished 2nd in the match and are placed 8th in the league.

Joel Denning set a new best time of 33mns 28 secs in 35th with Dennis Briggs 41st  with 34 mins 52 secs. Two of the clubs coaches also took part with Gary Floate 47th in 36 mins 18 secs and Rob Sargent 73rd  with 45 mins 40 secs

The ladies team were also in good form with Jordan Hinds placing an excellent 3rd in their division 2 match in 32 mins 50 sec. Zuzana Sinalova on her return from her native Slovakia came 4th in 33 mins 19 secs. Hannah sheikh ran a personal best of 37 mins 22 secs in 12th and Gaye Young was next home in 16th in 38 mins 11 secs, closely followed by Pauline Tester with 38 mins 17 secs in 17th and Alison Sale in a new best time of 38 mins 31 secs for 18th.
Supporting these runners were Mandy Reid in 31st in 42 mins 29 secs and Frieda Keane with 47 mins 37 secs in 41st.

In the match the Ilford ladies finished 1st and are placed 6th in the division two table.

Earlier in the day Ilford were able to field a remarkable 15 youngsters over various age groups, which is a testament to the hard work put in to the foundation group at the club by Coaches Ernie Forsyth and Andy Catton.

All the youngsters put in great performances and can be proud of their runs.

In the U11 Boys we fielded 4 runners with Khalif Ali 4th, Zac Forsyth 13th, Andre Mullings Roache 30th and Saif Crane 44th.

5 runners represented us in the U13 category. For the boys Kaleb Berhe was 12th, Jayden McDermott 14th and Luke Thake 18th. For the girls Sofia Crane was 13th and Ruby Moffat Virk 14th.

The U15 category was a particularly successful one for the club. For the boys Aaron Hick ran a great race to finish 1st and was very closely followed by Ryder Islam in 3rd place and James Thake in 5th. For the girls Leila Sharma was 5th and Anika Sharma 7th.

Finally in the U17boys Mohamed Zergouat ran very well for 6th place in a strong field.

  Press Report 30th January 2023  

Jan 302023
 
Southern Area Cross Country Championships
Beckenham Place Park
Saturday 28th January 2023
Ilford AC sent a small team of Juniors and Senior Athletes to this yearly event on a pleasant January Day.Event of the Day for the Club was the boy’s u15 race where Ilford put together a team of four. Samuel Crane had his best race of the season coming home in 48th place, beating many competitors who had previously beaten him in the recent county championships. He was backed up by good runs from Aaron Hick (99 th ) who had his usual strong finish, Ryder Islam (117th) who ran strongly the whole way and Aron Berhe (156 th ) in his first large championships.
The Team finished 21 st.

Unfortunately in the Senior Men’s 15 kilometre race Ahmed Abdulle had to withdraw with injury after being in the leading group through 5 kilometres.
Malcolm Muir (201st) and Steve Crane (480th) finished for the club with strong runs.

Ware Cup
Loughton
Saturday 28th January 2023

Ilford AC fielded 5 runners in the Junior races of the Ware Cup, hosted by Loughton AC, all producing promising performances for their athletic futures.

In the U13 girls race Ruby Moffat Virk made her Ilford AC XC debut and ran a very good race to finish in 9m 17s over the 1.5k distance.
For the 13 boys race, held over the same distance Jayden McDermott also ran his first XC race for the club and finished in 7th place in a good time of 7m 43s whilst Luke Thake finished in 13th place in a time of 8m 15s for 13th place, improving on last years time by 30 seconds.

The U15 boys ran a 5k course and James Thake had a great run for 2nd place in a time of 22m 34s.
Mohamed Zergouat ran a strong consistent race in the U17 event over a muddy and wet course for 6th place in a time of 26m 25s

The Seniors had a tough 8k wet and muddy course to contend with, so much so that the club, for the second week running, could only put out a senior ladies squad. Ilford Ladies never shirk a challenge.
Alison Sale led the team home in 16th place in a time of 40m 52s followed closely by Gaye Young who came home in 19th place for 42m 01s. Mandy Reid, who is having a very strong season in the leadup to her Spring Marathon came home in 28th place for 44m 36s, with the team being closed by the consistent Julia Galea in 40th place for 50m 12s.

The ladies performances secured them a 5th place position on the day