Press Report 9th December 2019  

Dec 092019
 

WARE CUP
Loughton
Saturday 7th December

The Annual Inter Club Ware Cup was held over the traditional 8km Cross country 3 lap course at the Roding Valley Country Park in Loughton.
Ilford Ac fielded 12 athletes and Steve Philcox led the way in 11th spot, and 2nd in the M50 category, in 32 mins 53 secs. Sam Rahman battled well for 13th with 33 mins 45 secs, while Dan Holeyman had a good run for 16th in 34 mins 19 secs. Diarmuid Mac Donnell came home 23rd in a time of 35 mins 20 secs. Alan Pearl was the first in the M60 age grouping to finish with 38 mins 09secs for 33rd overall.. Bree Nordin also was the first finisher in the FV60 category as she crossed the line as 7th lady in 40 mins 54 secs. 

In the team event Ilford placed 3rd behind Orion Harriers and Eton Manor.

The rest of the Ilford squad were: – Jim Tilbrook (53  45.00) Ernie Forsyth (64 45.36) Ed Skinner (66 46.29)  Rob Sargent (72 49.40) Doris Gaga (76 54.45) Jim Huddart  (77 60.21)

Five Mile Rudolph Run
Southend
Sunday 8th December

Five Ilford AC members battled it out on Sunday with gale-force winds and 628 other athletes at the 9th Annual Southend Five Miles Rudolph Run.

The Festive themed event had many runners dressed as Santa, Elves and Christmas Puddings on the open Seafront course and the first home for the club in 16th place and winning the First Veteran Over 55 Prize of a box of Quality Street was Terry Knightley in a time of 33 Minutes and 43 seconds. Knightley had previously won outright the original and first race back in 2011.

Next home for the club was Bradley Brown in 103rd Position and 20th Male Veteran Over 45 in 42 Minutes and 21 Seconds.

Following him home in a seasons best 46 minutes and 41 seconds was the newly athletic slimline Carol Muir for 190th place and 16th Female Veteran Over 45.

Kim Baxter smashed her personal best by over a minute finishing in 51 Minutes and 21 seconds for 349th Position and 13 Female Veteran Over 60.

Julie Gillender ran close to seasons best finishing in 53 minutes and 44 seconds for 405th place and 27th Female Veteran over 50.

The Ilford Team ran extremely well and all finishers were rewarded with a mince pie and Christmas pudding along with a prestigious festive medal

  Press Report 3rd December 2019  

Dec 022019
 

Essex County U13 / U15 / Veterans’ Championships
Writtle College
Saturday 30 November

The Essex county cross-country championship for master athletes was held in the grounds of Writtle College near Chelmsford on a bright chilly Saturday morning. All three races were held over a 2 lap 8km course featuring grassland, mud at a couple of challenging climbs.

First up was the ladies race where the runners compete in 5 year age bands. Ilford Ac were led home by the consistent Bree Nordin in 33 rd overall in 42 mins 19 secs. This position earned the silver medal in the F60 age grouping. Next home for the Ilford ladies was Nicola Hopkinson in 56th, and 8th in the F55 category, with 47 mins 05 secs.  Dianne Crisp placed 70th in 49 mins 31 secs, while Frieda Keane ran steadily for 101st with 54 mins 42 secs. Lovedip Dhaliwal completed the Ilford line up in 106th in 56 mins 08 secs.

Leading the way for Ilford in the mens 50 and over race was Steve Philcox with a fine 5th place in 33 mins 30 secs and Paul Holloway gave a determined performance for 13th with 34 mins 48 secs.. Terry Knightley came home 9th in the M55 group and 40th overall with 37 mins 30 secs. Alan Pearl completed the Ilford scorers as the team placed 5th. Pearl was 4th the M60 category and 45 overall in a time of 37 mins 40 secs.
Jim Tilbrook was 98th with 44 mins 04 secs and Satha Alaganandasundaram recorded 58 mins 11 secs in 129th.

The M40-49 age group race was the last of the morning and saw good results for the Ilford club. Paul Grange ran a good tactical race to win the M40 championship in 30 mins 36 secs as he finished 2nd overall. Malcolm Muir gave 100% as always placing 11th 32 mins 23 secs. Gary Coombes moved through to come home 14th after a slow start in 32 mins 30 secs. Dan Holeyman had good race to cross the line 34th in 35 mins 06 secs.
These 4 together finished second in the team event for the silver medals.
Diarmuid Mac Donnell completed well for 43rd with 36 mins 17 secs, while Dennis Briggs finished 66th in 40 mins 29 secs. Trevor Robinson completed the Ilford squad with 46 mins 16 secs for 79th.

 

  Press Report 19th November 2019  

Nov 192019
 

London cross country champs
Parliament Hill
Saturday 16th Nov

495 runners took to the hills at this years London Cross country champs.

Ilfords Mungo Prior in his 1st year as a u/20 and a step up in distance put in an excellent performance with 51st place overall in 40:41 which placed him 2nd u/20 finisher on the day. Chasing Mungo home was the ever consistent Tom Gardner in 53rd place in 40:47 and 11th vet 35. Gary Coombes in top form at the moment was not far behind in 68th place in 41:30 and 2nd vet 45 on the day. Trevor Robinson completed the team in a time of 1 hr 03:40 for 481st place.

 

Fulham 10k
Sunday 17th Nov

Club captain Billy Green was chosen to represent the club in the prestigious Fulham 10k on a cold Sunday morning.
Starting on the iconic New Kings Road, the traffic free route around the borough of Fulham which takes the runners on a loop round Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground was lined with spectators wrapped up against the morning chill cheering on over 5,500 runners.
Billy ran well to record a new PB over the 10k distance, with a time of 46 mins 45 seconds.

Despite speculation that his second post match medal was for running in the ‘shortest shorts’ on the day, Billy received his second medal for competing in all 3 of Adidas’ city runs in 2019.

 

Chelmsford 10k
Sunday 17th Nov

The Chelmsford 10k took place at the unusual time of 2pm on Sunday, which meant the morning chill had gone and runners had near perfect conditions to race in.
Two runners from Ilford AC Steve Philcox and Sharon Honey represented the club and both put in excellent runs.Steve finished 29th overall in a time of 37:40, whilst Sharon came in on 50:59 for 217th place.

 

WALKING REPORT

STONE ME!

On a cold damp Saturday morning at Enfield’s King George V Playing Fields the long established Enfield Open 7 Miles, now in it’s 94th year, was staged over a 1 miles course made slippery by fallen leaves during it’s entire length. 
Pride of place went to an in-form Steve Uttley who got off to a great opening mile which saw him tucked in just behind the leaders.  Shortly after setting out on lap 2, efforts ground to a halt as he needed to remove a stone in his shoe, and while doing so 5 rivals sped past a stationary Uttley. 
After his setback he quickly gained momentum to pass the 5 miles’ mark in 46 minutes and 10 kilometres in 58.39 to impress.  He reached the finish line in 66.21 to fill 9th position in what was a good class field.
Also catching the eye was Emma Dyos in 12th spot (4th lady) in a personal best 68.03. 
Stuart Bennett walked a sound race to record 71.52 which secured him 17th place while always-reliable Dave Kates, 24th spot in 75.52 gained Ilford 2nd team prizes, beaten only by hosts Enfield & Haringey AC.

 

  Press Report 12th November 2019  

Nov 122019
 

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

 

  Press Report 5th November 2019  

Nov 052019
 

NEW YORK CITY MARATHON
Sunday 3 November.

The 49th staging of the New York City Marathon took place on a sunny still Sunday morning in 12C degrees, ideal for the 53500 runners.
Sam Rahman of Ilford planned a controlled run with the target of finishing in just under 2hours 50 minutes. He ran at his selected pace throughout the race for 35km where the race enters Central Park. The last couple of miles are rolling hills and he lost a little time and finished in 2 hrs 51 mins 43 secs, his second fastest time, in 750th place, 171st in the M35 category.

Masters Open Cross-Country
Loughton
Saturday 2nd November

Saturday morning saw the staging of the Masters Open Cross-Country hosted by Loughton AC at the Roding Valley Country park.
It was a very successful day for the club with the men’s team recording 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th place

The race was over 8 km and Gary Coombes put in a great performance to take first place. He was always out in front and if it wasn’t for a close call with a herd of cows near the end when evasive action had to be taken he would have recorded a quicker time than his 31 minutes 04 secs. However with Gary’s gurning finishing face scaring off the cows the path was cleared for the following runners which pleased Steve Philcox and Danny Holeyman who were close behind in 3rd and 4th place respectively in times of 33 mins 03 secs and 33 mins 22 secs.
Diarmuid MacDonnell completed the scoring team in 7th  place in a time of 34 mins 33 secs which put the men’s team in first place by a large margin.

Also running well for the men’s team was Tony Young in 17th place with 39 mins 44 secs, Jim Tilbrook in 31st place for 44 mins 47 secs and James Huddart who finished as first V70 runner in 50th place in a time of 60 mins 55 secs.
Just 2 ladies were out representing the club on the day but both put in fine performances with Bree Nordin claiming 1st V60 on the day finishing 21st in a time of 41 mins 13 secs and Doris Gaga 46th in 51 mins 26 secs.


Billericay 10km
Sunday 3rd November

Five members of the Ilford AC endurance squad headed to Billericay on Sunday morning for the 24th staging of the Billericay 10 km road race.

Interestingly the squad contained 2 former winners of the event with Terry Knightly winning the race outright in 1998, and Sharon Honey placing first female in the early 90’s.
The race over a one lap course on country lanes surrounding Billericay was held in good conditions with Alan Pearl leading the teams challenge. Alan, who has been having a great season recorded a new personal best of 42 mins 50 secs in 57th spot and was 3rd in the M60 category.
Next home was Dennis Briggs who continues to get closer to his pre injury form coming in strongly for 74th place in a time of 44 mins 03 secs. Third man home was Terry Knightly, who amazingly ran with a fractured bone in his foot and still placed well in 92nd place in a time of 44 mins 44 secs.

Although falling short of the 4 numbers required to complete a team, both Ilford ladies ran well on the day with Sharon Honey recording 52 mins 35 secs for 264th and Alison Sale coming in on 55 mins 42 secs for 337th place
A special mention to Julia Galea who got caught in traffic and turned up late for the race and was unable to collect her number. She ran the course, pulling up before the finishing straight in a time of approx 57 mins.