Bromley 10km (Incorporating the Essex Championship)
Little Bromley Essex
Sunday 8th April

This years Essex 10km Championship was staged along with the Bromley 10km on quiet country roads from the Little Bromley Parish Church. The fast flat course was made a little slippery in the light rain which fell throughout the event. There was a good turnout of 21 runners from Ilford AC in the field of just over 500. Amin Kolkai was in good form coming home in 4th spot in a rapid 33 minutes 01 seconds to take the Essex M40 age category championship. He was backed up by the reliable Malcolm Muir in 27th in 35 mins 22 secs and 6th in the M40 grouping and Gary Coombes who recorded a personal best time of 36 mins 10 secs, on his debut for the club having recently joined, for 32nd spot. These three combined for the team competition and placed 4th in the county.

Steve Philcox came in 35th with 36 mins 22 secs with Neil Crisp recording 38 mins 01 secs for 59th.Terry Knightley was 112th with 41 mins 45 secs and Andy Catton was the 6th finisher in the M60 category with 43 mins 48 secs in146th overall
There was also a personal best for Tony Young of 48 mins 09 secs.

Nicola Hopkinson was the leading lady for Ilford recording here best time for 4 years of 47 mins 21 secs to place 2nd in the F55 category and take the county silver medal as she placed 4th overall in the ladies championship. Gaye Young ran the distance for the first time recording a fine 49 mins 07 secs in 263rd overall while Anna Crawley was the clubs next lady home in 298th with 51 mins 05 secs.

Also ran for Ilford AC: Dennis Briggs (43.54 148th) Steve Parker (44.31 164th) Declan Cullen (45.28 178th) Satha Alaga (266th 49.20) Steve Cheal (267th 49.24) Julia Galea (409th 58.12) Carol Muir (442nd 61.37) Launa Broadley (464th 64.19) Julie Gillender (467th 64.49)

 

Paris Marathon
Sunday 8th April

 

Under clear blue skies, with temperatures reaching 20 degrees, some 43,000 athletes ran through the streets of Paris including 2 runners form Ilford AC.
The course is one of the most scenic marathons to run and starts at the famous Avenue des Champs-Elysees and ends at the Arc de Triomphe after winding along the banks of the Seine River and some of the city’s most beloved sites including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre Museum while featuring two big forests – the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side and the Bois de Boulogne to the west.

Carlie Qirem was the first of the 2 Ilford runners home recording a personal best of 3 hours 58 minutes 14 seconds finishing 13412nd out of the large field. After a long winters training Carlie found the warm conditions difficult on the day but was very proud to knock almost 15 minutes off of her PB and join the exclusive ‘sub 4 hour marathon’ club.
Second Ilford runner home was Marathon veteran ‘Peter Spelman’. Peter was pleased with his time of 4:28:29 which was a full 35 minutes quicker than his last French Marathon in 2017.

 

Manchester Marathon
Sunday 8th April

Sam Rahman ran nearer to home in Manchester in more typical April weather of cloud cover and light drizzle.
The race starts and finishes at Emirates Old Trafford ground, home of Lancashire Cricket club, and heads on out to Altrincham and back.
Despite his build up being hampered by injury he put in a solid run recording 3hrs 05 mins 07 secs for 603th out of the 20000 plus runners.

LBBD 10K
Dagenham
Saturday 7th April

On Saturday Ilford endurance coach Rob Sargeant laced up his trainers for the low key Barking and Dagenham Run4Life event of around 10k 
Run on a 2 lap course from the Civic Centre\Coventry University he recorded 58 mins 44 secs for a top 5 finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colchester Half Marathon
25^th March 2018

Steve Parker took part in the Colchester Half Marathon last Sunday.
The race starts at the impressive Colchester Football Stadium. Runners were treated to a short flying display by the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance before the mass start as a thank you for the money raised for one of the race charities.
The first half of the race is undulating & challenging.
The second part is flatter & Steve was happy that he saved something for the finish.
Steve came home in 1hr 40m 10s for 381^st place and 6^th M60 on the day.

London Landmarks Half Marathon
25^th March 2018

Club Captain Billy Green combined his love of London and Running to take part in the inaugural London Landmarks Half Marathon.
Runners started at Pall Mall, headed past Nelsons Column, Royal Courts of Justice and The London Eye. They continued past St Mary-Le-Bow church with the famous Bow Bells chiming before Zig Zagging around St Pauls Cathedral, The Bank of England and the Monument before hitting the most easterly part of the route outside the Tower of London.
The final 3 miles took runners along the Thames before hitting Big Ben and finishing by Downing Street.
Although slightly overcast, conditions were ideal for running and the entertainment along the route and huge crowds combined to make a great running experience
Billy was very pleased with his run and achieved a PB, breaking his previous best by a minute to finish in a time of 1:50:15. Billy was 1,645^th of 9,683 runners who completed the course.

European Masters Indoor Championships
Madrid
19^th-23^rd March

Ilford Super vet John Batchelor travelled to Madrid for the European Indoor Championships last week. Having experienced a severely disrupted journey to Madrid the 9:30am start for the 3000m on the Monday morning proved a challenge to John. After setting the early pace, John slipped back to finish 5^th in a time of 13:42, a minute slower than he had hoped.
The following Thursday evening in the 800m, at a far more amenable time, John was determined to make amends for his earlier failure and sensibly trailed his German opponent for the first 550m, at which point he took off like a rocket and by 700m, with only half a lap to go, had opened up an apparently unassailable lead of 60m on the rest of the field.
Then with 70m to go his legs suddenly buckled and he crashed to the track.  After three runners had passed him, he finally got to his feet to almost jog to the finish.
At 10m from the line the German suffered the same fate as John previously had and collapsed to the floor. This left John to pick up a bronze in a time of 3:06.

John observed that Madrid’s 2200 ft. altitude is pretty lethal once you go into anaerobic territory.
Overall though, whilst a little disappointed with how things had turned out, John enjoyed the whole experience and commented that the medals had gone to the right guys.

 

 

British Masters Indoor Championships
Lee Valley
10^th-11^th March

Ilford Super-vet John Batchelor managed to take four M75 golds this weekend in the British Masters Indoor Championships to match last year’s performance.

On Saturday John took the 400m in a time very close to last year’s performance with a start to finish blast in 74.61 seconds, and followed that with the 1500m in 5:54.87.
On Sunday John came close to beating the top M70, Rod Scholes, in an exciting 800m in which he moved from 5th to 2nd in the final 250m, taking the M75 title in 2:50.30.
By the 3000m race, one hour later, competing with very much younger and faster athletes, John was content to run towards the back of the field and clock close to a season’s best with 12:56.50.

In two weeks John starts a three-race campaign in the European Masters Championships in Madrid.

 

Milton Keynes 20
11^th March

With last weeks ‘Essex 20’ race cancelled due to the snow, Ilford AC runner Carlie Qirem travelled up to Milton Keynes to race over the 20 mile distance this weekend.

Carlie, in training for both the Paris and London Marathons in April, put on her ‘lucky socks’ and ran a steady race on her 20 mile debut.
The race starts in the City centre and travels down the dual carriageways out to a beautiful scenic countryside and back, and is always well supported with locals cheering on the runners and handing out jelly babies with plenty of music played on route.
For the most part the race is fairly flat except for a really cruel hill at mile 19 that takes you to the finish.

Carlie ran a consistent pace throughout the event, finishing in 2hrs 50mins 24 secs for 333^rd overall in a field of 939 and was 65^th female home of 365 female entrants.