Press Report 19th October 2021  

Oct 192021
 

Chelmsford Marathon incorporating The Essex County Marathon Championships
Sunday 17th October

On Sunday a Dynamic Duo of Ilford AC athletes had a very successful morning of racing at the Chelmsford Marathon which incorporated The Essex County Marathon Championships.

The race of over 550 athletes was held On a One Lap Course starting at Chelmsford City Centre and then heading out to the surrounding country lanes and finishing back in Central Park in Chelmsford.

First Home for the Club in 4th Overall position was Amin  Koikai in a superb time of 2 Hours 42 Minutes and 18 seconds to Win The Bronze County Senior Medal as well as winning Essex Gold in the Male Veteran Over 50 category.

Following him home in 54th Position was Terry Knightley in 3 Hours 8 Minutes and 11 Seconds to Win The Essex County Gold Medal in The Male Veteran Over 60 Category.

Terry continues to break long standing Ilford AC V60 records, this time smashing a 40 year old Ilford Half Marathon record by 8 minutes and 12 seconds.


Yorkshire Marathon
Sunday 17th October

The Yorkshire Marathon has quickly established itself as one of the highlights of the UK’s sporting year. This popular and picturesque one lap run,, takes participants past some of York’s most historic sights and along scenic country lanes.

This year’s race was also part of the England Athletics ‘England Masters’ programme where 100 athletes from across the country are chosen to wear the England vest and represent the country. Amongst these was Ilford AC’s Paul Holloway, who finished in a very respectable time of 3:02:20

The London Mini Marathon
Sunday 3rd October.
The Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon is the official British road championships for young athletes aged between 11 and 17 years.
The course takes place over the final miles of the London Marathon course, stretching from Old Billingsgate to The Mall.
Representing their schools were 4 Ilford AC Youngsters who all put in superb performances on the 2.6k course.
Joseph Grange finished 13th overall and 3rd U15 in a time of 8:13
Ryan Holeyman finished 92nd overall and 33rd U17 in a time of 8:36
Ronan Edwards finished 105th overall and 46th U17 in a time of 8:47

Matthew Hick finished 144th overall and 82nd U17 in a time of 9:26

Lullingstone 10K
Sunday 17th  October

Hosted by Eynsford Running Club [ERC] the Lullingstone 10K is a hilly off road two lap course with an elevation gain of over 800 feet. Parts of the course feature some enticing names such as: DeFrib Hill, Leg Stretcher, Root 66 (tree roots), Death Drop and Ankle Break Alley. 

Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham took on the course which he found tough going just 2 weeks after competing in the London Marathon. Despite the challenging course he finished in a time of 1:14:13 placing him 117th on the day and 9th VM60

 

  Press Report 12th October 2021  

Oct 112021
 
Manchester Marathon / Half Marathon
Sunday 10th October

Three runners from Ilford AC travelled North to take part in the Manchester Full and Half Marathons. The Marathon, the 2nd largest in the country, started and finished outside Old Trafford Cricket Ground and is run over a fast course. Carlie Qirem represented the club in this event and kept to her plan of running just inside of 8 minutes a mile. The even paced approach was successful as she passed 1306 other competitors between 10km and the finish setting a new personal best time, by over 13 minutes,  of 3 hrs 26 minutes 22 seconds, finishing 1893th out of a field of 13850 finishers, and was 136th female to finish. This performance moved her up to 10th in the Ilford all time female marathon rankings.

In the half marathon Julia Galea had a good race just  one week after running the London Marathon, to record 2hrs 06 mins 40 secs for 6th in the F65 age category. Club endurance coach Rob Sargent also took part finishing in 2 hrs 03mins 47 secs.


Eden Marathon
Cornwall
Sunday 10th October

Cornwall’s biggest running event, the Eden Marathon and Half-Marathon took place in glorious sunshine on Sunday.

Ilford AC’s Diarmuid Mac Donnell decided to tackle the Cornish challenge having had to defer his place for the Chicago marathon taking place on the same day.

Starting and ending at the Eden Project the race is multi-terrain run over a very undulating and very scenic course. Having started off at a steady pace he managed to work his way up through the pack picking off pacesetters as the hills took their toll. Given the terrain a fast time was never on and he eventually crossed the line with a chip time of 3.42 finishing in 14th place out of 209 finishers.
In true Cornish tradition, the post race refreshment consisted of a complimentary pasty and ale.

Tiptree 10 Miles
Sunday 10th October

On Sunday A Trio of Ilford AC Athletes travelled to North Essex for the Annual Tiptree 10 Miles Road Race achieving some outstanding performances.

First Home for the Club was Terry Knightley in 13th Position for 63 Minutes and 57 Seconds.
Terry’s time smashed Ilfords V60 Ten mile record, which has stood for 40 years, by 2 Minutes and 8 Seconds.
Terry also Won The 1st Male Veteran Over 60 Trophy 

Next Home and destroying her own Personal Best by 8 Minutes and 27 Seconds was Alison Sale in 111th position out of 255 Athletes with 83 Minutes and 33 Seconds.

Frieda Keane completed the Ilford trio finishing just outside her personal best in 97 Minutes and 20 Seconds in 197th place.

   

Kosice Peace Marathon
Slovakia
Sunday 10th October

The 93rd edition of the oldest marathon in Europe was held this weekend in Slovakia.
Included in the starting lineup was Ilfords Zuzana Sinalova who is currently living back in Slovakia for the time being. Despite a lay off with injury hampering her training Zuzana was delighted with her finish time of 3:49:20

Adidas City Runs
Emirates Stadium

Sunday 10th October

Meanwhile, closer to home, a trio of Ilfords finest athletes travelled up to North London for the Adidas City Run. The race started outside Arsenal’s Emirates stadium and took in a mile long course which included a full lap of the stadium before heading on to local streets and back. The race was a One hour run with runners trying to complete as many mile laps as they could within the hour with countdown clocks lining the route.
Dennis Briggs completed most miles of the Ilford trio clocking over 8.5 laps, followed by Hannah Sheikh with over 7.5 and Billy Green who completed just over 7 laps
Following the race the runners were invited to collect their medals pitchside inside the stadium.
There was also a photo opportunity with Arsenal’s mascot Gunnersaurus who made national headlines during the pandemic when Arsenal made him redundant, citing the financial implications of Covid. After a huge outcry the football club backtracked and saved the Dinosaur from extinction.

 

 

  Press Report 5th October 2021  

Oct 052021
 

London Marathon
Sunday 3 October

The London Marathon returned to the streets of London after an absence of 2 1/2 years and Ilford AC had 8 runners among the 38500 finishers and a small army of volunteers handing out Lucozade at Mile 9..

Sam Rahman had a steady controlled run after having some foot problems in his build up, reaching half way in 1 hour 29 minutes 57 seconds and finishing the 26 miles in 3 hours 3 minutes and 53 seconds.
Gaye young was the next Ilford runner home on her debut over the classic distance in 3 hrs 56mins 20 secs, which gave her the ‘Good for Age’ qualification for the F50 grouping for next year’s race.
Also reaching this qualification mark was Julia Galea with 4hrs 36 mins 07 secs in the F65 category.   

Alan Pearl had a steady run for 4:01:48 with Tony Young not far behind on 4:11:12 for a new PB over the distance.

Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham was very pleased with his time of 4:56:34 which was a 34 minute improvement on his previous run over the distance for last years ‘virtual’ London Marathon.

Lovedip Dhaliwal 5.38.55 and Mandeep Bassi 5.42.56 both enjoyed their debut runs at the London Marathon to complete the Ilford AC lineup. 

 

Essex County Relays
Saturday 2 October
Weald Country Park

With races coming thick and fast and the London Marathon the following day, Ilford AC were still able to field 2 Senior men’s and 3 Senior Ladies teams at Weald Country Park.
Constant heavy rain on the day, added to a hilly muddy course contributed to what many described as a traditional cross country race after an unseasonably warm and dry start to the cross country season in recent weeks.

Although finishing outside the medal positions all Ilford AC runners did themselves proud in this prestigious County cross country event with all 5 teams finishing in the Top 20 of their respective categories.

Teams of 3 ladies were Jordan Hinds, Carlie Qirem, Anna Crawley, Breege Nordin, Alison Sale, Sharon Honey, Frieda Keane, Pramila Monro and Diane Crisp. The 2 men’s teams of 4 were John Crawley, Rhys Edwards, Dylan Harrod, Seb Parris, Dennis Briggs, Adam Coals, Steve Crane and Neil Crisp.

Chingford League
Saturday 2 October
Central Park, Dagenham

The second fixture of the winter’s Chingford League was held over a 5 mile course in Central Park Dagenham of grass and on trails in the adjoining EastbrookEnd Country Park.
Ilford Ac again fielded a depleted squad due to fixture clashes in a busy autumn schedule.

There was an excellent run from Gary Coombes as he stormed home in 3rd spot in 28 mins 33 secs. Ed Skinner came home 127th in 43m 001s, Rob Sargent 144th in 45m 06s and Trevor Robinson with 47m 26s in 158th.

Chelmsford Half Marathon
Sunday 3rd October
Despite being on the same day as the London Marathon, the Chelmsford Half Marathon still managed to attract over 1,000 runners.
The race was part of the Essex road running championships and was held in Central Park Chelmsford.
Competing against a strong field Danny Holeyman ran a PB to finish in 1:22:12 which placed him 10th on the day and 3rd V40.

  Press Report 28th September 2021  

Sep 282021
 

Essex League
Hockley
Saturday 27 September

The Essex Cross Country League for this winter made an early start last Saturday at Hockley. Ilford Ac were well represented and had another good afternoon of racing. Due to a lack of available officials no times were recorded. The course was on grassland land and trials with a challenging hill complex of three climbs on each lap.

The ladies race was over2 laps and 6km and the Ilford team were led home by Carlie Qirem, who is in good form ahead of the Manchester Marathon in two weeks, in 19th with Gaye Young who will be action in the London Marathon next weekend, next home in 27th and 3rd in the F50 category.
Alison Sale came home 32nd and placed 2nd in the F55 grouping. Hannah Sheikh in 35th and Frieda Keane in 66th completed the ladies team. Combined their performance was the 3rd best on the day, with the team topping the Div 2 table.

The senior men raced over 8.5km with 2 laps and a loop which missed out the hills with Gary Coombes leading the way for the Ilford side in 13th spot and 2nd in the M45 age group. The ever-reliable Malcolm Muir was next over the line in 30th with Seb Parris 44th and Danny Holeyman 48th.  Terry Knightley put in a good performance to lead the M60 category in 65th. Steve Crane completed the scorers for the club placing 87th. The team started the season in 5th place in the first division.

Supporting the scoring 6 with good performances were: Dennis Briggs 90th Adam Coals 91st Steve Cheal 134th and Rob Sargent 140th

Ilford also had several junior athletes in action. In the Boy under 15 4.5km race Samuel Crane placed 20th while in the boys under 17 6km event Ryan Holeyman came home 15th and Ronan Edwards was 16th.

Valentines Park 5km (ELvIS)
Ilford
Sunday 28 September

The concluding race of the 2021 ELvis series was held on a flat fast course in Ilford’s Valentines park. With the Essex League the previous day and the league positions already decided Ilford fielded a smaller team than normal.

Malcolm Muir was in action again with a gutsy run placing 5th in 17mins 47 secs taking the M4 category trophy with Steve Philcox one place behind in 17m 58s which won him the M50 category trophy. Next home and completing a trio of category winners was Terry Knightley with a M60 age group victory, which completed a clean sweep of winning the M60 title in all 7 ELVIS races this season, in 12th spot in 19mins 14 secs. 
Dennis Briggs, another who was racing twice in 2 days was 33rd in 20m 42s. and  Tony Young recorded 22mins 12 secs in 51st with Phil Davies finishing 56th in 22m 16s.
On the day the men’s team placed 3rd.

Sameena Ahmed led the Ilford ladies in 3rd place with 19m 52s. Jordan Hinds recorded a personal best of 20m 05s in 5th and Anna Crawley was the third member of the team in the top 10 with 21m 16s for 9th. Bree Nordin came home 14th lady in 22m 37s with Alison Sale 23rd with 24m 36s. Closing the team was Carol Muir with 27m 41s for 41st female. In this match the ladies were second but won the season long league with the men second in their competition.

Other Ilford runners in action: Bradley Brown (91  24.55)  Pathrose Louis (118  26.24)  Frieda Keane (147  28.18)  Julie Gillender (179  33.20) Raj Katechia (172  31.45)  Kim Baxter (189  37.00)

Open Meeting
Bromley
Wednesday 22nd  September

Competing in her last track race of the season last Wednesday, Jordan Hinds produced a fantastic pb over 800m.  Jordan’s recent races had suggested a pb was on the cards, she was in the second heat at Bromley, and was well positioned at the bell reached in 66/67. Along the back straight she moved into the lead and pushed for home, a fast finishing Blackheath athlete just pipped her on the line, but her reward was a time of 2.17.58, a pb by nearly 3 seconds 


Hackney Half / Lee Valley Half

Ilford also had 3 runners competing in Half Marathons at the weekend, all putting in very good performances.

Zuzana Sinalova traveled back from Slovakia where she is now living after many years as an Ilford runner to run 1:42:28 in the Hackney Half Marathon. Also running at Hackney  was Mandy Reid who ran a PB for the distance in 2:16:21, whilst at the Lee Valley Velo Park Josnara Uddin ran the Half Marathon in a time of 2:27:55

Also at Hackney, as part of the running festival a 5k race was held. Amin Koikai of Ilford, ran a very impressive 16:14 to place in 3rd position and is in tremendous form for next week’s London Marathon.

  Press Report 21st September 2021  

Sep 212021
 

Chingford League 5k
Redbridge Cycle Track
18th September 2001

 

Because of a packed race diary Ilford AC sent a small squad of 5 runners to the Redbridge Cycle track for the first race of the new season in the Chingford League.

In the U17 men’s race Ronan Edwards impressed to take 1st place in a time of 19:48.

In the women’s race Breege Nordin placed 30th and 2nd W60 in a time of 22:58

The Senior men’s race saw Gary Coombes place 10th and 3rd M40 in a time of 17:18, John Crawley placed 38th in a time of 19:24 and Trevor Robinson was 124th in a time of 29:25

Before the race ILFORD AC were awarded shields for winning both the men’s and ladies 2nd Division titles last year, earning them promotion to Division 1.

 

Pleshey Half Marathon (incorporating the Essex Champs)
Pleshey
19th September 2001

 

The Essex Championship were once again staged in conjunction with the Pleshey Half Marathon.

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 though a successful day for Ilford AC with the club winning EIGHT county medals and runners setting 3 new personal bests for the distance.

Gary Coombes led the way for the Ilford team with an excellent 5th place in 1hr 15 mins 49 secs, the performance winning him Essex Gold in the M40 age group and a new personal best at the distance.
Backing him up were the ever-reliable Malcolm Muir in 16th place in 1hr 21 mins 17 secs and Danny Holeyman in 25th place in 1 hr 24 mins 20 secs.
The three combined to win an Essex Silver medal in the Male team prize.

Just one place behind Danny was Sam Rahman in a time of 1 hr 24 mins 42 secs.
Coming in for 37th place was Terry Knightley in a time of 1 hr 27 mins 21 secs which not only earned him a Gold Essex Medal in the M60 category it also broke his own Ilford AC all-time Half Marathon M60 record. Remarkably this was Terrys 64th Essex County Medal award.

Backing the team up were Dennis Briggs 58th 1:33:47, Stephen Crane 73rd 1:37:45 and Ray ‘sparra’ Everingham 208th 2:13:07

Leading the lady’s home with an excellent run for 47th place was Sameena Ahmed in a time of 1 hr 29 mins 11 secs which earned her an Essex Silver Medal in the FV40 category and was a new personal best over the distance. Also setting a new PB over the distance was Carlie Qirem who had a great race to finish 68th in 1:36:59. Third lady home was Breege Nordin winning herself a Gold Essex Medal in the FV60 category to place 90th in a team of 1:41:25. Just like the mens team, the ladies combined to win a team Silver Essex County Medal.

Gaye Young ran a great race to finish 106th in 1:44:49, followed by Carol Muir in 205th in 2:11:47 for a bronze medal in the FV55 cat. Julia Galea in 207th in 2:13:55 also gaining herself a bronze medal in the FV60 cat. And Pramila Monro in 235th in a time of 2:22:50.

An excellent day out for the team with plenty of medals to show for their efforts.

 

British Masters 10,000m Championships
Jarrow
19th September 2021

Tony Young travelled up to compete in the British Masters at Jarrow on the track.

In a competitive field Tony was pleased with his seasons best time of 47 mins 19.77 seconds to finish in 12th place