Ware Cup
Loughton
Saturday 9^th December 2023

The Annual Ware Cup, hosted by Loughton AC was held at Roding Valley Recreation ground last Saturday. Following recent heavy rainfall the 8k course was very wet and muddy, and in some areas runners were running through puddles almost knee deep.
Despite the conditions Ilford AC had 7 athletes battling the course on the day.

In the ladies race Alison Sale led the team of 3 home in 19^th position with a time of 41 mins 48 secs. Frieda Keane was next home in 35^th position in 52:50, with the team completed by Launa Broadley coming home in 39^th position in 1 hour and 33 seconds.

The ladies finished in 6^th position on the day.

Seb Parris led the men home in 18^th place with a great run in the conditions in 32 mins 54 secs.
In 26^th position was Steve Chissell, coming home in 35 mins 33 secs followed by Tony Young in 43 mins 08 secs for 52^nd place. The team was completed by Jim Tilbrook in 61^st place in a time of 56 mins 01 secs.

The men’s team finished 5^th on the day.

Eton Manor won both the men’s and ladies races to win the Ware Cup.

Southend 5m Rudolph Race
Southend Seafront
Sunday 10^th December

Three members of Ilford AC took part with over 500 runners and athletes on Sunday in The Annual Southend 5 Miles Rudolph Race along Southend Seafront in cold conditions.
The Christmas themed event saw many entrants dressed as Santas and Elves !

Having Won The first edition of the race back in 2011, Terry Knightley this year finished in 18th position in 33minutes and 14 seconds to Win the Male Veteran Over 60 prize.

Next home was Female Veteran Over 50 Carol Muir in 53 Minutes exactly in 258th position.
Following her was Julie Gillender in 380th place in 56 minutes and 58 seconds for 22nd female veteran over 55.

All finishers received a Christmas medal and mince pie for their efforts !

Chingford League
Trent Park Barnet

It was a Cold and muddy Trent Park that hosted the 3rd race in the Chingford league series  also incorporating the North London X Country championships.
U13 athletes Barney Perkins and Khalif Ali produced excellent performances finishing in first and third places respectively over the extended 3Km distance. 

In a closely contested race Barney stayed in 2nd place before producing a strong sprint finish over the last 200m to claim  his first victory in the series having finished second in his previous 2 races.
Khalif Ali ran a very strong consistent race to hold off his rivals and finish in an excellent 3rd position . Khalif has finished 3rd position in all 3 of his Chingford league races so far this season .

In the U15 race Ryder Islam rose to the challenging conditions with a great run over the longer 4Km distance and finished in ninth position overall but second in the Chingford league competition, just behind his Trent Park rival.

Just 7 Seniors competed at this week’s fixture, but all gave good accounts of themselves over the challenging muddy 2 lap 7.7k course with several short climbs on each lap.

Gemma Ellender came home 8th in the ladies division 2 match in 36 mins 44 secs and Joanne Reeves in 11th with 38 mins 03 secs .
For the men, also competing in Division 2, Ilford’s first home was Steve Chissel in 32nd place in a time of 35 mins 08 secs, closely followed by  Bradley Brown in 35th in 35 mins 48 secs with Tony Young following in 63rd place in 42 mins 49 secs.
The squad was completed by Sean Costello 71st in 45 mins 03 secs and Jim Tilbrook 77th in 53 minutes exactly 

In the division 2 fixture the Ilford ladies and men both finished 7th

London XC Championships
Parliament Hill

On an overcast afternoon, Parliament Hill, the spiritual home of Cross Country running, was the host for this year’s London Cross Country Championships.
The venue is notorious for its long hills which more often than not get very muddy, and this year was no exception.

Ilford had 6 runners however who were up for the challenge.

First off were the ladies over a 6k course.
Carlie was first home in 31m 06 seconds, followed by Alison Sale in 155th place in 32m 19 seconds.

The men ran a 10.7k course and were led home by Seb Parris in 50m 07 seconds for 239th place. Next home was Danny Holeyman in 254th place in 51m 04 seconds.
Coming in on exactly the hour mark was Bradley Brown claiming 396th place.

As if the gruelling course wasn’t hard enough, Stephen Lacey took a wrong turn and ended up running an extra Kilometre before making it back in a time of 1 Hour 8 minutes and 57 seconds. 

CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Redbridge Cycle Circuit, Hainault

The latest round of the Chingford League was a 5km road race at the Redbridge Cycle Centre at Hog Hill Hainault. It is a hilly course, and another interesting feature of the race is that it is run in the dark in the evening.

The Juniors were the first to run over a shorter 2k course and our 4 runners all performed well.
In the U11 race, Arnav Rathi was 9^th in 7:51 and in the U13 race Barney Perkins was 2^nd in 6:47, Khalif Ali 3^rd in 6:49 and Elias Furreedan 16^th in 8:37.

The U15/17 race was run over the longer 5k course and again there were good performances by our runners. Sam Horsley finished in 1^st place in 16:31, with Ryder Islam coming home in 7^th place for 18:51

The Ilford AC Senior teams, who are competing in division 2 this season, put in another good set of performances in their matches.

The Ilford ladies won their event with 4 runners in the top ten and Jordan Hinds taking victory in an excellent time of 19 mins 38 secs.
Gemma Ellender is also running well now and came in 3^rd in 21 mins 23 secs with Carlie Qirem 6^th with 22mins 04 secs. Joanne Reeves finished 10^th in 22 mins 49 secs and Alison Sale 18^th with 24mins 19 secs. Julia Galea completed the scoring team and Launa Broadley (46^th 31:41) and Frieda Keane (48^th 32:08) were also in action.

The ladies are currently 3^rd in the league table.

Ilford had 13 runners in the men’s race with Sam Rahman leading the way in 7^th spot in 18 mins 25 secs. Josh Alder had another good race as he crossed the line 5 secs behind Rahman and Dan Holeyman was 17^th in 19 mins 38 secs. Joel Denning showed improved form finishing 24^th in 20 mins 35 secs. Recent recruit to the squad Tarik Qirem came home 31^st with 21 mins 47 secs, and Steve Crane rounded out the scoring team in 32^nd and 21 mins 46 secs

In the match the men finished 3^rd and are 2^nd in the division 2 table.

Also in action were:  Steve Horsley (37^th 22:06) Craig Livermore (38^th 22:09) Steve Lacey (39^th 22:13)  Tony Young (52^nd 24:17)  Sean Costello(59^th 26:05) Batnmanader Ramen (65^th 28:16) and Rob Sargent (68^th 30:25)

STEBBING 10 (Miles)

The Stebbing 10 took place over a rolling course from the picturesque village of Stebbing on an unseasonably mild November morning and is always held on Remembrance Sunday.

The race starts just after 11 o’clock and a short Remembrance Sunday service.
Ilford AC had 3 runners on the day, with 2 achieving Personal bests over the distance.

First home for the club, with a PB was Tarik Qirem in 85^th place in 1 hr 15m 05s, closely followed 5 places later by Carlie Qirem in 1hr 15m 20s.

Completing the team with the 2^nd PB of the day was Alison Sale who came home in 161^st place in a time of 1 hr 23m 17s

Elsewhere two newer members to the club were in action over the weekend.

Nick West crossed the Atlantic to run the New York City Marathon.
He found the bridges on the course challenging and suffered from cramp in the closing stages to finish in 4hrs 30 mins 35 secs, a new best time for the distance

While Jashim Uddin ran the half marathon at the Battersea Park Festival of Running in 1 hr 40 mins 40 secs for 239^th in his first race at the distance.