Press Report 10th September 2019  

Sep 102019
 

Woodford graded open meeting
Ashford playing fields
3rd September 2019

Ideal conditions greeted the team at the final graded track meet in Woodford. 
A large number of athletes took to the track over the course of the evening with Ilford AC being well represented, especially in the 3000m where they took 7,8,9 and 14th place.
Sam Rahman was happy to run the mile race in 4.57 (3rd place) doubling up and running 10.04 in the 3,000 metres for 7th place.
Seb Parris also doubled up race walking 3000m in 16 minutes flat for 4th place and then gaining a new pb of 10.11 in the 3000m for 9th.  Seb chased Steve Philcox most of the way pushing him to a seasons best of 10.08 (8th place) getting in front of him with 2 laps to go and forcing Steve to sprint the last 600 metres to just pip him to 8th! 
Diarmuid Mac Donnell also ran in the 3,000 metres finishing strong in 10.43 for 14th place.  Stuart Bennett also competed on the night in the 3000m race walk finishing in a very good 18.39.  He also received the Woodford walking series team winners trophy for Ilford on a very successful athletic evening.

Victoria Park 10k
7th September 2019

Anna Crawley continued her magnificent form this season, continuing going from strength to strength,  with a stunning PB at Victoria Park last Saturday.
Going in to the race Anna’s previous 10k PB of 51:02 was always going to be under threat, judging on recent performances.

Not only did Anna beat this, she took over 8 minutes off of it to finish in a time of 42:50, which placed her second female on the day.

Great north run
Newcastle
8th Sept 2019

43,000 runners attempted the 13.1 mile event, which stretches from Newcastle to South Shields.  Among the celebrities taking part were footballer Michael Carrick, and eventual winner Mo Farah.
Ilford AC put forward its own celebrity, 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 48 mins 37 secs which he was very pleased with.

 

European Masters athletics champs
Venice
5th – 15th September 2019

The 21st European masters athletics championships are being held in lido near Jesolo, next to Venice on the Adriatic coast.
Rob Sargent of ilford AC took part in his first event on Sunday 8th September at Fisherman’s park in Caorle further along the coast. The 4km cross-country race was over 2 lap twisty grassland course and Rob was pleased to finish in 19 mins 58 secs for 29th in the M65 category, the 4th British runner home.

 

  Press Report 3rd September – Road, Cross Country and Race walk  

Sep 032019
 

ROAD AND CROSS COUNTRY REPORT

Last Friday of the Month 5km
Hyde Park
Friday 30 August

Three runners from Ilford AC were among the entrants for this popular lunch time run in London’s Hyde park. This a new two lap course was used in the Park which was busy with tourists enjoying the warm sunshine, First home from Ilford was Adam Coals in 92nd place with 20 mins 37 secs, while Club endurance coach Rob Sargent recorded his fastest time this year of 26 mins 36 secs for 219th. For the Ilford ladies Julia Galea was placed 2nd in the F60 category and 236th overall with 28 mins 56 secs.

In today’s day and age where races can be entered on-line months in advance, it is not uncommon for a runner to find he has booked 2 races in a week. 2 races on the same weekend a little less common but not unheard of.
Club Captain Billy Green however surpassed this when he realised that he had booked THREE races this weekend, Saturday morning and afternoon followed by one on Sunday.

The weekend kicked off at 10am with…

Spitfire 10k
RAF Museum Hendon
Saturday 31st August

The Spitfire 10K is held to commemorate the Battle of Britain and all the men and women who defended Britain’s skies during the summer of 1940, with all the runners wearing the name of a Battle of Britain pilot with their race number.
The race takes runners around the historic London aerodrome in Colindale, out onto local streets before finishing through the museum past the Spitfire, through Hangar 1 and under the beautiful Short Sunderland Flying boat, before crossing the finish line.
Billy recorded a time of 50:35 for 114th place in a field of over 700 runners.

 

After a quick trip home to change, Billy made the journey up to Bedford for the 5:30pm race….

Bedford Twilight 10k
Priory Country Park Bedford
Saturday 31st August

The Bedford Twilight 10k is part of the yearly Bedford running festival which takes place over 3 days, incorporating the 5k, 10k and Half Marathon distances.

Billy’s aim was to beat his time earlier in the day, which he not only did but he also recorded a PB time of 46:53, beating his previous PB by 67 seconds over the 10k distance.

 

On to Sunday…..

 

The Essex Way – 10 Stage Relay Event
Epping Station to Harwich Lighthouse
Sunday 1st September 

Ilford AC had 10 hardy runners flying the flag for the Club in the iconic 31st running of The Essex Way. 

This is one of the County’s truly inspirational and premier events, with 81 teams from clubs from all over the county and beyond racing on the ancient trails and footpaths which make up the 82 miles of the historic Essex Way that runs from Epping Station to Harwich Old Lighthouse.

Gary Coombes and Mandeep Bassi, making her Essex Way debut, duly set off from Epping Station at 8am on Sunday morning to represent Ilford on Leg 1 finishing 7.5 miles later at Chipping Ongar finishing 3rd and 72nd.

Leg 2 saw Stevie Philcox run the 9.5 miles to Good Easter finishing 3rd

Leg 3 had Alison Sale and Freida Keane  running another 9.5 miles to Little Leighs finishing 60th and 75th.

Leg 4 was Dennis Briggs running the 10.1 miles to Cressing Church finishing 25th.

Unfortunately, despite getting 38 runners out at Barking last week Ilford were unable to field any runners in legs 5-7, although a few of our usual candidates made the trip to Ashford to compete on the track for the club.

Leg 8 saw Billy Green and Sharon Honey run the 8 miles to Bradfield in 50th and 53rd place.

Leg 9 saw Mandy Reid, appearing for the first time in Ilford AC colours, take on the 6 miles to Ramsey in leg 9 finishing in 48th place.

Fittingly it was left to the clubs President Nicola Hopkinson to take on the 5.5 miles to Harwich lighthouse, finishing in 38th place to culminate an enjoyable days running.

The final results saw Ilfords ‘A’ squad finishing a very credible 36th out of 81 teams on the day with the B squad finishing in 52nd place 

The day finished with a few of the runners who did the later legs, along with Robin Davies, Gaye Young, Tony Nixon and Catherine Green  who assisted and supported throughout the day, have a traditional fish and chip supper near the seafront.

 

Maidenhead Half Marathon
Sunday 1st September

Another Ilford runner to be selected to run for England at the weekend was Ilford Vet Paul Holloway, who was invited to run as part of the England Masters team at the Maidenhead Half Marathon.
Having qualified by right through one of three qualifying races earlier in the year competition to make the team was tough, however Paul was one of just 150 England Masters selected from the entire country for the event.
Despite the warm and humid conditions Paul did Ilford AC Proud in his England vest, finishing in a time of 1:21:17 placing him 122nd in a field of almost 1500 runners.

 

Bedford Half Marathon.
Sunday 1st September

Sunday was day 3 of the Bedford Running festival, and after Billy’s 10k on Saturday it was the turn of Julia Galea to represent Ilford AC in the Half Marathon distance.
Starting and finishing in the beautiful location of Priory Park Julia was pleased with her time of 2:09:29 to complete her 4th Half Marathon of the year.

 

OTHER

In parkrun news Launa Broadley ran her 190th parkrun this weekend, which was her 190th at Velentines Park in Ilford and she finished…..190th!

 

RACE WALKING REPORT

 

LAST – BUT STILL WITH A TROPHY

 

Guernsey Church to Church Walk
Sunday 1st September

 

Only a small field contested Sunday’s annual traditional Guernsey Church-to-Church walk over a testing distance of 19.4 miles on a hot morning with a welcome breeze. 
Starting and finishing at St.Peter Port harbour, competitors toured the island. The precise distance is as the course passes every Parish Church on this holiday island.
Ilford’s sole entrant was the man to finish, 80 year old Ed Shillabeer. 
Afterwards, organiser Rob Elliott said, “There’s no stopping this man. Ed has won this event 4 times with a best of 2.40.58 but continues to return to walk on one of his favourite course.  His time this year was over 2 hours slower and was a struggle and comes only weeks after walking 68 miles in 20 hours in the Isle Of Man. Then he was straight to the airport to return home to be at work tomorrow morning.  A race walking legend”.
Although last in 4 hours 45 minutes and 42 seconds, Shillabeer won a trophy – awarded to the 1st veteran aged over 70.   Ironically this trophy was donated by Ilford AC, so it’s back in a Club member’s hands for the next 12 months!

 

APPEARING AT A RUGBY VENUE

 

Saturday afternoon saw Ilford AC members contest a London Inter-Club Challenge 5,000 metres walk on a track encircling the Saracens Rugby Union pitch at their Allianz Park home in Hendon. 
Despite being uncomfortably warm and humid there was nevertheless a breeze to provide some comfort for the field.  Steve Uttley felt tiredness in his legs as the race progressed, which he attributed to over-training during the week.  This cost him a couple of positions as he strode into a commendable 7th position, clocking 29 minutes and 8 seconds, just a few strides agead of Loughton’s in-form Melanie Peddle.  Ilford members enjoyed a good tussle for 12th &d 13th spots as Simon Morgan and Stuart Bennett were timed at 31.13 and 31.22 respectively. Morgan was highly delighted as he’d recorded a personal best (pb).

  Press Report 3rd September – TRACK  

Sep 032019
 

TRACK REPORT

SCVAC Final (Southern Counties Vets Athletic Club)
Ashford
Saturday 31st August

The Men’s Team travelled to Ashford on Sunday 1st September to compete in the Southern Counties Vets final having won the 4 league matches.

A magnificent team effort resulted in the team finishing third on the day.

The most successful athlete on the day was Paul Grange who won the 100m (B string), 200m (B string), 400m (A string) and 800m (A string) achieving PBs in the 100m and 400m.

Sam Malekout showed his versatility by competing in the 100m (A), 200m (A), High Jump, Pole Vault, Discus, Shot and Javelin M35 events. His positions were 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Team Manager Henry Ricketts matched the effort by covering a mixture of M50 and M35 events – 100m, 200m, High Jump, Discus, Shot, Javelin (all M50) plus Long Jump and Triple Jump (M35). He placed 4th, 4th, 4th, 5th, 2nd, 5th, 3rd and 5th respectively gaining a High Jump PB.

Roger Honey also contributed hugely competing in the M50 Pole Vault and Hammer as well as the M60 Long Jump, High Jump, Shot, Javelin and 100m where he placed 5th, 6th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 4th and 4th respectively.

Tom Gardner won the B string 400m and 800m and placed 3rd in the A string 3000m.

Cliff Warren finished 4th in the 400m and 2nd in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump in the M50 category.

David Butler came down to the M50 age group for the 3000m finishing 6th. In the M60 age group he placed 3rd in the 400m and 2nd in the 1500m.

Rob Sargent stepped in as a last minute athlete for the 800m in the M50 age group coming home 6th.

Pete Whiting competed as a M35 Hammer thrower where he finished 5th.

Malcolm Muir ran the A string 1500m to finish 6th and improved this placing in the B string 3000m for 2nd.

Seb Parris was the B string 1500m athlete finishing 5th with a PB and comfortably won the M35 walk over 2000m.

Rohan Alexander also stepped up to run the 1500m for 6th as M50.

Stuart Bennett competed as the M50 walker over 2000m and came home 3rd.

The 4 x 100m relay team of Cliff, Henry, Sam and Paul brought the baton home in 3rd despite a dubious start by the officials.

Sam was back again for the 3rd leg of the 4 x 400m relay joined by Tom, Malcolm and Paul and they were clear winners in the last event of the day.

Despite not being fit enough to run Andy Catton was also pivotal in ensuring events were covered.

The total of 207 points earned a great third place.

A huge thanks to all athletes who competed in the season helping the team to reach the final and to perform so admirably on the day. Also a big thank you to those who officiated and supported during the season.

  Press Report 27th August 2019  

Aug 272019
 

Barking Park 5km
Monday 26 August

The annual Barking Park 5km took place on a flat, fast course on a hot sunny Bank Holiday morning and it was a good day for the 38 entrants from Ilford AC.
The race was the 7th match in the ELvIS series and left the positions tight at the top.

There was a fine run from Paul Grange to lead the club home in the runners up spot in a new personal best time of  16 mins 08 secs. Supporting him were Tom Gardner in 5th in 16 mins 34 secs and Gary Coombes with 9th in a new best time of 17 mins 02 secs. Close behind in 11th was Sam Rahman with 17 mins 22 secs, his best time for 3 years. Paul Holloway came home 16th with 17 mins 34 secs, to win the M50 age grouping,  and Malcolm Muir closed the team with 17 mins 45 secs for 18th spot.
Ilford won the ELvIS match from Orion Harriers in 2nd and East London in third.
This result puts the club top of the men’s table for the summer with one match remaining.

Also in the top 20 were James Rigby with a personal best of 17 mins 43 secs and under 20 category runner Phil Ellul  with 17 mins 51 secs.
Seb Parris recorded 18 mins 13 secs in 28th, with Steve Philcox 31st in 18mins 33 secs and Diarmuid Mac Donnell recording 18 mins 40 secs in 34th.

Leading The Ilford ladies was Neringa Masiolionene who is the clubs 5th Olympian and only double Olympian representing Lithuania in the 2012 London & 2106 Rio Games, in the Women’s 20 Kilometres’ Walk. Neringa was making her running debut for the club, finishing a fine 4th in 19 mins 23 secs.
Next home was Anna Crawley with 21 mins 16secs in 11th and one place behind Carlie Qirem in 21 mins 31 secs who scored a personal best..
Bree Nordin once again took the F60 category trophy placing 17th with 22mins 19 secs.
Completing the scoring team was Nicola Hopkinson in 33rd recording 24 mins 35secs and Alison Sale in 210th place for 26 mins 13 seconds.
The team placed fourth in the match behind Eton Manor, Orion Harriers and East London runners. With one round of the competition left the Ilford team are in third place in the league. 

Also running well was another of the clubs under 20 prospects Jordan Hinds in 13th with 21 mins 36 secs,  Jenni Sheehan with 22 mins 19 secs and there was a personal best for Kim Baxter of 29 mins 35 secs, her first run under 30 minutes.

Also ran:  Terry Knightley (69  20.14) Rohan Alexander (89 20.41)  Alan Pearl (96 21.00) Dennis Briggs (110 21.49) Tony Young (140  22.59)Andy catton (158 23.35) Adnan Karim (165 24.00) Bradley Brown (177 24.39)  Ernie Forsyth (188 25.22) Alison Sale (210 26.13) Ray Everingham (229 27.15) Mandeep Bassi (247  27.46) Julia Galea ( 249 27.45) Sharon Honey (282 29.25) Carol Muir (292 30.31) Launa Broadley (294  30.42) Sheila Sinclair (301 32.58) Jim Huddart (303 33.04) Julie Gillender (311 33.52)

 

 

 

 

  Press Report 20th August 2019  

Aug 202019
 

Woodford Green Open
Woodford
Tuesday 13th August

It was a good night for Ilford Ac at the Woodford Green Open Meeting.
Krystle Balogun recorded a time of 27:07 in the 200m which placed her 4th on the night, whilst Jordan Hinds ran in the 800m recording 2:28:58 which gave her 3rd place and 1st U20 female.

There was a big field for the 3000m and both Diarmuid Mac Donnell and Dan Holeyman got into their running early and kept a steady pace to come home 13th and 14th respectively.
Diarmuid recorded 10 mins 34.54 secs , a new personal best by 17 seconds, while Dan better his personal best by over 20 seconds with 10 mins 38.97 secs.

Ilford had 3 athletes in the 3000m walk who all performed well. Steve Uttley placed 6th in 16:52, Rachel Lawless 10th in 19:04 and Lesley Morris 12th in 20:51

 

BMC Regional Meeting
Eltham
Wednesday 14th August

The following night Ilford endurance athletes were in action again, this time at the British Milers Club Regional Meeting at the Eltham track in South London.
Sam Rahman ran in heat 2 of the 5000m where he kept a constant pace until tiring slightly over the last 800m to record 17 mins08.19 secs, his best time of the season, to finish in 12th spot.

In race K of the 800m Ryan Holeyman, who is still in the under 15 age category, ran a well judged race.
He kept with the pacemaker to the bell and then took on the race to win the heat in 2 mins 19.95secs, breaking the 2.20 barrier for the first time.

Southern Athletics League
Ware
Saturday 17th August

 

IlFORD ACs Southern league team finished the season with a strong third position in the last league match at Ware on Saturday. This  meant the club ended the season in 13th position , which was our highest position for some time
Even though Ilford was missing many athletes due to holidays/other races, all Ilfords athletes did their bit to fill as many gaps in the timetable.

First event of the day was the Mens 400 hurdles, where  Wayne Hick made his normal yearly comeback to come 2nd in the A string in a time of 71 seconds. Jack Halil also came second in the B string. Jack also came 2nd in the Triple jump in a new PB of 11:03

In the Mens 100 Nat Senior came 4th in the A string and Fidunu Abidekun won the B string in 12.Nat also won the B string long jump and helped the 4 x 100 relay team to 2nd. Fidunu came 2nd in the High jump with 1.74 and won the B string Triple jump

In the mens 200m Jordan Akinpelu ran a storming bend and maintained his speed to the line to win in 23.6. However his best performance and the performance of the day was his 6:56 long jump. He also won the High jump and was part of the 4 x 100 relay team. Wanya Williams was third in the 200 and part of the relay team

One of the most competitive races of the day was the mens 800, where Ilford had 5 athletes competing. Aaron Samuels came 2nd in the 800 in 1.59, a personal best. Ahmed Abdulle also ran 1.59 and Alex Richards ran 2.00. Bradley Deacon ran 2.10 and Philip Ellul ran 2.14. Alex also won the 2000 steeplechase

In the mens 1500 Ilford ACs 2 athletes dominated the race. It was great to see Paul Grange and Jak Wright come home in 4 :15 and 4 :24 , in windy conditions, respectively. Paul came back later to help the mens 4 x 400 team win the last race of the day

In the mens 5000 Tom Gardner came home 2nd and Mungo Prior 2nd in the B string . New athlete from Spain ,Oscar Peris, who was running as a Non scorer ran a great time of 16:46

In the throws Nat Senior, Roger Honey and Sam malekout did all the throws between them and brought home lots of points. Sam won the shot putt, 4th in the discuss, 2nd in the javelin , 2nd in Pole vault and 3rd in the Hammer. He also ran the first leg of the winning 4 x 400 team

Nat came 4th in the Shot where as Roger came 2nd in Pole vault, 2nd in the discus and 4th in the Hammer

In the ladies, Ilford had 4 competing athletes but between them they did an amazing job. Krystle Balogun came 2nd in the 100 in 13.4, 2nd in the 200 in 28.0, 5th in the shot and discus.
Eshimu Massamba Gemima came 2nd in the 100 in 13.7 and won the 400 in 62.2

Jordan Hinds , getting better with every race , after her studies, came 2nd in the 800 in 2.27 and 5th in the 1500 in 5.34

Finally Nicola Hopkinson, who has gained so many points for Ilford this year as a Field judge in every match, also found time to do the long jump, shot putt, discus and the 3000m. A special thank you to Nicola for all her help and support

Another year comes to an end and Ilford team has improved on previous year, so roll on next year

 

Clacton 10k
Sunday 18th August

The Clacton 10k took part on Sunday as part of the annual Clacton Carnival.
Over 400 runners tackled the flat out and back course along the seafront, including Ilfords Julia Galea who was pleased with her time of 58:38 which placed her 147th and 2nd Female Vet 60