Essex Cross Country Relays Champs
Brentwood
Saturday 12th October

On a very hilly course in Weald Park the Ilford teams excelled themselves., with 4 teams entered we brought home 4 Essex County medals.

Starting the day, over the 2 lap, 6k hilly course were the Female V60 team.
Julia Galea was first off in 41:45 before handing over to Diane Crisp who ran 37:03 to hand over the final leg to Pauline Tester. Pauline ran 34:21, which was the fastest race by a V60 female on the day and ensured a GOLD medal for the team.

The men’s V50 team were anchored by Stephen Philcox in a time of 23:58, handing over to Fabrizio Stefanoni for 24:24 before Malcolm Muir ran his usual gutsy race in a time of 23:31.
The combined time of 1 hr 11 mins 54 secs was over 90 seconds quicker than their nearest rivals as they brought home GOLD medals for the team.

Ilford AC entered 2 teams in the men’s V60 age grouping.
Terry Knightley’s 27:45, Steve Chissel’s 26:48 and Neil Crisps 26:58 was good enough to secure the A team SILVER medals.

Raymond Dzikowski’s 27:46, David Thomas’ 26:37 and Alan Pearl’s 29:09 was good enough to secure the B team Essex County BRONZE medals, meaning all 12 athletes  entered won county medals.

Chingford League
Redbridge Cycle Circuit
Tuesday 8 October

SENIORS

The first fixture of this winter’s Chingford League took place at the Redbridge Cycle Circuit at Hog Hill between heavy showers last week. The senior races were over the usual challenging course on the undulating circuit of 5km

The Ilford AC men’s team are in the second division and were led by Ronan Edwards, who is still in the U20 age group, who was in great form to set a new personal best of 16 mins 39 secs as he placed 3rd in the match in this difficult race. Next home was Chris King in 5th in 18 mins 16 secs and one place behind was Berekhet Berakhy with 18 mins 16 secs. Steve Chissell placed 26th with 21 mins 43 secs and Tarik Qirem came in 32nd with 22 mins 28 secs. Mike Perkins closed the scorers with 22 mins 39 secs..
Also in action were Steve Crane (36th) Jim Tilbrook (43rd)  and Rob Sargent (67th )

With the Ilford leading men performing so well the club finished as the top team in division 2 of the Chingford League

The Ilford ladies were promoted to the top league last season and found it tough in the top tier. Gemma Ellender was the first home for the club finishing 15th in the match with 22 mins 24 secs with Anna Crawley close behind in 21st with 22 mins 49 secs and Alison Sale recording 24 mins 48 secs. Shahnaj Crane placed 80th in 28 mins 25 secs and Frieda Keane came home 119th with 32 mins 11 secs. The team was completed by Julia Galea with 32 mins 46 secs for 115th 

In this first division fixture Ilford placed 8th.

JUNIORS

13 Ilford juniors braved the testing conditions producing some excellent performances.

U11 athlete Ewan McKinstry was first Ilford athlete home in 14th place posting an excellent time of 7.37m on the 1.9 metres course.
Newcomer Danilo Reina was next to finish in 28th place , continuing his ongoing improvement, clocking a time of 8.12m. Saif Crane completed the team in 47th position on his Chingford league competitive debut.

Ilford’s U13 girls he’d impressive races against older and more experienced opposition. D.L. Majen-Akande continued her ongoing improvement finishing in 14th place in a time of 8.40  closely followed by teammate Alicia Adams with an impressive run of 8.57m to finish 17th

Khalif Ali produced another outstanding run in the U13 Boys race finishing in 2nd place after an incredible second lap to record a time of 6.40 a great performance considering his lack of training.

Ever reliable and improving Elias Furreedan finished in 12 position recording a time of 7.48m.

Hashim Khan ran a consistent race in 33rd position clocking 8.42m narrowly outpacing teammate Daniel Guiba in 34th place recording 8.46m. Debutant Caleb Singleton ran a strong competitive race to back up his teammates in a great all round team performance.

U15 athlete Barney Perkins produced yet another impressive performance to finish 2nd in an impressive time of 19.20m on the hilly challenging 5km course. Barney was well supported by teammates Stephen Amoli in 17th place recording 25.50m and Ethan Guiba in 18th place with 26.04m. Both athletes enjoyed strong consistent races to complete a successful evening for Ilford’s Junior athletes.

Ryder Islam was the sole Ilford athlete in the U17M race and produced a really strong run to seal 5th place in a time of 18.39 over the 5km distance

Vitality London 10k

Last weekend over 15,000 runners took to the streets of our capital city, for the iconic Vitality London 10k. Included in the line up were 7 runners representing Ilford AC

The race starts on the Mall, takes in such landmarks as Trafalgar Square, St Pauls, Horse Guards parade and Parliament Square before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace.

Leading the team home was Amin Koikai with an impressive 34:36 which placed him 93rd and 2nd in his age category.

Zuzana Sinalova led the ladies home with an impressive run of 42:38 which placed her 111th and 20th in her age category.

Billy Green was next home in a time of 50:56

There then followed 4 Ilford runners all finishing within a minute of each other, Sean Costello 57:35, Joe Ramen 57:52, Mandy Reid 58:11 and Pathrose Louis 58:39

Vitality Westminster Mile

The day before the 10k 3 Ilford runners took part in the Westminster Mile.

Stephen Philcox led the trio home in a time of 5m 20s to place 3rd in his age group, Alan Pearl was 6m 23s for 2nd in his age group and Julie Gillender 9m 55s for 11th in her age group.

Inaugural Berlin 5k 

2 Ilford athletes took part last Saturday in the Inaugural Berlin 5k, held the day before the Berlin Marathon.

Ryder Islam had a very successful outing, placing 42nd and 2nd in his age group, recording a Personal Best time of 18m 02s. Ladies Team Manager, Carlie Qirem, was in Berlin supporting a friend in the Marathon and jogged round with her for the 5k in 32 minutes

Ipswich Half Marathon

The Ipswich Half Marathon attracts over 10,000 runners, starting and finishing at Portman Road Stadium, home of Ipswich Town Football Club. Ilfords Jack Nixon did something Ipswich FC haven’t been able to do this season by actually winning the race in a time of 1hr 08m 03s.

Valentines park 2K

Ilford youngsters had a good turnout at the Valentines park 2K run held for athletes under 15 years of age.

Luke Thake took a very early lead and ran a very strong race to win in a new personal best of 7 minutes 5 seconds,

Luke was followed home in third place by his ever improving team mate Elias Furreedan also in a PB of 8 minutes 18 seconds.

Newcomer Ewan McKinstry showed great form and a glimpse of what is to come in the future with a great run of 8.25m to clinch 4th place 

Hawaa Patel was first placed female in a time of 8.29m

Ever improving Iris Wan put in another PB performance to finish 6th place in a time of 8.48m

Ilford sprinter Kenina Nkrumah turned her hand to the longer distance finishing 7th in a very credible time of 8.43m excellent for a first attempt at the longer distance.

Josh Denning achieved a Personal Best for the distance in a time of 8.57m despite missing the start of the race , finishing in 8th place 

Future Ilford AC youngsters Chloe Chissell and Archie McKinstry took on the course accompanied by their dads and finished in times of 12.26m and 14.13m respectively. 

PLESHEY HALF MARATHON (Incorporating the Essex Championship)

The Essex Half Marathon Championship was held in conjunction with the Pleshey half marathon for the 11th consecutive year.

The race from the village green in the picturesque village is held over rural roads on a rolling course and was held in warm conditions.

Ilford AC had 10 runners among the 300 or so finishers and came away with a handful of county medals.

Sam Rahman led the way for the club in 20th spot with 1:17:41 to claim a bronze medal in his age grouping. Next home was Stephen Philcox in 37th place in 1:23:03 to gain a silver medal in his age grouping. Next home was Danny Holeyman in 45th place in 1:23:57 followed  by Richard Woolterton in 1:26:41 for 61st and Diarmuid MacDonnell in 1:29:11.

Third medal of the day went to Steve Chissell who claimed a Bronze medal in his age grouping, coming home in 1:32:37 for 83rd place.

Terry Knightley was next home in 92nd place for 1:34:37, followed by Alan Pearl in 1:39:42, followed just one place and 2 seconds later by Tarik Qirem.
The squad was completed by Dennis Briggs, who came home in 121st place in a time of 1:41:29

DEDHAM 10K

Also running in Essex was Billy Green, who was Ilford AC’s sole representative in the Dedham 10k. The race, in its 30th year runs through Constable country in Essex and offers a very scenic, but challenging, hilly course.
Billy placed 114th, with a time of 50 minutes 54 seconds.

CAUSEWAY COAST HALF MARATHON

Further afield, John Crawley represented the club in the Causeway Coast half marathon.
The course traverses the Causeway Coastal Path and takes in some of the best scenery and trail running Ireland has to offer. A mix of terrain, from rocks, gravel and sand to mud, grass and seaweed with some steep climbs thrown in for good measure.
Given the difficulty of the course, John was pleased with his time of 1:47:33, which placed him 11th in a field of over 500.