The Essex 6 – 12 stage relays are held every July in various Essex locations, however as with many races this year the event, although cancelled as a mass participation event, went ahead as a virtual event meaning Ilford AC could once again put themselves up against the best runners Essex had to offer

The relay consists of long legs at 5 miles, and short legs of 5k.
A scoring men’s team had to have 6 runners going long and 6 going short, whilst the ladies scoring team consisted of 2 on the long leg and 4 on the short leg.

Ilford AC entered 2 men’s teams and 3 ladies’ teams. The run could be done any time over a 3 day period 2^nd – 4^th July, although a few runners competed in small handicapped groups over Barking Park on the 4^th to recreate a race atmosphere.
Runners then submitted their times to the organisers via either Strava or Garmin apps.

Ilford Ladies ‘A’ team were led home in the short leg by Carlie Qirem 128^th 21:24 supported by Jordan Hinds 131st 21:51, Zuzana Sinalova 133rd 21:53 and Breege Nordin 141st in 22:34.
Breege was also 1^st FW60 in the competition.
In the long legs team captain on the day Sameena Ahmed led the Ilford ladies team home in 84^th for 33:16, a time which placed her 1^st W40. She was supported by Amy Bird 107^th in 37:01.
The ‘A’ team finished 8^th in the competition.

The ladies ‘B’ team had Nadia Crellin first back in the short leg in 171^st place for 24:54 supported by Dianne Crisp 173^rd 25:14, Mandeep Bassi 187^th 29:16 and Frieda Keane 189^th in 29:47.
The long leg saw a magnificent run by Alison Sale lead the team home in 124^th place in 40:42 which placed her 3^rd in her age category in the competition. She was backed up by an equally impressive Mandy Reid in 134^th place in 45:35
The ‘B’ team finished 14^th in the competition.

Impressively the ladies put together a ‘C’ team which was led home in the 5k leg by Pramila Monro 190^th in 30:33 well backed up by Lovedip Dhaliwal 193^rd 31:01, Brennie Gabbidon 194^th 31:25 and Wendy Everingham 196^th 36:38.
The long leg had Julia Galea leading the way in 138^th place for 49:34 backed up by Karen Kufuor 141^st in 51:51.
Also running, and just 2 seconds outside making the team was Launa Broadley in 142^nd place for 51:53
The ‘C’ team finished 17^th on the day

In the men’s category  Ilford put out 2 strong teams.
In the ‘A’ team Mungo Prior lead the team home in the 5k leg finishing 10^th overall and first U20 male in a very impressive time of 16:45. Mungo was supported by team and track mates Bradley Deacon and Jak Wright finishing in 17^th and 25^th in the competition with times of 17:01 and 17:17. Bradley was 3^rd U17M and Jak 4^th in the same category. Gary Coombes recorded an exact same time of 17:17 to finish joint 3^rd remarkably Amin Koikai and Malcolm Muir both also recorded the same time of 17:31 to finish joint 35^th to complete the 5k leg of the course.
There were some spectacular times recorded in the longer 5m leg for the ‘A’ team
Ahmed Abdulle led the way in 5^th place and 3^rd Senior male in a time of 25:04 backed up by Blair McWhirter in 8^th place for 25:59 and Tom Gardner in 18^th place for 26:59. 4^th place went to mens captain on the day Paul Grange who finished in 23^rd place and first M40 in a time of 27:19 with 5^th going to Aaron Samuel who was 1^st U17m and 26^th overall in a time of 27:28. The team was completed by Alex Richards who was 32^nd on the day in a time of 28:10.
The men’s ‘A’ team finished 3^rd in the competition.

The ‘B’ team was led home on the short leg by Farris Patel 41^st in 17:47, closely followed by father and son team Ryan and Danny Holeyman. Ryan was 44^th and 2^nd U15 on the day in 17:53 grabbing bragging rights over dad Danny who finished in 18:13 for 56^th place. Next home was a very impressive run from 13-year-old Joseph Grange in 63th place in 18:35 which also gave him 2^nd place in his category. The 5k leg of the team was completed by Oscar Rubio 65^th 18:37 and Julian Fabian 82^nd in 19:27.
The long leg was led home by John Crawley in 69^th place for 32:11, backed up by Seb Parris 77^th 32:37 and George Marshall Childs in 98^th place for 35:24. George placed 2^nd U17M which remarkably gave Ilford AC 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th placings in the U17M category. 4^th home in the long leg was Adam Coals 102^nd 35:45, 5^th was Jim Tilbrook finishing 3^rd in his age group for 124^th place in 40:25 and completing the team was Adnan Karim in 128^th place for 44:12.
The men’s ‘B’ team placed 12^th in the competition.

Ilford had several other runners competing for the males but were unable to make up a 3^rd team of 6 No 5K and 6 No 5-mile entrants. These included:-
Long leg – Satha Alaga 133^rd and 2^nd M60 (on his 60^th Birthday) in 45:25
Short leg – Matthew Hick 93^rd 19:50, Phil Davies 93^rd and also 19:50, Simeon Balson 96^th 19:59, James Rigby 107^th 20:26, Diarmuird MacDonnell 115^th 20:56, Dennis Briggs 121^st 21:19, Anthony Young 123^rd 21:23, Cliff Warren 137^th 22:21, Trevor Robinson 163^rd 24:00 and Sparra Everingham 188^th 29:46

However, as Ilford had a further 6 runners in the short leg they were able to score a 3^rd team in the separate ‘distance categories.
In these categories the 5k Ilford men’s teams finished 6^th, 12^th and 14^th whilst the men’s 5m teams finished 2^nd and 16^th.
For the ladies the 5k teams finished 8^th, 16^th and 18^th whilst the 5m teams finished 5^th, 14^th and 17^th.

In all a very impressive turnout and performance by Ilford AC which shows how despite a difficult few months for the most part when athletes could only train alone, and even now when we are restricted to maximum groups of 6, the team has stuck together and kept their resolve and love of the sport and more importantly the club.
Well done to all involved.