CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Hog Hill
Tuesday 5th November

Ilford AC joined the Chingford League officially this week, although runners have been running as ‘guests’ for a few years.

Today was Ilfords first run in the league and the ladies put on a great display on fireworks night with both entrants making their debut in club colours. Sam Ahmed finished 13th in the 5k race in a time of 21 mins 41 secs, and Lovedip Dhaliwal placing 118th in 31 mins 33 secs.
The men’s race also went with a bang with Paul Grange finishing 2nd in 16 mins 36 secs and Gary Coombes in 8th in 17th mins 23 secs although both runners ran for 2nd claim clubs having competed earlier in the season whilst the club were not members. 

First ‘official’ Ilford runners home were Adam Coals in 62nd place in 20 mins 55 secs and Andy Catton who placed 101st in a time of 23 mins 22 secs

 

STEBBING 10
Sunday 11 November

The Stebbing 10 took place over a rolling course from the picturesque village of Stebbing.
The race started just after 11 o’clock and a short Remembrance Sunday service. It was a good day for Ilford Ac with 5 Essex medals and 5 personal best times.

The race incorporated the Essex 10 mile championship and the Ilford AC challenge was headed by Gary Coombes who is in excellent form at the moment coming home in 5th place overall to win the M40 age category gold medal in the county event. His time of 55 mins 59 secs was a personal best. Also breaking the hour barrier was Malcolm Muir in 24th place in 59 mins 28 secs. Next home for the club was Steve Philcox in 40th, taking the bronze medal in the M50 age grouping with 62 mins 52 secs,  New recruit to the team Sameena Ahmed recorded 69 mins 30 secs for 6th lady and the silver medal in the F35 category. Terry Knightley crossed the line in 69 mins 36 secs in 89th, while Alan Pearl scored another personal best with 70 mins 17 secs in 97th winning the silver M60 category medal in the Essex competition. Another two Ilford men with new best times for the distance was Dennis Briggs with 72 mins 54 secs in 123rd and Tony Young in 185th with 79 mins 38 secs.

Bree Nordin won the clubs fifth county medal of the day with a bronze in the F55 age group finishing 150th in 76 mins 47 secs. There was also a personal best in the race for Alison Sale in 92 minutes exactly.

Andy Catton running his first 10 mile race for many years finished in 149th for 76 mins 44 secs, after which he had to make a quick change for his role as current Essex President to hand out the medals including 5 to Ilford club members

The rest of the Ilford squad, all running well were Rhoan Gabbidon (170  82.22) Steve Parker (231 83.57) Julia Galea (341 94.55) Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham (378 98:36)   Frieda Keane (379 99.02) Carol Muir (392 1.41.19) Brennie Gabbidon (499 2.09.23)

 

Regents Park 10k
Sunday 10th November

Rounding off a good week for new recruits to the club was Aaron Browne who finished in a magnificent 20th place in this picturesque race in a time of 40 minutes 21 seconds

 

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
Horseheath, Cambridge
Saturday 26 October

Last weekends Essex League cross country match doubled up as a qualifying opportunity for the Junior runners to represent Essex in the Southern inter counties on the 7th of December.
Ilford AC were very well represented across the age groups

U17 boys as usual performed outstandingly with Aaron Samuels winning by a sizable margin in 21:16 earning him top spot on the Essex team.
Jak Wright was the only other qualifying athlete on the day securing 5th in 22:25 with Bradley Deacon only 3 positions away from the required top 8 coming home in 11th position in 23:07 over the 6k distance

U15 boys regular scorer Ryan Holeyman was our first athlete home for 18th place in a competitive field in 15:23. Accompanying him was Jacob Emeagi in 19:13 for 41st place and Vitor Martins-Duraes in 19:18 for 42nd place for the 4k

Joseph Grange, running for the U13 boys in the 3k distance had his hopes of an Essex representative vest slip as he came home for 16th place in 11:58 while Lucas Emeagi ran an impressive 12:37 in his first ever XC race for 29th place.

Jordan Hinds was the club’s only representative in the U20 girls age group and ran a strong race in a competitive field for 20th place in 22.44 over 5k

Seniors

Ilford AC showed improved form from the first match with both senior teams finishing in higher positions in match 2.

The men were in good form with Ahmed Abdulle leading the team win a splendid victory. He took command of the race early on and went on to win by over 30 seconds in 26 mins 23 secs for the 8km course. He was supported by Tom Gardner in 21st with 29mins 10 secs with Mungo Prior, who is continuing to run well in his first year in the senior race, 1 place and 1 second behind. Next home was Paul Grange with 29mins 40 secs for 30th with the man in form Gary Coombes in 32nd with 29 mins 55 secs. which placed him second in the M45 category to finish. 

Completing the scorers was Seb Parris in 54th with 31mins 27 secs. The team placed third in the Division 1 match and moved up to 5th in the league.

The team had 11 runners in action with Dan Holeyman 85th with 32m 55s and Haydn Newland 101st in 35mins 11secs, Neil Crisp was one place behind him and Alan pearl 118th with 36mins 45 secs. Returning to the team after an absence of many years was Jim Tilbrook who came home 181st in 45m 5s.

Also running well on the difficult course were: Dennis Briggs (130  37.14) Andy Catton (137 37.47) Tony Young (135 40.33) Bradley Brown (164  41.35) Ernie Forsyth (170 43.31) and Trevor Robinson (176 44.48)

First for the Ilford ladies was Amy-Louise who came home 29th in 28 mins 36 secs for their 6km event. Bree Nordin was the first in the F60 class as she finished 52nd overall in 31 mins 01 secs. One place behind was Jenni Sheehan with 31 mins 12 secs and Nicola Hopkinson completed the scoring team in 75th with a time of 33 mins 34 secs.  the team improved to 9th in this match but remain 11th in the league table.

Sharon Honey ran well for 76th and 2nd in the F60 category with 33 mins 46 secs, while Dianne Crisp finished 84th with 35 mins 19 secs. Julia Galea came home 93rd in 37 mins 36 secs and Doris Gaga was one spot behind. Frieda Keane completed the Ilford line-up with 39 mins 40 secs for 104th

 

Chasing Pumpkins 10k
Epping Forest
Sunday 27th October

Chasing Pumpkins in aid of Havens Hospice was back for a second year.
An official chip-timed trail run, where the 10K course takes you through Epping Forest and around Higham’s Park Lake is multi terrain and recent rain made the course very muddy.
Alison Sale was Ilfords sole representative and was very pleased with her time of 53 mins 21 seconds which placed her in 8th place and first female home. 

 

Beachy head 10k
Eastbourne
Sunday 27th October

The Eastbourne Beachy Head 10k has grown from it’s introduction in 2013. It is popular for its route through the South Downs National Park countryside that offers breathtaking views, although the hills can be very challenging.
Two Ilford AC runners took part on Sunday, Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham and wife Wendy who was competing in her first ever Cross country race.

Both runners rose to the challenge and ran well on the difficult course with Sparra posting a time of 1 hr 8 mins and 38 seconds for 462nd place and wife Wendy finishing in 1 hr 24 mins and 48 secs for 742nd place

Essex Cross Country League
Thurrock
12th October 2019

JUNIOR REPORT

U13 Boys – 3k

Rain heralded the start of a new cross country season at One Tree Thurrock last Saturday.
For the first time in many years, Ilford fielded a team in the U13 boys race which was the second race of the day.  The four boys are very new to the sport and for three of them, it was their first cross country race. Joseph Grange led the Ilford charge and was up with leaders to begin with, Aaron Hick, James Thake and Lucas Emeagi made  more cautious starts. Joseph ended the race in 13th place, and was backed up by good runs from Aaron 20th and James 23rd. Lucas who is even newer to the group had a very good first race to come in 37th and the team finished a very good 5th place. 

U15 Boys – 4k

Next up were the U15’s who again contained 2 members who were making their debuts in Jacob Emeagi and Vitor Marten Manas. After breaking most of his Pb’s in the summer Ryan Holeyman was looking to have a good start to the cross country season, and he had excellent first race out finishing 13th, which is his highest League finishing position. After a low key summer Matthew Hick is on the comeback trail and finished a very good 18th. Jacob and Vitor were having their own private battle further down the field and were making their way past over athletes. Jacob ended ended up winning the battle and came in 41st with Vitor close behind in 43rd. The team finished a very good 6th place. 

U17 men – 6k

The U17’s followed, and although we failed to finish a team, there were some great performances. As expected, Aaron Samuel was up front from the beginning, and Jak Wright whilst Bradley Deacon also made positive starts. As is his way, Aaron just sat in until he felt the time was right and then just went away from the field for a great win. Jak hung it at the back of the leading group and gradually picked them off one by one, to come home a brilliant second place. Bradley  gets better every season and worked his way through the field for his best ever league finish of 8th place.
Despite the great performances the team finished 4th on the day for falling one short of a 4 men team.

SENIOR REPORT

Senior men – 8k

The first race of the Cross Country season saw 15 Ilford men take on the challenge of the 8k course, which was both muddy and slippery.
Leading the pack was Mungo Prior who has stepped up into the senior men’s category this season. Mungo had a great run and finished 20th in a time of 29:02, followed just 5 seconds and 2 places later by Paul Grange who’s 22nd place and time of 29:07 earned him a first place V40 on the day. Just 5 seconds and a place behind Paul was Tom Gardner in 29:12 for 23rd place.
There was just a short gap before Gary Coombes came home, continuing his fine form of late for 45th place in a time of 30:40. 5th place for Ilford was Paul Holloway in 64th place for 31:42, whilst the team of 6 was completed by Terry Knightly in 132nd place in a time of 36:16.

Undeserving of the phrase ‘and also ran’, as they all put in fine performances on the difficult course in wet conditions were Dennis Briggs 155th 38:02, Alan Pearl 165th 38:51, Andy Catton 168th 39:08, Tony Young 175th 39:54, Bradley Brown 192nd 42:11, Trevor Robinson 207th 45:44, Sparra Everingham 217th 50:47, Satha Alaga 220th 54:36 and James Huddart 224th 69:00 mins.
The men finished in 6th place overall, and 4th in the vets category 

Senior ladies – 6k

Ilford ladies managed to field a team on Saturday – just. A small but perfectly formed team of 4 took on the 6k challenge and all put in fine performances.
Leading the way, and continuing her fine season, was Carlie Qirem who finished in a fantastic 28th position in a time of 30:06.  Carlie was closely followed in 37th place in a time of 30:58 by Amy Loiuse who ran well on her first race back from injury.
Breege Nordin placed 3rd for the team in 53rd place in a time of 32:26, with Nicola Hopkinson completing the team of 4 in 85th place in a time of 35:48
The ladies finished in 10th place on the day.

Met xc league
Claybury park
12th October 2019

2 ilford lads took on the met league over at claybury park on Saturday.  
It rained all day and the course was the usual mud bath by the time the senior men’s race took place.  442 runners ploughed round 3 long laps of a classic claybury route. The conditions were no bother for ahmed abdulle who was running for his 2nd claim club woodford green and essex ladies. Sitting in 3rd place til the last loop, he pushed on with the leader eventually finishing 2nd in 25.41. A superb performance in a quality field. Also running was seb parris who enjoyed the conditions and flew round in 31.39 for 147th spot.

Tiptree 10
12th October 2019

The 36th running of the Tiptree 10 mile race took place over the traditional out and back fast course. Ilford Ac had six runners in the race. with over 400 finishers.

It was a great day for Gary Coombes who put in the best performance of his running career coming home runner up in a new personal best time of 56 mins 35 secs. From the start he quickly moved into second place and by 2 miles had settled in the position. keeping to a swift pace he reached half way in 27 mins 42 secs. He slowed slightly on the way back as the course as a few climbs and there was a gentle head wind. He pushed on through the last mile to cross the line 31 second clear of the third finisher.

Also having a good day was Dan Holeyman who also set a new best time for the distance of 63 mins 48 secs for 15th spot, while Julian Fabian raced the distance for the first time recording 69 mins 52 secs in 41st place.
Sharon Honey was the first Ilford lady back in 188th and 40th female with 87 mins 26 secs. Alison Sale was 95th in the female division with 94 mins 37 secs and Mandeep Bassi crossed the line 376th  overall and 134th female in 103 mins 24 secs.

Birmingham Half Marathon
12th October 2019

The Birmingham half-marathon was cut short as participants waited to start because of a “suspicious vehicle” on the route.
About 11,000 runners in the queue for the Great Birmingham Run were told that wet weather had forced organisers to reduce the distance by about a mile, but organisers later said that the changes were made after talking to police about a safety threat in the Cannon Hill Park area. The vehicle subsequently turned out to be safe, but the distance was actually cut short by 2 miles.
Whilst frustrating for Ilford Ac runner Frieda Keane, who ran with her daughter Clara, she is now able to boast of a PB in a 11.1m race, which she completed in a time of 1:49:48 whilst also completing her aim of finishing the race in a sub 2 hour time.
Despite the frustrations Frieda described the event as very well organised in the circumstances, which coming from a German is high praise indeed 🙂 

Oxford Half Marathon
12th October 2019

Much less drama, but equally bad weather greeted Ilford runner Brennie Latty in the Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday. Despite the rain Brennie had a great run, finishing with a PB of 2:49:12 as she starts her preparations for the London Marathon 2020, which she secured a place for last week.

Edmonton Run the River 10k
12th October 2019

Run the River 10k is a fast, beginner-friendly off road course, starting and finishing at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, running along the River Lee.
Julia Galea was Ilford’s sole runner, finishing 4th in her age category in a time of 58:29