South of England Champs
Chelmsford
12th / 13th June

Several athletes from Ilford recently competed in the South of England Championships, which these years were held at Chelmsford. 

Samuel Crane and Ryder Islam took part in the U15’s 3000m, for the latter it was his first track race over the distance. In warm, but windy conditions thy both acquitted themselves well , with Samuel finishing 7th in 10.42.59 and Ryder 10th in 11.10.25.

Joseph Grange took part in the U17 3000m, the pace was fast from the start, and Joseph sat off the early pace, content to lead the second group. The two leaders split after three laps, with Peck of St Edmunds pacers moving clear of Ballard of Colchester. Joseph by now was clear in 3rd place and was gaining rapidly on the Colchester athlete. He managed to catch him with 800m to go, but did not quite have the strength to push on. Over the last lap Ballard broke clear, but Joseph hung on for a very good 3rd place in a pb time of 8.53.67. 

Dylan Harrod and Farris Vakil took part in the U20 800m,, Dylan ran 2.04 in his heat, but unfortunately did not progress to the final. Farris won his heat in 1.59. The final the next day was a cagey affair with nobody wanting to force the pace, the ball was reached in 58 seconds and Jamie Rashbrooke of Basildon shot to the front creating a large gap. Farris was first to respond but could not catch the Basildon athlete who held on to win in a time of 1.53. Farris tired up a bit over the last 10 metres and just missed a medal in 4th place. 

Jordan Hinds was Ilford sole entrant in the women’s 800m which turned out to be a straight final, in a very competitive race, Jordan placed 5th n a time of 2.22.4 

Krystle Balogun competed in the senior ladies 200m, and placed 35th in her heat in a time of 26.17. 

Pleshey 5 Miles
Essex Championships
24th June

On Friday it was the senior members of the club that impressed at the Essex 5 mile championship held on a two lap rolling course around the picturesque village of  Pleshey .
It was a good evening for Ilford taking six individual Essex medals.
Gary Coombes led the team home in 25 place in 28 mins 45 secs taking the silver medal in the M50 age group. 

Sam Rahman placed 35th with 29 mins 42 secs followed by Steve Philcox who won the M55 category finishing in 45th place with 30 mins 11 secs. Next home was Ryan Holeyman in 56th  place for 30 mins 54 secs. Ryan was 4th in the U20 category.
Richard Woolterton recorded the only personal  best for the club in the race with 32 mins 25 secs and 77th, while club stalwart Andy Catton took silver in the M65 group placing 138th with 37 mins 36 secs.

Leading the Ilford Ladies was Alison Sale in 177th with 41 mins 45 secs earning her the bronze in the F55 category and Dianne Crisp recording 43 mins 46 secs for 186th earning her the silver in the F60 category. 

Ernie  Forsyth came home 188th with 43 mins 44 secs followed by Sharon Honey who gained a Silver medal in F65 category finishing 195th in 44 mins 52 seconds

Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham finished 219th in 49 mins 46 secs.

Olympic Park 5k – Elvis Race 3
Olympic Park
21st June

The Olympic Park 5km, the third round of this summer’s ELvis tournament was held over a flat but twisty 2 lap course around the Olympic Park. The Race was on the evening of the national train strike which resulted in many of the entrants not being able to make the start line including a few of Ilford’s leading competitors.

The top performer from the club was Jordan Hinds who moved through the field to claim a superb 2nd place in the ladies race in a new personal best time of 19 mins 34 secs.
Next home was Sameena Ahmed in 6th place in the ladies with 19 mins 59 secs and Anna Crawley 14th in 21 mins 00 secs. Hannah Sheikh also recorded a new best time for the distance with 22 mins 43 secs for 29th, while Gaye Young crossed the line 28th with 23 mins 56 secs. Alison Sale was the club’s final scorer in 69th with 25 mins 50 secs. In this match the Ilford Ladies finished 4th and are joint 2nd in the league

First home on the men’s side was Richard Woolterton in 37th overall in 19 mins 30 secs with Diarmuid Mac Donnell 44th with 19 mins 45 secs. Steve Crane continues to show improvement finishing one place and three seconds behind Diarmuid.
Terry Knightley was again victorious in the M60 age category in 20 mins 02 secs for 52nd
Joel Denning is another showing good form coming in 55th with 20 mins 11 secs, while Adam Coals closed the scoring team recording 20 mins 32 secs in 65th.
In the match  The Ilford men finished 5th in this fixture and stand 3rd in the league at the moment

Steve Chissell ran a personal best of 20 mins 41 secs for 69th and there was a rare race appearance from club middle distance coach Gary Floate finishing 135th with 23 mins 15 secs

Running well outside the scoring team were Dennis Briggs (21.23) Bradley Brown (23.57)  Declan Cullen (25.54)  Dianne Crisp (26.54)  Sharon Honey (27.39)  Mandy Reid Reid (27.47)  James Huddart (31.01)  Launa Broadley (31.01)

SVAC
20th June

A team of 3 represented the Ilford Men’s team at the SCVAC match on the evening of 20th June.

Peter Whiting finished fifth in the V50 hammer with 17m 23 while Henry Ricketts competed in the V50 long jump with a leap of 4m 33 securing fourth place.

Andy Catton ran all the V60 track events finishing third in the 800m in 3.10.2s, fifth in the 200m in 39.7s and fifth in the 3000m in 14.04.6s.

Following the long jump Henry competed in further V50 events where his 30.0s in the 200m  placed him eighth. His discus throw of 23m 41 achieved fifth place and his high jump of 1m 20 secured equal third.

Ilford AC placed 8th out of 9 teams in the evening.

ESSEX 5000m Championship
​Chelmsford
Wednesday 8 June

It was the ladies team of Ilford Ac who fared best for the club at the Essex 5000m championship at the Chelmsford track.

Sameena Ahmed moved up the field as the race unfolded to come home 4th overall in 19 mins 38. secs which placed her second in the F40 category to take the silver county medal.
Joanne Reeves was racing on the track for the first time and recorded a very  creditable 21 mins 39.3 secs coming home 6th and was third in the F40 age grouping taking the bronze championship medal.
Gaye Young won her first county gold in winning the F50 age category in 23 mins 09.2 secs finishing 8th in the ladies race.

There were 3 Ilford men also in action in the meeting. Tom Gardner finished 11th overall in 15 mins 40.1 secs while in heat 3 Ryan Holeyman, still in the u20 age group, finished in 17 mins 25.6 secs for 5in the heat and Sam Rahman ran steadily for 9th with 18mins 01.0 secs

Essex Schools Champs
Chelmsford
Saturday June 11th

The Essex Schools 2022 Championships took place at a sunny Chelmsford on Saturday.
The Essex schools is always a key date in the calendar for ambitious athletes as success and fast times can lead to being picked to represent Essex in the English schools.
Ilford AC had 6 representatives competing for their borough in this year’s race , which was a great achievement in the first place.

All of the Ilford stars competed to a very high level but 2 athletes really stood out for their performances at the weekend.
Joseph Grange thought he was doing the 3000m Intermediate boys  at the championships but was informed a few days before the race that he had been entered for the 1500. In a tough race Joseph went with the leader and both pulled away from  the rest of the field  with about a lap to go and Joseph pushed the Woodford boy right through the line. Joseph was rewarded with a well earned silver medal, a massive Personal best of 4.09, a school record and a place in the English schools in his favored 3000 event.

The other outstanding athlete of the day was Oliver Blainey. Oliver was already Essex club champion and is growing with confidence as the season grows.In his Intermediate heat earlier in the morning, Oliver pushed the first 200 in the 400 Heat but then slowed down to conserve energy for the final. In the final Oliver went off quickly to open up a slight lead and powered away in the last 100 to win the Essex Schools 400 title in 50.87, just behind his personal best. 

This performance was good  enough to take Oliver, along with Joseph,  to the English schools to compete against the best athletes in the country in July

In the 800 Junior Boys Heats James Thake was in the second heat of 3 with 2  from each heat to make the final plus 2 fastest losers. In the fastest heat of the 800 James ran superbly to run 2.11 to finish third. James not only made the final as fastest loser he also achieved a personal best of 6 seconds. In the final James was in with a real chance with 300m to go but was unable to duplicate his performance in the heat and came 8th in the final but he should be proud of his performance. 

In the third heat Aaron Hick was up with the leaders to try and get the top 2 finish but was just out sprinted by another athlete to come third. Aaron’s 2.18 time meant he didn’t make the final but Aaron still performed well

In the Junior Boys 1500 Samuel Crane ran very well in a quality 1500 race.Samuel ended up with 4.51, just short of his personal best.Ronan Edwards , who medalled in the Essex club champs ran in the 800m Heats.Ronan, in the middle of exams narrowly missed out on the final and once exams are of the way will return to his best form.

BMC 5,000m Track Grand Prix
Watford
11th June 2022

Ahmed Abdulle ran the race of his life at Watford on Saturday night. Always in the front 3 Ahmed kicked on in  the final 400m to finish in first place in 14.18.64 for a new personal best over the distance.

Southend Half Marathon
Sunday June 12th

On Sunday in sweltering heat on the seafront a small group of Ilford AC members ran in a huge field of over 1545 runners in the Annual Southend Half-Marathon.

The course was a two lap seafront course 

First Home in 82 Minutes and 28 seconds for 33rd place was the ever reliable Sam Rahman.

Next Home and Invited back to race with a free entry from the organizers as a previous Winner of the event in 1998 was Terry Knightley.
Terry finished in 89 Minutes and 49 seconds for 83rd place and was robbed of the 1st MV60 prize despite being given the same time as the first MV60 finisher

Next in was MV50 Stephen Lacey in 1 Hour 52 Minutes and 58 seconds 

Following him home was MV60 Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham in 2 Hours 20 Minutes and 03 seconds finishing together with team mate Rhoan Gabbidon in the MV50 category 

Dagenham 88 ELVIS
Central Park, Dagenham
Wednesday 25 May

The 2023 Summer Elvis league kicked off on an off-road grass and gravel course of just under 5 miles last Wednesday in Central Park Dagenham. Ilford AC had 25 runners in action.

It was a successful start to the competition for Ilford with Paul Grange winning a tactical race in 27 mins 32 secs and his 15-year-old son coming in an excellent 3^rd spot just 4 seconds behind.
The club also had two more runners in the top 20 with Steve Philcox placing 16^th in 30 mins 16secs and taking the prize for 1^st over 50 and Sam Rahman one place behind 30 mins 20 secs. Another of the club’s young athletes Ryan Holeyman came home 21^st with 30 mins 48 secs and a good run from Steve Crane in 32 mins 51 secs for 30^th closed the scorers for the team.
Ilford placed 2^nd in the match behind East London

In the lady’s competition Sameena Ahmed was first home for the club in 2^nd place with 32 mins 58 secs with Joanne Reeves 8^th in 35 mins 49 secs. The remainder of the Ilford scoring team packed well with Bree Nordin 16th, and 1^st in the F60 category, Gaye Young 17^th and Alison Sale 18^th with times of 38m 48s   38m 57s and 39 mins exactly respectively.
Hannah Sheikh put in a solid run for 20^th to close the team in 39m 28 s.
The good team running won Ilford the match in the female section from Eton Manor AC

Other notable performances for the club were Terry Knightley winning the M60 age group trophy, Richard Woolterton placing third in the M50 age group, Gaye Young finishing 2^nd in the F50 category with Alison Sale 3^rd in the same division and Dianne Crisp 2^nd in the F60 grouping

Also in action were:- Joel Denning (36  33.44)  Adam Coals (54  35.04)  Dennis Briggs (70  36.38)  Andy Catton (83  38.18) Bradley Brown (137  43.04)  Mandy Reid (173  45.28)Julia Galea (185  47.48)  Frieda Keane (188  47.48)  Ray Everingham (196  48.38)  Launa Broadley (213  52.41)