VAC 5km Championship (Vets AC)
Battersea Park
10th July

Ilford AC sent a large team of 9 runners down to Battersea Park for the Vets AC 5km Championships and came home with four age graded Bronze medals and a single Gold medal.
First home for Ilford, and first medal of the day was Steve Philcox for 4th place in 17:16 and 3rd M50. Steve was closely followed by Gary Coombes in 10th place in 18:00 amd 3rd M45.
Other finishers, who all performed well on the day were Rohan Alexander 16th place 20:14 5th M50, Steve Parker 28th 23:02 3rd M60, Trevor Robinson 33rd 23:42 4th M45, Rob Sargent 41st 25:55 6th M60, Doris Gaga 47th 27:56 3rd F50, Julie Gillender 53rd 31:09 4th F50 and Pam Jones who took home the F80 GOLD medal for 56th place in 33:11

100km ‘Race to the Stones’ Ultra Marathon
Berkshire and Wiltshire
14th and 15th July

The ‘Race to the Stones’ is a 100k ultra marathon that starts in Lewknor Oxfordshire and follows the Ridgeway path, which is recognised as the oldest path in the UK.
This race, which takes place over 2 days, was attended by over 2,000 ultra marathoners from over the country including Ilford AC’s very own Carlie Qirem.
The path, once trod by Vikings and Romans is lined with Bronze age hill forts and Roman River crossings and culminates at the largest neolithic stone circle in Europe that dates back to 2,500BC  at Avebury Wiltshire.
Although very scenic, the route includes over 4,000ft of climb which, combined with the heat, made this endurance event even more enduring!
Carlie put in a fantastic effort to finish 88th over the 2 days, and 17th Senior female in a time of 14 Hours and 49 minutes.

Orion Forest 5
Chingford
14th July

2 Ilford runners, Gary Coombes and Steve Philcox, competed in the second leg of the 3 race Orion Forest 5 series on Saturday. This was the 29th time the race has been run after originally being organised to help raise funds for the host club, Orion Harriers.

The 5 mile multi terrain course is a hilly and challenging one that takes place within Epping Forest.
Steve Philcox led the Ilford pair for most of the way, but was unlucky to suffer a nasty fall after the 3rd mile during a section of the race in which runners have to run into a densely wooded area.

Gary, adopting the attitude that all is fair in love and war, took this opportunity to get in front and managed to hold on until the end of the race despite at one point having to take evasive action to avoid a herd of horned cattle who had been startled by the lead runners into a mini stampede!

Gary Coombes finished in 12th place and was first V45 male in a time of 30:14 with Steve Philcox following closely behind in 16th place and first V50 male in a time of 30:56

Essex Cross Country 10K Series
Thorndon Country Park
14 July 2018

Danny Holeyman headed to the outskirts of Brentwood to run the third race of the five race series on a course that the organisers were describing as “challenging” due to the inclusion of several long hills.
Running the majority of the course more or less “solo” with the leading pack of four in front out of sight and the remaining competition quite a way behind, Danny Holeyman done well to follow the occasional markers to ensure he didn’t take a wrong turn in the shaded woods and go off course. Despite the uncertainty of the course and the hot conditions, Danny Holeyman managed to finish in 5th place overall out of a field of 169 in 42.47 minutes and was 2nd in the V40 male category.

British 10k
15th July

The British 10k is one of the largest 10k’s in Britain attracting over 14,000 runners including 2 this year from Ilford AC, Adi Patil and Billy Green.
The race takes runners through Central London, traffic free, and takes in Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.
En route the runners pass several bands and large union jacks draping the streets.
Sunday’s race was held on an intensely hot sunny day that suited the spectators far more than it did the runners.
Both Ilford runners ran conservatively in the heat, with Adi Patil finishing in a time of 48:59 for 1318th place and Billy Green coming home in 51:19 for 1928th place.

Southern League track and field
Cricklefields Stadium
23rd June 2018

After an absence of almost 8 years, Southern League athletics returned to Cricklefield last Saturday, with Ilford hosting one of the third rounds of matches in division 3 north. It was a tough match for the host club, with 4 of the 5 opposing teams already above them in the table after 2 matches.

Since returning to the League Sam Malekout has been Mr Consistency for Ilford, and he showed his value to the team again, by collecting 19 points from 6 events.  He started off with a great 2nd place in the 400m hurdles, running his fastest time for 5 years. Which he followed by taking on both the shot and High jump at almost the same time.  He came 4th in the B string shot and 6th in the High Jump. Next up was 4th in the discus, followed by 6th in the Hammer, before finally rounding his day off with victory in the B string Javelin.

Dan Wheeler is another, not happy with one event, and he tried the 400m hurdles for the first time, winning the B string in 71.0, before switching back to his usual events, placing 3rd in  both the 100m and 200m. Daniel Poopola also did both sprints with a 3rd place in the B 100m and 4th in the 200m. Temi Adeoshun and Jordan Akinpelu did non scoring 100’s, before combing with the two Dan’s to make a winning 4x 100 team.

Farris Patel had a great run in the 400m setting a PB of 51.25, for 3rd place, he was joined in the 400m by Aaron Samuel who set a Pb in the b string 400m with 54.64 for 2nd. Early Aaron had finally broken 2 minutes for the 800m for the first time in a time of 1.59.1 for 3rd place.  The pair were joined by Anthony George and Dan Wheeler in the 4x 400 and ended up in 2nd.

Jak Wright and Bradley Deacon did the 1500m, with Jak placing 4th in the A string and Bradley 3rd in the B string, both set pb’s, with Jak running 4.19.08 and Bradley knocking off 9 seconds in running 4.37.49. Good points were gained in the 5000m, by Amin Koikai and Steve Philcox, both placing 2nd with times of 16.21.19 and 17.38. 30. Ilford also had three non scores in the 5000 Sam Rahman 17.38.80, Seb Parris 18.02.54 and Bradley Brown 20.08.57. Sam had previously run the B sting 800m taking 3rd in 2.15.99

Having earlier competed in the High Jump, Anthony George then took on the Long and Triple Jumps, placing 3 in the B string long and 3rd in A string Triple. Jordan Akinpelu also did both jumps placing 4th in A long and 3rd in B string Triple. Jordan also ran a non scoring 200 in 23.48.

Martins Sulainis had an eventful day, missing his specialist event the High jump due to a timing misunderstanding, he then planned to do pole vault, but that was cancelled for safety reasons. He then decided to do the 110 hurdles, and was leading, before hitting the 5th hurdle and could not finish. His day was made better by taking second in the B string Javelin with a throw of 43.70.

The remaining throws were contested by Wayne Hick 6th B discus, Nat Senior 4th A shot and Pete whiting 5th A hammer.

On the women’s side Esmeralda Mengeyele and Jordan Hinds were Ilford’s top point’s scorers.  Esmeralda came 5th in the 100m in 13.82, 4th in the 200m in 28.68, 5th in the Long jump with 4.46, before producing a Pb of 26.79 for 5th in the Javelin.  Jordan who has been getting better with each race ran 2.23.59 for 4th in the 800m and then 2nd in the B string 400m in 62.51. These were her fastest times over both distances for 2 years.

Zuzana Sinalova doubled up in the middle distance, knocking 30 seconds off her best in the 3000m in taking 4th place in a time of 11.40.2, before returning an hour later to run the 1500m in 5.42.75 for 5th.

Isabella Hick, Yasmin Martins and Efe Adjario all returned to competition after exams. Isabella gained valuable points in the 100 hurdles, before taking more points in the discus. Yasmin won the B sting long jump with a jump of 4.37 and then ran a non scoring 200 in 29.53. Efe came 4th in the B string 100m in 13.64.

Esmeralda, Efe, Yasmin and Sara Stena were the 4x 100 team and they had a very good run for 3rd place. Sara had previously run a non scoring 100m in 13.86, before throwing a Pb of 14.11 in the discus.

Krystle Balogun was coming back from injury and restricted herself to the A string 200m, which she won in a very good time of 26.76. Gemima Eshimu Massamba looked very good in winning the A string 400m in a time of 60.84.

Ayshah Lawrence set a Pb of 29.53 in the non scoring 200m, before teaming up with Yasmin, Gemima and Jordan for 3rd in the 4x 400.

The overall match was a close affair with Basildon just piping Woodford by 3.5 points. Ilford young team ended up in 5th place.

 

Essex County Relay Championships
Basildon
29th June 2018

Ilford sent six teams to the Essex Relay championships last Friday and came home with 5 medals, two golds and 3 silvers.

First up were the  Senior Mens 4x 100, lead off was Jordan Akinpelu, who made a great start and put Ilford into contention. The change to Temi Adeoshun was great and Temi flew down the back straight, to hand over to Nat Senior. Nat who coaches the three other athlets ran a great bend  to hand over to Dan Wheeler in 3rd place. Dan managed to move Ilford into second place with a great last leg.

The senior women 4x 100 followed the men, with Gemima Eshimu Massamba running the opening leg and again giving the team a great start. Krystle Balogun now injury free ran a great second leg, moving Ilford into 2nd place. Jordan Hinds, who does not normally run the shorter relay, kept Ilford  in 2nd, before handing over to Esmeralda Mengeyele  who stormed down the home straight to match the men with a silver medal.

The under 17 4x 400 was next, with Farris Patel giving Ilford a great start, and coming home in second place. 400m is a bit short for Aaron Samuel, but he used all of his strength to hang onto the Havering athlete and even edged ahead down the home straight to give Anthony George a slight lead going into leg three. Anthony ran a perfect leg just sitting in with the Havering athlete , before blasting the home straight to maintain a slender lead. Mario could probably have taken it easy and just used his 100m speed in the straight, but not content with that Mario  gave it all and opened the gap so that the winning margin was over 50m. The teams winning time was around 3.30, which is believed to be a club record.

Less than an hour after running the 4x 400, Aaron and Farris were back on the track for the 3x 800. Aaron ran the first leg and after a steady first lap, he stretched the field out on lap two and bought Ilford home in first place. For the B team Bradley Deacon had a very good run, bringing the team in around 7th. Jak Wright ran leg two and managed to bring Ilford further away from most of the field, with only Basildon able to go with them.  On the second lap, the Basildon athlete made a move and opened up a gap on Jak. For the B team Matthew Hick who was running in an upper age group had a very good run and kept the team in close contention.  Farris was up against a Basildon athlete who is one of the fastest in the country on the last leg, and just could not get close enough, however second place was great run by the team. Like Matthew Ryan Holeyman was also running against athletes 2 years older than him and had a very good run, to bring the B team home 11th.

The final event of the night was the medley relay, comprising of 200, 200, 400, and 800m. Krystle took the first 200 and had a very good run, to put Ilford in first place, she handed over to Esmeralda for the second 200m and she maintained the lead. At the start of the 400m leg which Gemima was running, Ilford and southend had drawn clear. Gemima had a very good run, but the southend athlete just edged her at the finish. Jordan  was ready on the 800m leg, and within 100m, had caught the southend athlete and shot past. Over the next lap Jordan continued to apply the pressure and stretched her lead to over 50m which she maintained to the end to achieve a great victory for Ilford.

 

Springfield Striders Friday night 5 Miles
Pleshey
29th June 2018

The Friday night 5 is held in the small village of Pleshey and is a two lap undulating course through the village starting and finishing at the village hall.
The race is unique in that runners do not receive a medal, but instead each competitor gets a burger at the end of the race.
Billy Green was the only Ilford entrant on the night and he complimented his ‘average running’ of late by finishing 50th of 100 runners in a time of 39:04

 

Brentwood 10k
Blackmore
30th June 2018

The Ilford AC dynamic duo of Danny Holeyman and Terry Knightley endured hot and humid and sweltering conditions on Sunday in the Annual Brentwood 10K Road Race.

Running around the sunshine filled country lanes of Blackmore amongst 183 other elite athletes both finished within the top sixteen positions with Danny clocking 41 Minutes and 23 seconds for 14th place and Terry stopping the clock at 41 Minutes 45 seconds for 16th place and 2nd Position in the MV50 category.

 

South london swimming club aquathlon
Tooting bec lido
Wed 27th june

Seb Parris once again returned to tooting on a hot summer’s day for a swim/run race.  Water temp was 21 degrees so a lot of swimmers opted for no wetsuit. The ilford athlete did not! Seb was faster over the 1100m swim this week and felt good going off for his 7.5km 3 lap course over tootings common.  He clocked a race pb of 45.00 minutes dead. That was 5th place of 100.

 

London inter club championship/enfield league 5000m Race walking
Allianz park,Edgware
30th june 2018

With temperatures around 30 degrees the track at allianz park was sizzling for this enfield league track 5000m race.

Ilford ac had a cracking turnout fielding 7 of the 19 starters including a successful debut for Emma Dyos (32.27). Walking confidently for 3rd lady home. Very impressive.
Seb Parris (28.13) found the going tough but headed the men’s team for 2nd place with Mark Culshaw in close contention for 3rd spot and a seasons best time (29.21).
Stuart Bennett (31.13) had a good late battle for his 4th mens spot.
Brilliant races were had also by Rachael Lawless for 6th lady (35.21), 7th lady Ann Scurfield (35.38) and 8th lady Lesley Morris (35.53).
Just over 30 seconds separated 5 walkers which proved exciting to watch. Each female athlete worked hard and recorded fine new 5000m pbs!

 

 

Southern Counties Vets League
Walton
11^th June 2018

Another fine team performance resulted in the Vets team again finishing second on the evening.
The evening started with a non-scoring 200m hurdles but a new Club record with Wayne Hick finishing 3rd in 29.7s.
The scoring distances were 200m, 800m and 3000m with the field events being shot, hammer and discus.

Sam Malekout debuted as a vet over 200m in M35. He held his form well to take 1st in 24.5s.
In the same age group Seb Parris changed his walking shoes for the track covering the 800m and 3000m in 2.26.2s and 10.36.5s for 2nd and 4th respectively.

Jim Harrison came down an age group to run the M40 200m and his time of 30.3s placed him 6th. Dave Butler came down two age groups to run the 800m. 2.38.4s secured 6th and most importantly is his best time since returning from injury. Henry Ricketts came down an age group to compete in the shot and his distance of 7m 71 placed him 4th.

Going back to M50 Henry’s 200m time of 28.7s secured 5th. Steve Philcox dominated the 800m gaining 1st in a time of 2.18.3. Andy Catton came down an age group in the 3000m and his time of 12.30.1s grabbed 7th. Pete Whiting launched the hammer 18m 53 for 6th. In the discus Henry’s throw of 26m 92 secured 3rd.

In the M60 category Gerald Daniel covered the 200m in 32.4s for 6th. Dave Butler moving back to his age group ran the 3000m in 11.08.7 for 2nd. Roger Honey put the shot 8m 89 also for 2nd.

Other non-scoring athletes performances – Bradley Brown 3000m 11.49.5, Roger Honey Hammer 23m 23, Discus 22m 71, Mark Culshaw Discus 20m 06, Pete Whiting Discus 18m 15.

The final event of the evening was the 4 x 400m relay (Wayne, Henry, Seb and Sam) and despite a storming last leg by Sam, Ilford had to settle for 4th in 4.14.1s.

Thanks to Clare Levey for officiating and Pam for support.

After two matches Enfield and Haringey lead the way with 239.5 points. London Heathside are second with 226.5 and IAC third with 219.

South London Swimming Club Aquathlon summer series race 2
Tooting Bec lido
Wednesday 13th June

Seb Parris travelled south of the river Wednesday evening for the second race in this very popular aquathlon series (a race comprising of a swim transitioning into a run).  It’s a pacey race with 100 triathletes going off in two waves 25 minutes apart.

Tooting Bec lido was a nippy 19c, so wetsuits were worn for the 11 length 1100m swim.
Seb started in the first wave of 50 athletes and after a powerful swim exited the water in 7th place of his wave.

The run was 7.5km and 3 loops of tooting common.
Seb found his rhythm very early on and recorded 28.40 on the course, the 7th fastest run across both waves of the day.  After all the athletes had finished he placed 13th overall in 46.27.

 

Havering 5 (ELvIS)
Raphael Park
Wednesday June 13

There was another impressive turn out from the endurance squad of Ilford AC in the second round of the summer 2018 ELvIS tournament. The event was held on a two course within Raphael park, Romford. Leading the way for Ilford was Steve Philcox in an excellent 6th place in 29 mins 09 secs winning the M50 category trophy. One place back was Gary Coombes taking the M45 group cup in 29 mins 21 secs, while Seb Parris once again showing improvement as he recorded a new personnel best of 30 mins 23 secs for 17th spot. John Crawley closed out the top 20 in 31 mins 09 secs and Dan Holeyman posted 31 mins 28 secs in 28th. Closing out the scorers for the club was Rohan Alexander with 33mins 16 secs for 39th place

In the team match Ilford once again finished 2nd and maintain that position in the 9-team match.

Bree Nordin was the first home for the Ilford ladies with 36 mins 20 secs as 9th female and took the F60 category. Carlie Qirem recorded a personal best of 36 ins 25 secs as 10th female. Nicola Hopkinson was 17th in 38mins 24 secs with Jenni Sheehan being the 4th scorer in 32nd place in 41mins 30 secs. The ladies finished 4th in the match but are 3rd in the competition overall.

There were also personal bests for Alan Pearl of 36mins 40 secs in 83rd, Tony Young in 100th with 37 mins 47 secs and Rhoan Gabbidon placed 101st with 37 mins 50 secs.

Also ran: – Dennis Briggs (56th 34.43) Andy Catton (66th 35:30) Satha Alaga (109th 38.23) Eain Begg (112th 38.38)  Natalie Crisp (150th 41.55)  Peter Spelman (153rd 42.33)  Adnan Karim (192nd  45.37) Julia Galea 9194th 45.24) Frieda Keane (218th 47.59)  Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham (22nd  48.36)  Suki Jandu (228th  49.17) Natasha Mansouri (231st 50.49) Pam Jones (251st 54.40)  James Huddart (256th 56.31) Brennie Gabbidon (258th 58.54)

Adidas City Run – 1 hour
City of London
17^th June 2018

Sunday saw the inaugural staging of the Adidas One-hour city run, where the aim is to run as far as you can in one hour.
The course was a one-mile loop, with timing mats at every 0.1m, starting at St. Pauls Cathedral and taking in St Mary-Le-Bow church, Guildhall and Mansion house.
In the first wave of the day Rhoan Gabbidon completed 7.5 miles and Brennie Gabbidon 5.2 miles. In wave four Dennis Briggs completed 8.1 miles and Billy Green 7.4 miles.

BMAF 5k Road Championships
Horwich
17^th June 2018

The British Masters 5km Championship was held at its usual venue of Horwich, just outside of Manchester over a 3-lap hilly course. A quartet from Ilford Ac travelled north to take part. The only clubman running was Steve Parker who came home 129th overall and 18th in the M60 age grouping in 22 mins 47 secs. Pam Jones won another British title in the F60category in 31 mins 40 secs. Julia Galea was 4th in the F60 group in 27 mins 32 secs while Doris was 8th in the F50 category with 29 mins 23 secs

The three ladies combined to form a team in the ten-year band F45-54 group and finished in a creditable 3rd to take the bronze medal.