Chester Half Marathon
Sunday 15th May
Terry Knightley of Ilford AC won his first England ‘Masters’ Vest making his England debut on Sunday at The Chester Half Marathon.
Running in his third big race in 13 days including Winning Essex Gold at the Halstead Marathon last Sunday was not ideal preparation for the event.
The Chester course was brutally undulating and was held in hot and humid conditions and Knightley finished in 1 Hours and 29 Minutes and 11 Seconds and was 221st out of a huge field of 3,899 athletes and was 4th MV60
After a well deserved rest his next England race will be The Bristol 10K in September.
VAC 5 MILE CHAMPIONSHIP
Battersea Park
Tuesday 10th May
The VAC 5 mile championship was held on a 3 1/2 lap fast course in Battersea Park and was open to all athletes over 35 years of age.
Ilford AC had two finishers in the event. First home was Joel Denning in 33rd overall spot in a new personal best time of 33 mins 52 secs to place 4th in the M40 category, while Rob Sargent was 66th and 5th in the M65 age group in 47 mins 12 secs.
EUROPEAN MASTERS ROAD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP
Grosseto Italy
May 14th and 15th
Rob Sargent of Ilford AC travelled to Grosseto on the Italian west coast to take part in the European Masters Road Running Championships. His first race was the 10km on a hot Friday evening over an urban course. The high temperature affected most of the field and times were slower than normal. Rob suffered on the second lap but managed to pick up a couple of places to finish 321 overall in 65 mins 01 secs and 24th in his M65 age group.
He was also in the Great Britain M60 team that placed 5th in the team rankings.
The next morning the 5km was held on a 2000m cycle track and the morning start meant that temperatures were cooler. Despite feeling tired from the previous evening Rob put in a good performance to record 27 mins 54 secs to come home 46th in the race for men over 65 and 25th in the M65 category. In this race he was in the M65 British team and combined with Andy Murray of Dulwich Runners and Phil Jones from Baildon Runners to take 3rd place in the team competition and win the bronze medal. This was Rob’s first ever European Masters medal.
Ipswich Twilight 5k
Saturday 14th May
Ilford Stalwart Malcolm Muir competed in the Ipswich Twilight 5K at the weekend.
Malcolm gave his normal battling display to record a super fast time of 16 mins 46 seconds to claim 31st place overall, in a field of 368 runners, which placed him 2nd in the V45 category.
Phoenix Strictly Running Ultra
Sunday 15th May
The Phoenix running event was originally planned for 2020, so Ilfords Craig Livermore has been preparing for this event for 2 years.
Taking in a 3.28 mile route, out and back, along the River Thames the aim is to complete as many laps as you can in a timed event with entrants having to finish the lap they are on after 7 hours.
Craig ran an excellent race to finish 2nd overall completing 39.4 miles over 12 laps in a time of 7 hours 7 minutes 25 seconds
SCVAC Match 1
Lee Valley
9th May
The Ladies and Men’s Vets Track and Field team competed at Lee Valley on the Monday evening of 9th May.
Due to unavailability and other commitments both squads struggled with numbers but despite that performed admirably to finish 8th and 3rd respectively.
The Ladies team consisted of two athletes in the form of Rachel Lawless and Shaheda Arthur who competed in the 2000m race walk. Rachel was first in her competition group and Shaheda second in times of 11m 50.9s and 20m 21.3s to gain 14 points, which was the overall score for the team.
The race walk men of John Arthur and Stuart Bennett finished first and second in their competition age groups in 11m 49.3s and 12m 21.1s to start the Men’s scoring in positive fashion.
James Lambden, debuting for the club, covered the V40 100m sprint in 15.2s for fifth place and was non-scoring in the flat 400m (74.4s) and 1500m (5m 39.7s) in his regular V50 age group.
Fabrizio Stefanoni, debuting as a veteran athlete, covered the V40 400m placing second in a time of 64.4s. His time of 4m 50.7s earnt a third place finish in the V40 1500m.
Dave Butler came down several distances to run the V60 100m claiming fifth place in 18.9s. In his preferred distance of 1500m his time of 5m 40.5s secured first place in the V60 category.
Henry Ricketts in the V50 100m finished fourth in 13.5s and in the long sprint his time of 67.2s secured fifth place. A personal best of 8m 74 in the V50 shot placed him second.
Steve Chissell battled for fourth in the V50 1500m in a time of 5m 46.5s.
Andy Catton ran as a non-scoring athlete coming home in 6m 27.5s.
The 4 x 100m relay team of Fabrizio, James, Henry and Dave brought the baton home in 62.8s for fourth place.
On the evening Ilford Men scored 87 points for third place.
Full result will be on power of 10. The next match is on Monday 20th June in Stevenage.
RACE WALKING
In the men’s race over the same distance, Ilford’s 2nd claim member Stephen Crane completed the frame with a spectacular 3rd place finish in a personal best 14.33, with club colleagues John Arthur and Stuart Bennett 4th and 5th respectively timed at 17.52 and 18.04.
