Press Report 18th December 2017  

Dec 182017
 

CHASE THE MOON 10K
London Olympic Park

On a cold crisp evening Ilford AC runner Anna Crawley took part in a ‘Chase the moon event’ over at the Olympic park on Wednesday, along with about 15 other people from her work.
Anna, who is new to the club, had only done one official 10k before this so was keen to improve on her previous time of 53:54.

Whilst the original aim was to try and get around 52 minutes, Anna found herself achieving far better than that and came in at 51:02.
Although slightly disappointed to not get under 51 minutes, this was still a pb by nearly 3 minutes and I’m sure she will continue to improve and even break the 50 minute barrier in 2018

 

South of England Masters Cross-Country Championship
Oxford

Steve Cheal was the only entrant from Ilford AC to compete in the South of England Cross-Country Championship held over a generous 10000m course by the Horspath track in Oxford.
The senior mens race, which was the last of the afternoon, was exceptionally muddy after the previous races had churned up the course.
This combined with a challenging undulating course made conditions on the day difficult.

Cheal however put in a battling performance to finish 41st in the M55 age category in 46 mins 41 secs.

  Press Report. 11th December 2017  

Dec 112017
 

Ware Cup
Saturday 9th December
Loughton

The annual Ware Cup cross-country match was held on a bright but cold Saturday morning at Loughton.

The race of 8 km was over a mainly grassland course and Sam Rahman led home the Ilford AC challenge in 21st spot with a good time of 30 mins 27 secs. Next home for the club was Diarmuid Mac Donnell in 39th with 33 mins 35 secs and Andy Catton came home 45th in 35mins 16 secs and he was the first M60 to finish. The scorers were completed by Dennis Briggs in 50th in a time of 35 mins 41 secs..
Kieran McKenna was 1 place behind in 51st in 35mins 55 secs, with Ed Skinner 80th (40.19) Satha Alaga 88th (41.55) and Suki Jandu 104th (51.06) also in action for the men.

Bree Nordin was the first Ilford finisher in the ladies race home in 10th spot with 37 mins 10 secs. Gaye Young was next home in 41 mins exactly for 20th and 5th in the F45 category with Nicola Chester 34th with 49m 28s and Pam Jones 36th in 55m 24s closing out the team.

The strong Victoria Park Harriers team won both the mens and ladies trophies with Ilford finishing 4th in both matches.

Christmas Olympic Park 5k + 10k
Sunday 10th December
Olympic Park

Four ‘hardy’ (some would say foolish) Ilford AC Runners took themselves off to the Olympic Park in Stratford on Sunday Morning for the Christmas 5k and 10k runs.

The snow had begun to fall early in the morning and by the time the race had started there was a thick covering on the ground, the temperature was freezing and the snow continued to fall.
At times it was an effort just staying upright, so pb’s were never going to happen but all 4 agreed they had a great time in the adverse conditions.

Leading the team home in the 5k was Billy Green in 26:13 whilst Catherine Green and Pam Jones ran together to finish in 44:57.

Carol Muir opted for the 10k on the day and was pleased with her time of 1:09:40 in the conditions.

  Ilford AC Press Report. December 4th 2017  

Dec 042017
 

Essex Veterans & Junior Cross Country Championships
Saturday 2nd December
Writtle College

SENIORS

The Essex Cross-Country Championships for Veteran and junior athletes was held at Writtle College last Saturday.
The veteran races were held over an interesting and challenging 8k course. A stream crossing, a steeply banked lake and the first truly muddy course of the cross country season made for an interesting, but challenging race.

Ilford had 2 bronze medals in the Seniors category with Andy Catton taking the MV60 and Bree Nordin the WV55 bronze medals
The combined MV50+ and Women’s V35+ race was the first seniors race of the day and was won by Elizabeth Davies of Springfield Striders in 29:41.

The mens team were led home by Steve Philcox in 7th 31:41 followed  by Neil Crisp 10th 32:25, Andy Catton 42nd35:30, Terry Knightly 61st 37:15, Tony Young 80th 39:38, and Steven Cheal 95th 42:05.
The remaining Ilford men were Satha Alaga 98th 43:00 and Billy Green 99th 43:15
The mens team finished 6th of 21 clubs on the day.

Bree Nordin, who took Bronze in her age category was first Ilford Lady home in the race finishing 37th in 39:02 followed closely by Nicola Hopkinson 43rd 39:51, Gaye Van Der Vyver 74th 43:26 and Dianne Crisp 81st 44:23.
Remaining Ilford ladies were Launa Broadley 122nd 53:59, Sheila Sinclair 126th 58:31 and Pam Jones 127th 58:43.
The ladies team were 15th of 21 teams on the day.

There were just two Ilford AC runners in the final Seniors race of the day.

Both Malcolm Muir and Dennis Briggs though put in fine performances in the V40 race which was won by Crispian Bloomfield in a time of 27:55.
Malcolm Muir finished in 6th in 29:26 and Dennis Briggs ran well to finish 64th in a very strong field for 36:36

 

 

 

  Press Report. 28th November 2017  

Nov 262017
 
ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE ROUND 2
HOCKLEY
25th November 2017
Despite it being a bitterly cold morning in Hockley, Ilford AC put out 32 runners for Round 2 of the Essex Cross Country league.
Despite the cold, the 2 lap hilly course was a dry one.
The ladies team, battling for promotion back to Division 1 acquitted themselves well finishing joint 3rd on the day in their division.
Leading the ladies team home was in form Bree Nordin finishing in 43rd place for 26:53 on the 6k course. Not far behind, fresh from her New York Marathon 2 weeks ago was Nicols Hopkinson in 59th place 28:01. Bree and Nicola also picked up the 1st and 2nd places in the V55 age group. Nicola was closely followed by Carlie Qirem, enjoying her first Cross Country season with the club in 28:18 and 62nd place. The 4 lady scoring team was completed by Anna Crawley in only her second race for the club in 30:22 and 86th place.
There were fine runs also for the remaining ladies Dianne Crisp 30:38 88th, Julia Galea 33:14 114th, Nicola Chester 33:39 117th, Frieda Keane 33:53 120th, Sharon Honey 34:56 127th, Launa Broadley 37:35 129th, Sheila Sinclair 39:44 133rd and Pem Jones, first V80 40:12 135th.
The Senior mens team on the day was led by Alex Richards in an impressive 29:21 for 6th place on the 8.5k course, closely followed by Tom Gardner 29:53 12th and Malcolm Muir 30:29 24th and 3rd V40 on the day. Steve Philcox was 3rd V50 in 32:27 54th. The mens scoring team, which finished 6th on the day was completed by Paul Holloway 32:50 63rd, and Sam Rahman 33:44 70th.
The large Ilford mens team was completed by:-
John Crawley 34:07 80th, Seb Parris 34:24 81st, Neil Crisp 34:36 85th, Tony Nixon 38:20 143rd, Dennis Briggs 38:46 146th, Tony Young 41:15 176th, Bradley Brown 41:25 179th, Billy Green 43:51 203rd, Steve Cheal 44:04 204th and Satha Alaga 45:19 207th.

In the combined U17/U20 Womens race Jordan Hinds ran a steady for 15th place.

There were 3 boys competing in the U15 race, all giving a great account of themselves. Farris Patel led the team with 15:16 for 7th place, followed closely by Jak Wright in 15:25 for 9th and Bradley Deacon in 15:58 for 15th place.

Full set of photos can be found at the link below.
RICHMOND PARK HALF MARATHON
26th November 2017
The Richmond Park Half Marathon is a 4 lap multi terrain course round the beautiful Richmond Park.
The hilly course and large field are not ideal for fast times, but despite this and just a day after a tough Cross Country race with the team in Hockley, Carlie Qirem clocked a very impressive 1:51:56 to finish 143rd on the day, and 37th female.

 

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k
Hyde Park
24th November.

The Serpentine ‘Last Friday of the month 5k’ is an open race taking part in Hyde Park.
Ilfords Super Vet John Batchelor is a regular competitor in this race and last Friday ran a remarkable 22:41 to finish first VM75 by a considerable distance.
John is now placed 3rd out of the 99 runners in the  to have ran the requisite 6 races over the year  in the ‘Last Friday Championship’ based on an age related percentage score.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Ilford AC Press Report. 20th November 2017  

Nov 202017
 

London Cross Country Champs 8.8k
Parliament Hill
Saturday 18th November

Ilford had just one runner in the senior mens race, Tom Gardner, in a field of about 500 he put in a solid run for 47th place in 37:23

 

Hertfordshire Half Marathon
Knebworth House
Sunday 19th November.

The Hertfordshire Half Marathon starts and ends at the iconic Knebworth House.
Knebworth House has hosted some iconic acts in the past including Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Robbie Williams.
On Sunday it welcomed Bree Nordin of Ilford AC who ran an excellent 1:37:31 on a cold morning and finished in 152nd place of 2100 runners and was 13th female and first V60 female on the day.
As a side note, the last time Bree was at Knebworth house was to see Led Zeppelin back in 1979.

 

 

Newcastle Town Moor Half Marathon
Hexham
Sunday 19th November

Tony Young returned to his native North East to run in the Town Moor Half Marathon.
On a bitterly cold morning (and if a Geordie says its cold – its cold!) Tony finished in 40th place and recorded a pb of 1:47:51 which took 22 seconds off of his previous pb.

Chelmsford 10k
Sunday 19th November

John Crawley was the sole Ilford representative in the Chelmsford 10k.
John set out with a goal to record a pb.
After a fast start John started feeling the pace and slowed a little over the last mile or so, but despite this John took a massive 57 seconds off of his previous pb to finish in 38:55.
This put him in 43rd place of over 500 runners