Press Report 1st February 2022  

Feb 012022
 

South of England Cross Country Championship
Beckenham Palace Park
Saturday 29 January

Ilford AC had a squad of 3 U15 boys and 5 Senior men at the South of England Cross-Country Championship at Beckenham Palace Park on Saturday.
The grassland course was firm but undulating and made for a fast race. 

First race of the day was at 11am where the U15 boys raced over a one lap 4.5km course.
All 3 Ilford boys performed well with Joseph Grange leading the team home in 16m 12s for 20th place. Samuel Crane, whose father was racing in the Senior race later in the day, put in a good performance for 18m 32s and 142nd place and was closely followed by Aaron Hick who came home in 155th place in a time of 18m 58s

Last race of the day at 2.50pm was the Senior Men who ran over a 4 lap 15km course
After a disappointing run the Essex champs, Ahmed Addulle put in an excellent performance finishing in 6th place in 48:17 finishing just 12 second behind the Essex champ Tom Frith in 5th place, and only 36 seconds behind winner Andy Coley Maud in a field of close to 700.
Malcolm Muir put in a determined run to finish  220th with 58mins 12 secs.
John Crawley and Diarmuid Mac Donnell were close throughout the race with Crawley placing 445th with 65m 58 s and Mac Donnell 459th in 66m 25s.
Steve Crane completed the Ilford runners in 534th in a time of 69m 06s

 

  Press Report 25th January 2022  

Jan 252022
 
ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Hainault Forest
Saturday 22 January

 

On Saturday, Ilford AC hosted an Essex Cross County League match for the first time in over 30 years. The match, the penultimate race of this winter’s Essex League, was held over a tough muddy and hilly course at Hainault Forest.

First race of the day saw the U13 boys race 3k, with Ryder Islam racing well for 10th place in a time of 13:39.

Next up was the U15 boys racing over 4k with Ilford AC having 3 runners. Joseph Grange was always up with the leading pack and did well coming home in 6th place in a time of 16:27.  Joseph was closely followed by Samuel Crane in 18th place for 17:54 and Aaron Hick in 23rd in 18:30

The Senior ladies raced over 6km and the Ilford squad was led home by Jordan Hines, in her first year of senior competition, in 13th place with a time of 28min 32 secs. Backing her up in 16th spot was Amy Louise Bird, in her first outing this winter, in 28mins 50 secs and Anna Crawley in 21st with 29m 25s. Carlie Qirem closed the scorers in 26th with 30m 56s. 

The team won the division 2 match, their 3rd victory this season, and now have an unassailable lead and will be promoted to the top league for next season.

Next home was Alison Sale in 33rd spot, and 2nd in the F55 category, in 32m 11 while Bree Nordin placed 47th, which gave her 2nd in the f65 grouping, with 33m 30s. Hannah Sheikh came home in 35m 29s for place 57 and Sharon Honey recorded 39m 13s in 77th. Frieda Keane, who is having a good season in the country, was one place further back  with 39m 30s. Julia Galea completed the Ilford Ladies squad in 80th and was 3rd in the F65 category.

Ahmed Abdulle won the mens 8.5km race  for the club.
He took control of the race early on and was in impressive form taking the race in 28m 23s. Malcolm Muir gave 100% to come home 29th and 2nd in the M45 age group with 33m 19s.
Racing for the seniors for the first time Farris Vakil placed 48th in 35m 06 secs, one place and two seconds in front of Gary Coombes who was the 3rd M45 home. Steve Philcox won the M55 category in 35m 56s for 56th overall and another of Ilford’s young prospects Dylan Harrod was 59th in 36m 05s.

Completing the squad and racing well over the tough course were John Crawley (68th  36.54) Danny Holeyman (69th  37.17)  Diarmuid Mac Donnell (82th  39.36) Terry Knightley (84th  39.45)  Steve Crane (101th  41.51)  Wayne Hick (118th  44.06) and  Steve Cheal (145th  50.13)

In the match Ilford placed 4th and sit 5th in the Division 1 of the Senior Mens League

In the individual tables Ilford have a number of runners in the top positions; 
Jordan Hinds is 7th the Senior Ladies with Carlie Qirem 10th
Alison Sale is 2nd in the F55 Category with Frieda Keane 7th in the same category.
Hannah Sheikh is 8th in the F45 grouping. 
For the men Gary Coombes in 2nd, Malcolm Muir 3rd and Dan Holeyman 5th in the M45  age category and Terry Knightley 2nd in the m60 category. Steve Cheal is 8th in the M60 age group.

Farnborough Winter Half
Saturday 22nd January

The Farnborough Winter Half is a fast, flat, traffic-free route; that starts under the historic Airship Hangar alongside Farnborough Airport and takes you on a delightful semi-rural loop around Farnborough and its surrounding areas.

Representing Ilford AC in her debut season for the club was Joanne Reeves who ran an impressive personal best over the distance to finish in a time of 1hr 33mins 46 seconds which placed her 6th in the F40 category.

  Press Report 17th January 2022  

Jan 172022
 

Essex Schools Cross Country Championships 
Writtle University
15/01/2022

Four younger athletes from Ilford AC attended this race all representing different regions of the County.

Best performance of the day came in the Inter Boys event. Joseph Grange representing Havering Schools came 4th in a highly competitive race. His performance backs up his recent good form and even more impressive as he was in the lower age group for the race. He moved through the field following a steady start only losing a couple of places in the last kilometre.
Ronan Edwards representing Waltham Forest followed up his fantastic performance in the county event last week with an equally impressive 9th place. He moved through from 12th at half way to finish strongly.

The above earns both Prestigious Essex vests for future races, Joseph for the English schools and Ronan for South Eastern Inter Counties.

The Club also had two competitors in the Junior Boys Race. Ryder Islam representing Redbridge Schools started cautiously but showed good strength in the later part of race to come through the field finishing 44th.
Samuel Crane representing Mid-Essex Schools looked strong throughout but suffered in the last kilometre finishing 31st.
Both should be proud of the selection for the race and can work towards future county events with fellow athletes from their training group.

Benfleet 15
16/01/2022

Ilford AC fielded 4 runners in the Benfleet 15 held at Hadleigh Downs on Sunday.

The course is a very challenging multi terrain course comprising hard sections of the Canvey Island sea wall contrasting with marshland and the undulating Hadleigh downs.

Starting downhill and finishing on a mile long big climb, the race is not for the faint hearted.

Diarmuid Mac Donnell was first home for the Club in a fantastic time of 1 hours 56 mins 33 seconds for 74th place in a field numbering over 600.

Joel Denning who joined the club this January finished next for Ilford, in 112th place in a time of 2.04.14.

Next home was Anna Crawley in 215th place in 2:14:02 for 30th female, followed by Joanne Reeves who also only joined the club this month in 269th place for a time of 2:20:46 and 48th female

The overall race record is still held by Ilford’s Amin KoiKai who clocked 1.22.17 in the 6th running of the race back in 1996, a time that no runner has recently been able to even approach.

  Press Report. January 8th 2022  

Jan 112022
 

ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Gloucester Park Basildon
Saturday 8th January

 

The 2022 Essex Cross Country Championship took place in a very wet and muddy Gloucester Park on Saturday and Ilford AC had good representation.
The course was over wet parkland and the park’s hills which became more slippery as the meeting progressed.

First race was the U17’s both men and women combined, in which Ilford had 1 runner, Ronan Edwards.
Ronan has been training well this winter, and was up with the leaders as they approached the difficult hill section of the course, including one very slippery downhill section, where everyone seemed to be taking their time. Ronan took advantage of this and raced into the lead. Around the flatter parts of the course the chasing pack closed the gap on Ronan, but he still hung in there and finished in a very creditable 7th place, which hopefully will gain him selection for the inter counties.

Next up were the U20’s in which Ilford had 5 athletes.
In a small field the Ilford guys were always to the fore, with Mungo Prior and Jak Wright in the leading bunch, just behind were Bradley Deacon, Rhys Edwards and Dylan Harrod.
Halfway around the small lap, an unknown athlete from Billericay hit the front where he stayed but Mungo hung in well to secure an Essex individual Silver medal. Not far behind was Jak in 5th, Bradley 13th, Rhys 15th and Dylan 19th. Combined the Ilford U20 team secured first place and Essex County team Gold medals.
This means this group of athletes have now won 4 Essex team titles across three different age groups over the last few years.

Next race was the Senior ladies with the  Ilford ladies led home by young prospect Jordan Hinds in 35th place in 36m 15s for the about 8km course in her first season as a senior.
Next home was Anna Crawley in 36mins 29 secs for 39th with Carlie Qirem 53rd with 38mins 06 secs. The Ilford team scorers were closed out by Bree Nordin in 63rd in a time of 38mins 44 secs. In the team competition Ilford finished 9th in the senior ladies event. One place and 8 seconds behind Nordin was Alison Sale, who is having a good season on the country. Gaye Young was next up in 74th with 41m 19s and Dianne Crisp ran in 95th with 46m 13s. Frieda Keane had a strong run and is improving as the winter progresses in 99th and 47m 09s, while Jul​ia Galea, who is in the F65 age category,  finished 109th in 48m 32s.

Final race of the day was the Senior men. First home for Ilford was Ahmed Abdulle who ran a very strong race to take the bronze medal, despite taking a couple of falls over the 10km course, in a time of 32 mins 51 secs.
The ever reliable Malcom Muir came home 32nd with 36mins 06 secs while John Crawley was 111th with 42​m​ 47s and Diarmuid Mac Donnell recorded a creditable 43m 31s for 117th. One place and 13 seconds behind was Terry Knightley . Neil Crisp was the clubs sixth scorer closing the team  in 125th place with 44m 15s. Ilford men recorded 10th place on the day

Backing up the team with strong runs over the challenging course were; Steve Crane in 131st (44.32) and Tony Young 184th (51m 48s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Press Report 27th December 2021  

Dec 272021
 

Witham (Not on) Boxing Day 5

On Bank Holiday Monday Four Intrepid Ilford AC athletes tackled The Annual Witham Boxing Day Five Miles Road Race which this year was held on the Bank Holiday Monday.

Running amongst a field of 264 other athletes around the one lap undulating country lane course in damp conditions Malcolm Muir was first home for the club in 14th position in 29 Minutes and 12 Seconds for 3rd Male Veteran Over 45.
Next home in 22nd place and smashing his personal best was Danny Holeyman in 30 Minutes and 25 Seconds and 5th Male Veteran Over 45.
Following him home and Winning The First Male Veteran Over 60 Trophy was Terry Knightley in 31 Minutes and 53 Seconds for 32nd Place.

The fourth Ilford AC Athlete to finish was Female Veteran Over 50 Carol Muir in 217th place for 48 Minutes and 34 Seconds.

All Finishers received a festive Snood/Face Mask for their efforts.

Ilford AC Boxing Day Handicap

A field of 11 runners brushed off the Turkey and Christmas hangover to toe the line for the 12th annual Ilford AC Boxing day handicap.

The route is 3.3 miles through the hills and mud of Hainault Forest and forms one lap of the clubs own 10 mile championships

This year’s winner was Aaron Hick meaning a member of the Hick family has now won the title 5 times in the last six years.

Aaron finished in a time of 37:02 off of a 13 min handicap,  just 4 seconds in front of Steven Philcox. Steven however had the honour of completing the course in the fastest NETT time completing the 3.3 mile course in 22:06 off of a 15 min handicap.

First lady home was Julia Galea running a nett time of 36:51, with her 5 min handicap giving her a time of 41:51

FULL RESULTS

                                          Handicap time     Handicap            Nett time

1 Aaron Hick                           37 02                     13                    24 02

2 Steve Philcox                       37 06                     15                     22 06

3 Wayne Hick                         37 57                     12                     25 57

4 Steve Crane                        38 05                     12                      26 05

5 Rhys Edwards                     39 01                    16                      23 01

6 Jim Tilbrook                        41 25                     0                      41 25

7 Denis Briggs                        41 37                    13                     28 37

8 Julia Galea                         41 51                     5                          36 51

9 Billy Green                        41 52                       5                        36 52

10 Gaye Young                   43 00                        9                        34 00

11 Danny Holeyman              43 50                    18                        25 50