Press Report. 7th August 2018  

Aug 072018
 

Harold Wood 5km
Wednesday 1 August

The 5th round of this summer’s ELvIS series was run on a warm Wednesday evening over a tough hilly course in Harold Wood park and adjoining Poges Wood.
Ilford AC entered a squad of 29 for the race and were led home by club junior Jak Wright in 4th spot in a good time of 17 mins 17 secs. Gary Coombes took the trophy for 1st in the M40 age category as he finished 9th in 18 minutes exactly, while Steve Philcox  was the next over the line to win the M50 grouping in 18 mins 14 secs. Sam Rahman came home 13th in 18 mins 31 secs and John Crawley recorded 18 mins 59 secs in 19th. The team scorers were completed by Danny Holeyman with 19 mins 31 secs for 28th.

The men’s team finished a close second to East London Runners and maintain that spot in the league table.

Carlie Qirem put in a fine performance to be the first Ilford lady home in 23 mins 14 secs to place 10th female. Bree Nordin was close behind in 12th with 23 mins 53 secs as she once again took the honours in the F55 category. Jenni Sheehan showed improved form finishing 16th in a time of 24 mins 11 secs. The next Ilford lady home was Natalie Crisp in 26 mins 20 secs for 32nd but as the rules of the competition are that each team must have at least 2 masters in their scorers she did not add to the team score. However, the team was closed by Sharon Honey in 39th spot with 26 mins 42 secs.

Despite being understrength with several team members unavailable the ladies put in a sterling performance to place Ilford 3rd in the match and are 3rd in the overall league table.

Other runners (with time and overall position):  Alan Pearl (78 22.38) Andy Catton (83 23.02) Dennis Briggs (97 23.50)  Bill Green (108 23.56) Steve Cheal (129 24.59) Satha Alaga (133 25.16)  Ernie Forsyth (136 25.10) Rob Sargent (163 26.36) Rachel Halpin (183 27.49)  Julia Galea (192 28.32) Frieda Keane (194 28.35) Adnan Karim (195 28.58)Ray Everingham (209  29.55) Doris Gaga (213 29.58) Carol Muir (230 31.48) James Huddart (233 32.40) Julie Gillender  (235 33.26) Pam Jones (246 35.13)


 

AJ Bell London Triathlon
Saturday 4th August

The AJ Bell London Triathlon takes place at the ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock and has a unique urban route, that allows participants to swim, bike & run past the iconic landmarks of London.
Over 11,000 participants took part in this years event over a variety of different distances over the weekend with 2 Ilford women, Nicola Hopkinson and Anna Crawley, taking part in the ‘Olympic distance’ which consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike ride and 10k run.
Both girls found the warm conditions hard, but enjoyed the day and were pleased with their efforts.

First to finish, with a cumulative time of 3:12:38 was Nicola Hopkinson who finished in 542nd place and second in her age group for the distance.
Her time was broken down as
1500m swim in 31:04
Transition time 05:01
40km Bike ride in 1:31:02
Transition time 02:38
10km Run in 1:02:55

Anna Crawley, competing in her first ever triathlon finished in 3:56:13 to finish in 1020th
Her time was broken down as
1500m swim in 42:36
Transition time 07:33
40km Bike ride in 1:50:03
Transition time 05:20
10km Run in 1:10:44

Norseman Xtreme Triathlon

Eidfjord, Norway
Saturday 4th August 5am

Seb Parris completed his first ironman length event in norway this weekend.  
Norseman is labelled the world’s toughest triathlon, only a balloted 250 competitors get the opportunity each year. This was sebs 3rd attempt to get in!!  
Its unique for its 3.8km cold water swim off the back of a car ferry at 5am (with orca whales this year!),10000 ft of mountain climbs over a 180km bike course and a 42km marathon with a 3000ft  mountain climb finish! It’s even more interesting as it was labelled ‘self supported’ meaning Seb had to bring a full support crew along for the grueling ride to change, fuel and prop him up.

He finished in 14 hours 28 mins and 49 seconds. 170th out of the 270 strong field.
Highlights were being 46th out of the water in a pb time, hitting 42 mph on a down hill during the bike leg and being on the run after hitting the famed zombie hill at 27 km (4 miles of 10% incline of over 2000ft) he even managed to run the whole last 10km and run across the finish line!

 

Ride London-Surrey 100
Sunday 29th July

The Prudential ride London-Surrey 100 is one of the most popular sporting events in the country with riders taking off in waves, leaving London’s Lee Valley Velopark from 5:45 am.

Ilfords Karen Kufuor took part in this years event which took part on a very unseasonal cold windy and very wet Sunday.

The 100 mile bike ride heads out towards Richmond Park in Surrey before heading back to the finish on the Mall via Leatherhead, Esher and Wimbledon.
In spite of the awful conditions Karen was very pleased with her time of 7:53:04

  Press Report Tuesday 31st July 2018  

Jul 302018
 

Davos Running Festival
Switzerland
Tuesday 24th – Saturday 28th July

Ilford AC member Peter Spelman travelled to Switzerland last week to take part in the Swiss Alpine Davos Running event.
The meet sees runners take part in a series of different races and trail runs and is often popular with tourists.

Spelman’s first race was last Tuesday when he took part in a 4k race on a hilly course around Lake Davos, in which the Ilford man finished as the fifth fastest M65 athlete in 27 minutes 35 seconds.

On Saturday, Spelman then took part in the K43 race, which was a 43k run through the Swiss Alpines that includes 1500m of climb.
Despite his lack of acclimatisation, he was very pleased to finish well within the cut off time of 10 hours, finishing in 7 hours and 57 minutes.

Summer Mile
London Marathon Community Track
Friday 27 July

A series of mile races were staged at the London Marathon Community Track, which is located next to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford on Friday evening. The athletes were fortunate that the heavy rain and thunderstorm passed just the meeting was to start.

Ilford Ac had 4 entrants in the event and Rob Sargent and Carol Muir lined up in heat 1. Rob came home in 13th spot in 7 mins 22.84 secs, with Carol 17th with 8 mins 41.30 secs. Bree Nordin ran in heat 2 and recorded 6mins 30.1 secs. The fastest Ilford runner on the night was Sam Rahman in the 8th race of the programme with 5 mins 05.95 secs for 12th spot

  Ilford AC Press Report 24th July 2018  

Jul 232018
 

NEWHAM HILLY 5
Hainault Forest
Wednesday 18 July


The annual Hilly 5 and latest round of the ELvIS competition was staged by Ilford AC in memory of popular club official and one time road and cross country team manager ‘Newman Sargent’ who lost his battle with cancer in 2002

The race is held over 2 challenging laps of an off road course, around the hills and trails of Hainault Forest.

The day was a good one for the host club as Tom Gardner ran an excellent race, in front position from the off, to win by over 90 seconds in 27 mins 49 secs.
He was backed up by the in form Gary Coombes in 4th place overall in 29 mins 46 secs, who also won the award for the 1st M40 to finish, and Steve Philcox in 6th place with 30 mins 25 secs to win the M50 category.  
Seb Parris had a strong race for 12th with 31 minutes and John Crawley came home 16th with 32 mins 08 secs. The scoring 6 were completed by Dan Holeyman finishing 22nd with 32 mins 31 secs.

The scoring 6 combined to win the match for Ilford AC although the club remain 2nd in the table behind East London Runners.

Next in for the men were was Will Crossley in 30th in a time of 33 mins 27 secs, Rohan Alexander in 33 mins 54 secs for 38th, Dennis Briggs 53rd  35.48, Wayne Hick 57th 36.12 Addy Patil 99th 39.04 Steve Parker 100th 39.09, Tony Young 113th 39.55 Adnan Karim 124th 41.29, Steve Cheal 125th  41.31, Ernie Forsyth 138th 42.27 and Ray Everingham 226th 50.54

The Ilford ladies were led by the in form Bree Nordin who was the 9th female home in 38 mins 21 secs and once again took the F55 category trophy. Supporting her were Gaye Young who was 12th female with 39 mins 38 secs and Nicola Hopkinson with 39 mins 50 secs for 16th female.
The team were completed by Jenni Sheehan finishing 20th female on the day in 41 mins 38 secs.

The scoring team of 4 were 3rd in the match are remain in the same position in the league table
Next home for the females was  Alison Sale 173rd 45.28, Anna Crawley 179th  45.51, Rachel Halpin 186th 46.47, Julia Galea 198th  47.50, Frieda Keane 213th 49.43, Doris Gaga 229th 51.47, Launa Broadley 232nd  52.39 and Natasha Mansouri 248th 57.50.

 

CATERHAM HALF MARATHON
Incorporating the British Masters Championship
Redhill Aerodrome
July 22nd July

Ilford Ac had six athletes competing in the British Masters Championship Half marathon held on a very challenging two lap undulating course on quiet rural roads from the Redhill Aerodrome on a hot summer’s day not designed for fast times and they came away with 4 podium places.

Sam Rahman finished 11th in the BMAF Championship and 15th overall to take the silver medal in the M35 category in 1 hr 23 mins 48 secs. Next home was Dennis Briggs who just missed out on the rostrum in 4th spot in the M40 group in 1 hr 38 mins 51 secs for 40th in the championship race. Club endurance coach Rob Sargent completed the mens team and just broke 2 hours finishing in 1 hr 59 mins 57 secs for 7th in the M60 age category. The team combined to take the bronze medal in the Masters Championship.

Gaye Young led home the Ilford ladies with 1 hr 47 mins 18 secs for 5th in the f\45 group, while Julia Galea came home with 2 hrs 18 mins 24 secs to take the bronze medal in the F60 age group. The team was closed by Frieda Keane in 2 hours 19 mins 39 secs in 6th in the F55 category. There was also a bronze for the ladies team in the British Masters Championship.

There were 5 other Ilford AC runners in the open race with Alan Pearl having a good run for 14th overall in 1 hr 46 mins 52 secs, while Tony Young came home in 1 hr 53 mins 37 secs for 140th.
Adnan Karim recorded 1 hr 56 mins 38 secs and Launa Broadley was delighted to show that her training is going well recording a personal best time of 2 hrs 22 mins 55 secs in 235th. Natasha Mansouri completed the squad in 249th for 2 hrs 29 mins exactly.

 

  Press Report 16th July 2018  

Jul 162018
 

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.

  Press Report. July 10th 2018  

Jul 092018
 

SCVAC Match 3 (Southern Counties Veterans Athletics Club)
Lee Valley
2nd July 2018

Match 3 was held at a sunny and hot Lee Valley on Monday. Ilford were going into this match in third place behind Enfield and Haringey and London Heathside.

The sprints were the 100m and 400m with the middle/long distance events being 1500m and 5000m finishing with the medley relay of 200m, 200m, 400m and 800m.

Field events were triple jump, discus and javelin.

Sam Malekout won his V35 100m race but with it being split over two runs his time of 12.2s placed him 2nd. His V35 discus of 24m 51 secured 4th.

Henry Ricketts covered V40 100m and his 13.4s gained 5th. A non-scoring V35 discus distance of 22m 84 placed him one place behind Sam in 5th.

Cliff Warren sprinted down the V50 100m in 14.2s for 6th in between his V50 triple jumps where his 10m 01 secured 2nd. He also covered the V50 400m where his time of 63.8s earnt 3rd place.

Gerald Daniel ran the V60 100m in 15.4s for 5th. He also ran the V60 400m in 77.0s for 3rd.

Wayne Hick after his recent 200m hurdles club record ran the V40 400m and his time of 65.2s grabbed 5th place.

The 5000m was run in the heat of the evening. Sam Rahman won the V35 race in 17.44.4s finishing 3rd overall. Steve Philcox in winning the V50 race also won the overall event in 17.23.8s. Edward (Ted) Skinner ran the V60 race coming home in 22.22.0s for 4th.

Seb Parris and Bradley Brown ran as non-scoring competitors finishing in 18.12.4s and 21.15.4 respectively.

In the 1500m Seb’s time of 5.01.9s in the V35 category was a PB and earned 4th place. Bradley Brown finished strongly in V40 for 6th with 5.35.5. Steve Philcox fought hard for second place in V50 in a time of 4.42.9s

Pete Whiting in the V35 triple jump finished in 4th with 7m 94.

Jim Harrison threw the javelin 28m 06 for 3rd in the V50 category and Roger Honey’s 24m 97 secured 2nd in V60.

The medley relay team of Henry, Jim, Sam M and Seb finished 4th in 4.17.8s.

The evening was won by London Heathside with 142 points. Enfield and Haringey were second with 125 points just one point ahead of Ilford.

Going into the last match London Heathside are first with 368.5, Enfield and Haringey are second with 364.5 and Ilford third with 343. Strong performances in the last match could still see a big enough point gain to pressure first and second place.

Thanks to Clare Levey for officiating.

The final league match is on 23rd July at Hemel Hempstead.

 

Felsted 10k
Sunday 8th July 2018

Gary Coombes once again ventured across Essex this week to take part in the Felsted 10k race which this year was celebrating its 20th year anniversary. The race is run on quiet countryside lanes and is known to be a fast, mostly flat course.

The hot and humid conditions meant that the race would be tougher than normal for the 412 participants. Gary started well but had to be at his best to keep the competition at bay as he battled hard to hold onto 10th place during the first few miles.

As the heat took its toll on some of the competition up ahead Gary managed a solid last 3k which eventually saw him secure 8th place in a time of 36.55 which was enough to pick up the v40 category 1st prize.