Essex Cross Country Relays Champs
Brentwood
Saturday 24th September

On a very hilly course in Weald Park the Ilford team excelled themselves.
Starting with two vets on legs 1&2 Ilford got off to a flying start with Paul Grange on leg 1 coming in with the leading group in 22:24 over the 6k course.
Leg 2 saw Tom Gardner take a slight lead in 22:19. With Havering chasing leg 3 Alex Richards. who’s recovering from his injuries, slipped back to 2nd place in 22:46.
With Havering now in the lead, leg 4 saw Ahmed Abdulle storm around the course passing Havering to bring home the victory for Ilford AC  in 20:08 whilst also achieving the fastest lap time of the day with a overall time of 1 hr 27 min 38 secs

South of England Athletics Association (SEAA) Relays
Crystal Palace
Saturday 24th September

Ilford AC entered a V40 team at the SEAA road relays at Crystal Palace this weekend with 4 runners taking on the challenging 6k course consisting of a notoriously unforgiving sharp hill that had to be negotiated twice.

Fabrizio Stefanoni set out on Lap 1, handing over to Diarmuid MacDonnell and then Sam Rahman. Last to take the baton was the gutsy Malcolm Muir. Whilst the team were always in contention they were unlucky to miss out on a medal place, coming in 5th place against some very strong opposition

Great Bristol 10k
Saturday 24th September

The Great Bristol 10k this year incorporated the Home Nations Championships with the best runners from all four Home Nations being selected by their countries to compete.
Ilford AC were very proud when our own Terry Knightley was selected to represent England for a second time. Terry did the club, and England, proud coming home in 40:07 which was the 6th fastest V60 time of the day and helped England to Victory

Valentines Park 5km (ELVIS)
Ilford
Sunday 25th September

The concluding race of the 2022 ELVIS series was held on a flat fast course in Ilford’s Valentines park. 

Ilford entered 25 runners who all performed well.

In the ladies race the winner was Ilfords Neringa Masilioniene, making it 4 wins in 4 races, in 20th overall in a time of 18.39. Third lady home was Jordan Hinds in 30th overall in 19:26. Sameena Ahmed came in 35th and picked up the 1st FV40 trophy in a time of 19:39 followed by Joanne Reeves 64th in 21:10. Next home for the club was Breege Nordin who picked up the 1st FV60 trophy in a time of 22:30 in 81st place. 6th home for the club, and completing the unusually large scoring team of 6 for an Elvis race was Mel Jones in 92nd place in 22:48.

There were personal bests on the day for Alison Sale in 98th place in 23 minutes exactly and a third personal best in 3 weeks for Launa Broadley in 199th place in 28:58.

The ladies team were second on the day and second in the series, missing out on top spot by just one point over 8 races.

Backing up the ladies team were Hannah Sheikh 99th 23:06, Gaye Young 104th 23:33, Mandy Reid 140th 25:21, Jenni Sheehan 161st 26:19, Diane Crisp 171st 27:32 Frieda Keane 200th 29:07 and Carol Muir 202nd 29:14

In the men’s race Stephen Philcox was first home, achieving 1st VM50 with his 17th placing in 17:53. Richard Woolterton continues to impress in his first season for the club coming in 26th place in 19:10, closely followed by Craig Livermore 36th 19:41 and a new personal best over the distance for Stephen Crane in 19:48 for 37th place. Coming in at 59th place in 20:45 was Steve Chissell before Andrew Catton closed the team of six in 97th place for 22:58.

The men finished 3rd on the day and third in the 8 match series.

Backing up the men’s team were Sean Costello with a new personal best of 23:24 for 102nd, Bradley Brown 103rd 23:32, Ramen 165th 26:43 and Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham 186th 28:10

Pleshey Half Marathon (incorporating the Essex Champs)
Pleshey
11th September 2022

The Essex Championship was once again staged in conjunction with the Pleshey Half Marathon and was preceded with a minutes reflection in memory of the recent passing of The Queen.

The race from the picturesque village is over a rolling hilly course and conditions were made more difficult on the day due to unseasonable hot weather

It was a successful day for Ilford AC with the club winning five county medals and a new personal bests for the distance.

Amin Koikai led the way for the Ilford team with an excellent 21st place in 1hr 16 mins 49 secs, the performance winning him Essex Gold in the M50 age group.
Backing him up were Diarmuid MacDonnel in 71st place in 1hr 27 mins 45 secs and Terry Knightly in 82nd place in 1 hr 28 mins 37 secs which earned Terry a Bronze Medal in the M60 age group

Just three places behind Terry was Stephen Philcox in a time of 1 hr 29 mins 11 secs earning him a Silver Medal in the M55 age group

Backing the team up were Richard Woolterton 88th 1:29:26, Joel Denning 108th 1:34:36, Dennis Briggs 127th 1:37:36, and Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham 297th 2:16:23

Leading the lady’s home with an excellent run for 144th place was Joanne Reeves in a time of 1 hr 40 mins 22 secs which earned her an Essex Silver Medal in the F45 category.

Backing her up with excellent runs were Gaye Young 200th in 1 hr 50 mins 41 secs, Alison Sale 257th in 2 hours and 24 secs and Mandy Reid 274th in 2 hr 7 mins 29 secs.
Next home was Julia Galea who earned herself a Bronze medal in the F65 age group coming home in 302nd place in 2 hrs 18 mins and 3 sec, followed by the ever reliable Frieda Keane just one place  and 15 seconds later.

Closing the team with a new personal best over the distance was Lana Broadley in 308th place in 2 hrs 21 mins 44 secs. Launa dedicated her run and PB in memory of Her Majesty The Queen and wore a Union Jack bandana for the run

Great North Run
Sunday 11th September 2021

57,000 determined and dedicated runners make the Great North Run the World’s biggest and best half marathon – famous for its warm North East welcome, unbeatable atmosphere and the millions raised for good causes, this year the route returned to its original course after alterations were introduced for Covid measures in 2021

Ilford AC put forward two runners. Stephen Lacey achieved a new personal best over the distance finishing in 1 hour 48 minutes and 28 seconds and our very own Geordie, Great north run regular Anthony Young, racing in his native Newcastle and finishing in a time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 53 seconds

KIMBOLTON HALF MARATHON
​Sunday 28th August

The Kimbolton Half Marathon runs from the picturesque Kimbolton Castle, once the home of Catherine of Aragon and now a school, on a route featuring two notable hills around the local villages and back to the grounds of the school.
Ilford AC had three male runners in the field, all training for autumn marathons  and showing that training is going well.

Sam Rahman came home in a creditable 10th spot in 1hr 20 mins 26 secs with Seb Parris coming in less than 45 seconds outside his personal best for the distance in 1 hr 23 mins 31 secs for 17th.
The third club member over the line was Diarmuid Mac Donnell, who is aiming for the Chicago Marathon, recording 1 hr 30 mins 54 secs in 33rd.

Amy Louise Bird was the sole Ilford female in action finishing in a fine fifth spot in the ladies race with 1 hr 36 mins 44 secs. The race was of particular interest to Amy, as Kimbolton Castle was where she attended School

PHIPPS 5K – ELVIS RACE 7
​Barking Park
Monday 29th August

There was an excellent turn out of 33 members of Ilford AC in action in the annual Bank Holiday 5km in Barking Park, which was also the 7th race in the 2022 ELvIS series

The men’s team were led home by Fabrizio Stefanoi in 16th place in a good time of 17 mins 37 secs, while Steve Philcox in 21st took 1st place in the M50 category honours with 18 mins 05 secs. Aaron Browne was next home with 18 mins 10 specs for 23rd spot and there was a new personal best time for Richard Woolterton of 19 mins exactly.  One place and one second behind was Diarmuid Mac Donnell with Ryder Islam recording 19 mins 24 secs for 39th. Craig Livermore finished 40th with 19 mins 27 secs and Joel Denning came in at 19 mins 30 secs for 43rd.

The men’s team finished 3rd on the day and remain 3rd in the league.

Terry Knightley won the M60 age group with 19 mins 57 secs for place 52.

Further down the field Sean Costello and Seamus O’Connell made their club debuts recording 23:14 and 28:59 respectively

Ilford’s Neringa Masilioniene won the ladies race, her third victory in the series this season, in 18 mins 31 secs in a close finish and Jordan Hinds placed 4th lady and 35th overall with 19 mins 10 secs, a new best time for the distance.
Sameena Ahmed came home 6th lady and 49th overall in 19 mins 43 secs to win the F40 grouping, Anna Crawley was 15th (87th overall) in 21 mins 49 secs and Bree Nordin was 18th  (96th overall) and first in the F60 category. Hannah Sheikh returned from illness to finish 25th (117th overall)  in 23 mins 16 secs and closed the teams scorers.

The Ilford ladies won the match and have set up a grandstand finish at the final match at Valentines Park in September with East London and Eton Manor where any of the teams could be crowned champions.

Mandy Reid set a new personal best of 25 mins 03 secs.

Also ran: John Crawley (48th  19.41)  Steve Chissell (67th  20.44) Dennis Briggs (71st  21.00)  Gary Floate (83rd  21.41)Tony Young (92nd  22.15)  Bradley Brown (99th  22.32)  Gaye Young (119th  23.22) Alison Sale (123rd 23.31)  Sharon Honey (171st  26.04) Rob Sargent (191st  27.23)  Dianne Crisp (197th  27.48)  Jim Huddart (202nd  28.07)  Julia Galea (213th  28.34)  Carol Muir (228th  29.33)  Launa Broadley (229  29.35)

After the main Event there was a Junior 2k race which was won by Ryder Islam in 7.32 after also competing in the main race

Ilford had 16 other runners in the race, many running their first race for the club finishing in the following times Ichalif Ali 8.35 / Jeremiah Brown 8.37 /  Anika Sharma 8.43 / Joshua Denning  8.50 / Damien Kwarteng  9.05 / Noah Crawley 9.39 / Luke Thake 9.59 / Jayden McDermott 10.02 / Jude Crawley 10.47 / Hashim Khan 10.54 / Ibrahim Khan 10.59 / Mathiaus Semper 11.11 / Daniel Gutava  11.14 / Ruby Moffat Virk 11.45 / Andre Mullings 13.00 and Mustapha Samb 13.13

SPITFIRE 10K
RAF Museum Hendon
Saturday 27th August

The Spitfire 10K is held to commemorate the Battle of Britain and all the men and women who defended Britain’s skies during the summer of 1940, with all the runners wearing the name of a Battle of Britain pilot with their race number.

The race takes runners around the historic London aerodrome in Colindale, out onto local streets before finishing through the museum past the Spitfire, through Hangar 1 and under the beautiful Short Sunderland Flying boat, before crossing the finish line.

This year Billy Green was the sole Ilford Entrant finishing in a time of 53 mins 56 secs for 88th place

LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5K
Hyde Park
Friday 26th August

Carol Muir ran the Last Friday of the Month 5 km in Hyde Park finishing 134th in 31.08, over a minute faster than her time in the previous month

RACE WALK DIVISION

Southend City Mile
Garon Park Track
29 Aug 22 – ‘B’ Race

The annual Southend Mile Walk now renamed Southend City Mile, reflecting the Borough’s new status, was held over 4 laps of a well appointed Garon Park track on Bank Holiday Monday morning.
It returnS to fixtures lists after a 2 years’ Covid absence.
In a combined race former Commonwealth Games representative Dan King (Colchester Harriers) was a clear gun-to-tape victor clocking 7 minutes a 1 second, but in his wake Ilford’s inform Emma Dyos had the race of her life to place 2nd, not only bettering several men’s performances but also setting a new Women’s mile track record of 8:48, previously held by Loughton AC’s Melanie Peddle. A tight race for 3rd spot saw Belgrave Harrier Colin Harle and Ilford’s John Arthur battling throughout as they’d done a day earlier at Hendon’s London’s StoneX Stadium over 5,000 meters, where the Ilford man got the better of it. This time Harle, who crossed ahead of Arthur, as he filled 3rd place in 9:15 with Illford’s man breathing down his neck to clock 9:17. Rachel Lawless was 6th in a personal best time of 9:32 slightly ahead of Simon Morgan whose 9:36 was a season’s best.  Lesley Morris was the pick of Ilford’s other 5 entrants when filling 9th spot in 10:18.

John Arthur’s morning of athletics wasn’t over, as he entered a Masters 800 meters run and collected a bronze medal!

Photo of some Ilford AC members after racing :  L-to-R : Lesley Morris, John Arthur, Emma Dyos, Rachel Lawless, Dave Ainsworth & Sheda Arthur.

Ilford AC give ’em the old 1-2

Ilford walkers achieved a 1-2 finish in Sunday afternoon’s London Inter-Club Challenge meeting at the StoneX Stadium, home of Saracens Rugby Club, where the Club’s John Arthur and Belgrave Harrier Colin Harle, the reigning British Police champion, strode to the front from the “off” being trailed by Steve Uttley some 15 metres in arrears. Steve Uttley gradually closed the gap and hit the front shortly before halfway in the 5,000 metres race.  He extended his lead to 30 metres by the finish line which he crossed in 30 minutes and 32 seconds. Most interest was shown in a tight battle for remaining frame positions, as John Arthur edged ahead of Colin Harle to claim 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, clocking 30:58 and 31:04.  In a concurrently held 3,000 metres walk, Shaheda Arthur clocked 30:08, so gaining valuable team points for Ilford AC.

Picture : Action approaching halfway as eventual winner Steve Uttley (162) trails race leaders John Arthur (159) and Colin Harle (157).