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

 

 

  Press Report – 14th September 2021  

Sep 142021
 

TRACK

SCVAC (Southern Counties Vets Athletics club)
Lee Valley
6th September 2021

The Vets team travelled to a warm and sunny Lee Valley for the final match of the Vets Track and Field season.

Cliff Warren competing in the Triple Jump leapt to 9m 59 for first place. He followed this up with a 400m time of 66.09 to finish 7th in the race.

Tony Young achieved a personal best in the 1500m with a time of 6.02.48s to be the 4th V50. Rob Sargent finished in 7.08.60s again for 4th place in the V60 category.

Amin Koikai (V50) and Sam Rahman (V35) competed in the 3000m both finishing 1st in their age categories in times of 9.48.87s and 10.23.45s.

Henry Ricketts competing in field events threw 27m 31 in the V50 Javelin and 21m 39 in the V35 Discus for 4th and 3rd places respectively.

In the women’s match Barbara Higgins showed her multi event skills by competing in the Hammer (V50) 20m 72, Shot (V60) 5m 41, Javelin (V60) 10m 31 and 100m (V60) 18.64s which gave her the placings of 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd respectively.

Carlie Qirem and Gaye Young debuted on the track and as such recorded personal bests with times of 6.00.60s and 6.25.74s finishing 1st and 2nd in their age groups.

A huge thank you to all who competed this season and Clare Levey in her track official capacity. Next year should return to competitive matches where the men will be defending the Herts and North Middlesex title held over since 2019.

 

Essex 10000m Championship
Chelmsford
Wednesday 8 September

Ilford AC had a squad of 5 entered in the Essex 10000m track championship held at Chelmsford, four of whom had never run this event on the track before.

First home in 7th place with a strong run was Gary Coombes in 35mins 13.3secs to take the bronze medal in the M40 age category.

Malcom Muir, who had run the 25 lap race before, gave 100% to come home 9th in 36 mins 02.7 secs. Dan Holeyman and Steve Philcox ran in a group of 4 for most of the race with Holeyman recording 14th in 38mins 33.3 secs and Philcox one place behind in 38mins 36.5 to win the bronze medal in the M50 age group.

Sameena Ahmed was the club’s only female runner on the night and she ran a well controlled race to take the ladies championship breaking 40 minutes with 39 mins 57.3 secs. Sameena was also awarded a second gold medal as she also won the F40 category championship.

There were further medals for Ilford as Coombes and Muir combined to place second in the team championship and take home the silver.

Watford Open Meeting
8th September 2021

As the track season draws to a close and athletes are looking to get in their last few races of the year, a bunch of Ilford athletes made the journey to Watford for the last open meeting of the season. 

The first event was the 200m and Ayshah Lawrence in her second race of the season produced a season’s best time of 30.00 for 6th place.  Wanya Williams who is returning to racing had a good run, in heat 5 of the 200m placing 5th in 23.94. Best performance of the Ilford 200m runners was Oliver Blainey who not only won his heat, but set a pb of 23.61. 

Aleena Lawrence, won her heat of the 100m in a time just outside her best. Efemena Adjarho produced another fine performance clocking 13.17, and it must only be a matter of time before she breaks 13 seconds. Elijah Mayindu ran in the last heat and produced a time of 11.75. 

Jordan Hinds was the first of the 800m runners finishing 4th in a time of 2.21.05, which was her second fastest time ever. 
Dylan Harrod had spent the week in bed with a heavy cold and therefore his performance of 2.00.76 was excellent. This was the fifth time this season he has run under 2.01, and surely a sub 2.00 clocking will come soon. 

Bradley Deacon was next up and having broken 2 minutes in his last race, he was up for another sub 2 clocking; Bradley ran a well judged race and finished strongly to clock a pb of 1.58.77.
Farris Vakil was in the fastest race of the night, and after a mid season injury he is finally getting back to close to his best. He clocked his second fastest time ever of 1.54.26. 

After perfect conditions all night, the rain started just as Mungo Prior started his 3000m race, in a big field Mungo was positioned with a strong pack and was on pace for a sub 9 minute pace most of the way, however he lost a few seconds in the middle laps, but still ended with a fine pb of 9.03.71

 

Southern Athletics League
Thurrock
Saturday 11th September

After a long track season, the Southern athletics league held its last league match.
Many Ilford athletes were unavailable but the small team Ilford sent to Thurrock  had performed very well

In the Women’s races Krystle Balogun seems to be getting stronger and stronger and powered to a 100m and 200 m win. Her times were 12.98 and 26.88 respectively . Krystle has had a great season as usual , winning many points for the club and provides great support to our younger generation of sprinters

Backing her up in the sprints was Efe Adjarifo and Aleena Lawrence. Both came second in the 100 in 13.06 and 13.39 and Aleena also came second in the 200 in 29.04. Both girls , like Krystle have performed so well and competed in all of the league matches

The other female athlete was Jordan Hinds and actually Jordan has got stronger and fitter as the season has gone on and probably wishes the season had another month left. In the 800 Jordan took the race from the start and powered away from the field to run one of her best times ever of 2.21. With athletes around her I am sure she would have broken the 2.20 barrier. Jordan came back later in the 400 and once again run a great time of 62.58 for second position

In the men’s team , it was Ilfords Middle distance group who were able to perform well and score points across many events. In the 800 Farris Patel ran from the front to try and fellow Ilford athletes Dylan Harrod and Mungo Prior to sub 2 mins 800. Farris ended up with 1.59 but Dylan just missed out with 2.00.51 and Mungo 2.01. Both Farris and Dylan won their races and i am sure Mungo and Dylan will break the 2 mins barrier very soon

In the 400 Dylan ran very well for 53.90 for second and Oliver Blainey ran another personal best of 52.91 for second also . Oliver in his first year in athletics has come so far ina  short period of time with many pbs across 100,200 and 400 with so much more to come

In the 3000 Jak wright and Bradley Deacon both pushed from the start with the aim of breaking 9 mins. Even though both won their races they both just missed out with Jak winning on 9.02 and Brad in 9.09. Both have had great year of improvements

Brad came back fro the 1500 for 2nd in 4.18 and it was great to see Ryan Holeyman start getting back to running and performed very well for 3rd place and 4.48. With some tough training we will see Ryan back stronger than ever on the X country season

Special mention again must go to George Marshall Childs and Jeevakan Sivayogan , who did the majority of throws and jump events during the day, gaining many points for the club. Both even asked to do the 4 x 100 m where Ilford came 4th

Best event of the day was the last event of the day and the4 x 400  Mixed relay. Ilford put out an extremely strong team with Jak Wright taking the first leg and performed well to hand over to Jordan Hinds. Jordan ran a great 400 to keep Ilford in 2nd position. And hand over to Krystle who stormed round in sub 60 to put Ilford in the lead and then Farris brought the baton home first for a great Ilford win in the last event of the season.

The whole Ilford team of athletes, officials, parents and general supporters have been great all year and provide a great atmosphere for everybody. Well done Ilford AC

Eastern Young Athletics League
Basildon
Sunday 12th September 2021

Following the SAL final match, it was also the last Eastern Young Athletes League Match of the season. Ilford competes jointly with Orion and the setup has worked very well for both teams.

Some great performances from our Ilford athletes as usual across many events and age groups

First race for the Ilford Youngsters was the 800.
Aaron Hick ran well in 2.31 for 6th position and threw the Discuss 11 metres whilst also running the first leg of the 4x 100, where Ilford came 4th.

Ronan Edwards, who has recently joined, had a superb run, running a near 4 second personal best but coming 3rd in the u17s 800  in 2.10. He also ran the 400 in 58 seconds , as well as the Triple jump and 4 x100m

Joseph Grange ran against his Chelmsford rival in the1500 and it turned out to be one of the best races of the day. Joseph pushed with 600 to go to try and break the Chelmsford boy and it looked like it worked when the gap grew. However the Chelmsford Essex Champ responded to kick the last 300. Joseph hung onto him but was unable to beat him, however he ran a personal best of 4.26. Excellent running for a 14 year old

In the U15  1500 Samuel Crane is definitely getting stronger and stronger and ran 5.08 for 1500. Much more to come from Samual. Ryder Islam ran the u13 1500 and battled round for a personal best of 5.29. Ryder also did the Discus and threw 11 Metres

In the u17s 400 and 200 Oliver Blainey ran 53.4 for second and ran a stunning 200 m for 23.8 to win the race. Jacob Emeagi ran well in the u17 200 for 5th and ran the 4 x 100 and brother Lucas Emeagi came second in the U15s 300 and ran the last leg of the 4x 100 for 5th place

Finally Ryan Holeyman did the 1500m and ran much faster than the previous day and ran a great time of 4.38 for third pace

Once again all the Ilford Youngsters performed well across the season and the club are proud of all of you

 

U20 Inter counties Match
Horspath
Sunday 12th September 2021 

As a reward for his great season over 400m hurdles Rhys Ewards was called by Essex County, for the junior Inter Counties Match last weekend. 
In a high quality field Rhys ran his 4th 400 hurdles pb of the season in placing 4th in 62.35. 
Not content with just the hurdles Rhys then proceeded to  run the 800m where he came 3rd in a season’s best of 2.05.98.
When  you have done two what’s one more, Rhys stepped in again for the Triple jump, finishing second in a pb of 11.61

 

ROAD

 

Ingatestone 5
Sunday 12th September 2021 

There were 5 Ilford Ac runners in this long established race. 

The race takes place on a challenging course starting from the Anglos-European school in Willow Green, taking in Fryerning and a challenging Beggar Hill before heading back to the finish at the back of the school.

Best for the team was Steve Philcox in 13th spot with 31 mins 19 secs which placed him second in the M50 category title. Next home was Terry Knightley in 15th with 31 mins 47 secs, to claim yet another V60 1st place in an excellent season since racing returned.

Alison Sale was best for the ladies in 37th overall with 40 mins 32 secs and 1st place in the F50 grouping.
Pramila Monro ran a strong race finishing 54th with 47 mins 08 secs with Frieda Keane just 3 places behind in 47 mins 35 seconds. The strong ladies team combined to win the ladies team title on the day.

This charity race has strong links with Ilford AC being founded by Ilford Legend Howard Williams to raise money for Ingatestone Boys Club. Sadly Howard passed away in 2017, but nevertheless every year a willing team of Club volunteers keep Howard’s legacy by providing a team to administer the on the day entries and results service. Special mention therefore goes to the team of Martin Clarke, Carlie Qirem, Nicola Hopkinson, Esther Keane, Ernie Forsyth, Satha Alaga, Declan and Ethne Cullen, and Billy Green

Great North Run
Sunday 12th 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 was adapted and waves introduced for Covid measures

Ilford AC put forward its own Geordie, Great north run regular Anthony Young, racing in his native Newcastle.
On an unusually warm day (for the north!) Anthony recorded a time of 1 hr 41 mins 59 secs to record a new personal best for the distance.

 

Havering Half Marathon
Sunday 12th September 2021

Local mental health charity, Havering Mind, once again organised the 2nd running of the Havering Half Marathon.

Developed in partnership with Havering Council the route took in Ingrebourne Hill Park, Hornchurch Country Park, the suburban streets of Upminster before winding back along woodland trails next to the River Ingrebourne.

Two Ilford AC athletes took part this year, with both putting in excellent performances.
Danny Holeyman impressed with 7th place overall and grabbing the 3rd M40 title in a time of 1 hr 23mins and 55 seconds. Adam Coals was very pleased with his pace, finishing in 66th place in a time of 1 hr 44mins and 31 seconds

Richmond Half Marathon

Sunday 12th September 2021

The Richmond Half Marathon gives runners a chance to run in a World Heritage site – Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The race takes runners on a scenic tour of Richmond, one of London’s most appealing areas. It starts at Kew Botanical Gardens and finishes at Old Deer Park, via a scenic tour of Richmond Riverside and Ham House.
Out of over 2,000 finishers, Ilfords Paul Holloway put in an awesome sub 80 minute run to place 29th in a finish time of 1 hr 19mins 50 secs which placed him second V50 on the day and a time which means he qualifies for an England vest in his age group over the distance.

RACE WALKING

DYOS IN THE FRAME
On Saturday Ilford AC’s in-form Emma Dyos ventured to a Suffolk outpost to contest the annual Moulton Village Open 5 Miles walk on a testing out-and-back rural road course through countryside.  From the off Dyos made a determined effort to defend her winner’s trophy from the previous event in 2019, last year’s staging being cancelled owing to lockdown.  Dyos was closely followed by regular rival Melanie Peddle from near neighbours Loughton AC. Peddle “pressed the pedal” on the homeward stretch, passed Dyos and opened up a sufficient gap to break the tape in 45 minutes and 9 seconds with the Ilford athlete 2nd in 46.37.  Pick of Ilford’s walkers in the men’s race were Steve Uttley 5th and Simon Morgan 7th clocking 48.52 and 52.51 respectively in what was a high class field led home by Callum Wilkinson who’d raced in last month’s Tokyo Olympics.