Saucony English National XC Championships
Parliament hills Fields
Saturday 24^th February

A small contingent of Ilford Athletes made their way to the “Home” of Cross Country last Saturday. The course was a little drier than in previous years and the sun was out but the hills remained the same!!

In the Ladies race Launa Broadley & Sheila Sinclair, in their first National, started steady and completed the 8km course in 57:50 and 61:06 respectively. There were 1113 finishers.
This was a huge achievement for both Ladies and is the culmination of an excellent Winters Training. They now look forward to a great Spring now!!

In the Men’s race held over 12.5km, and after a very congested start, Malcolm Muir running strongly was first man home in 734rd [51:22]. He was backed up by Neil Crisp 1189^th [55:50] and Bradley Brown 2175^th [72:02]. There were 2328 finishers.

Many thanks to Robin, Pam and Dianne for their support and pictures.

Roding Valley Half Marathon
Sunday 25 February

On a bitterly cold Sunday morning over 400 lined up for the 35th Roding Valley Half Marathon on the usual challenging course around Woodford. The field included 4 entrants from Ilford AC, three of whom were running the distance for the first time.

One of the distance debutants was the first home for the club in 177th slot. Adnan Karim clocked a creditable 1hr 49 mins 16 secs for the 13.1 miles.
Two female Ilford runners were also first timers for the half with Frieda Keane finishing 327th, and 6th F50 category female, in 2h 09m 20s and Natasha Mansouri recorded 2h 17m 32s for 369th spot.
The Ilford quartet was completed by the experienced Peter Spelman with 2h 13m 24s in 2h 13m 24s, 11th in the M60 age group.

Brighton Half Marathon
Sunday 25^th February

 Over 13,000 runners braved the cold sea air for the Brighton Half Marathon this year.

Ilfords sole representative Carlie Qirem made the trip down south for the race as part of her London Marathon preparations, which continue to go well.
The race is run almost entirely along the seafront, on an out and back course which takes in local landmarks such as Brighton Pier, Brighton Marina and the Royal Pavilion.
A bracing wind, hilly course and large field means the race isn’t suited for PB’s, but even so Carlie was delighted with her time of 1:48:30 which placed her 2,047^th in the large field.

South of England and Vets AC Indoor Championships
Lee Valley
Sunday 25^th February

Ilfords super-vet John Batchelor won the M75 golds in both concurrent championships in all the three events I competed in last weekend.

John improved by 1 second over last week’s 800m time, placing fifth in an M60+ race in 2:55.33.
An hour later he took third place in an M70+ field in the 400m behind two younger specialists at the distance, improving by two seconds over last week with a time of 76.17 seconds. (Managing your age in seconds in this age sector is regarded as something of a landmark, so at 77 a reasonable achievement).

The 3000m, another hour later, at the end of the meeting, found John struggling with fatigue behind a field of rather younger runners, and he settled for a final time of 13:41 to take the M75 title.

Great Cornard parkrun
Saturday 24^th February

Another of Ilfords ‘super-vets’ Anthony Nixon did the Great Cornard Parkrun on Saturday.
Anthony finished 6th in 19.57 which takes him to the top of the UK over 70’s Parkrun rankings by 36 seconds

Anthony joins John Batchelor and Pam Jones to make it 3 Ilford vets who top the UK rankings for their age group events

ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Gloucester Park Basildon
Saturday 10 February

Ilford had a good day on Saturday at the final fixture in the this winters Essex League with the senior ladies regaining their place in the top division and the senior men finishing 3rd in their match on a muddy Basildon course which took in several climbs over the hill in Gloucester Park.

The men raced over 8km and Alex Richards led the way for the club in an excellent 7th spot in 29m 47s, supported by a good run from Tom Gardner in 11th with 30m 02s.

The ever reliable Malcolm Muir took 18th, and 2nd in the M40 group, in 30m 34s.
Steve Philcox came home 50th in 32m 36s with Seb Parris 60^th in 33m 41s and John Crawley closed the team scorers in 74th in a field of 188 finishers with 34m 18s.

Overall Ilford men placed 3rd in this round, their best result for several years, in the 12 team division 1.
In the masters competition the club finished 5th

Dennis Briggs was next home in 38m 19s for 112^th place, followed in 117th Andy Catton, who placed 2nd in the M60 category, in38m 43s.
Also in action were Steve Cheal (145th 41.17) Bill Green (166th 43.51) and Satha Alaga (181st 48.50)

For the ladies Carlie Qirem continued her fine winter form as she prepares for a spring marathon finishing 43rd in 28m 57s in the 6km race. Nicola Hopkinson was also running well as she finished 1st in the F55 category and 48th overall with 29m 29s and Bree Nordin came home 61st and 2nd in the F55 group despite a heavy cold in 30m 45s.
Anna Crawley completed the scoring Ilford team with 31m 50s for 69th. Frieda Keane finished 99th with 35m 56s and Launa Broadley completed the club squad in 109th with 39m 46s.

The Ilford ladies finished 2nd in their division 2 match and 14th on the masters competition.

For the season they placed 2nd in the second division and have been promoted back to the top tier for next winter, while in the masters section they recorded a 14th place finish

The men finished 7th in the league and hope to improve on that place next winter and were 6th in the masters section.

Over the winter the Ilford club placed well in several individual leagues. These are headed by Nicola Hopkinson winning the F55 section. Malcolm Muir placed 2nd in the M40 age group, Tony Nixon 2nd in the M70 category, Neil crisp 8th in the M50 group and Tom Gardner 5th senior man.

South of England XC Championships 
Stanmer Park, Brighton
Saturday 27th January

The South of England Cross-Country Championship was held at Stanmer Park Brighton on a cold, wet day on a muddy course which was very slippery as the mud had a solid base of hard chalk underneath.

Along with the Youngsters a few seniors also made the trip to the south coast.

Dianne Crisp, although short on training at the moment, and a fall towards the end, acquitted herself well over a two lap course [5 miles] which was becoming very testing as the rain started to fall over the second lap. She started steady and finished 295th [351 finishers] in 47:35.

Neil Crisp and Seb Parris were next up in the Senior Men’s race held over a testing 3 lap course [9 miles] with the rain very heavy now both paced their efforts and whilst Seb had a fall both were pleased with their runs with Neil [479th 71:29] just finishing ahead of Seb [532nd 73:28] in a field of 740.

A special thanks to Paul Holloway for his support in pretty horrendous conditions!!

INDOOR TRACK EVENTS

Two Ilford athlete’s Jack Maer and Krystle Bolagun took to the indoors at the weekend.
Jack who is based in Leeds travelled to the Sheffield indoor festival competing in the 800m, recording 2:02:4

Krystle competing at the other end of the country in the London game’s at Lee Valley finished 4th in the 400m in a season best of 61 seconds

RACE WALKING

Steyning AC Open 15k
Saturday 27th January

UNEXPECTED PRIZE FOR ILFORD WALKER

Saturday afternoon saw Ed Shillabeer wearing Ilford’s vest at a poorly supported annual Steyning AC Open 15K.
The race, held in the rural West Sussex countryside, got much worse for participants as the afternoon wore on, as light rain became heavier, leaving large puddles on the roads, and there was an ever-increasing southerly wind.
Nobody, bar Shillabeer, managed to maintain their pace throughout the distance.
There was a prize for the competitor having the closest times for their 1st and 2nd halves of the race – which Shillabeer won, being surprised to do so.
Overall he was 7th in 114 minutes and 1 second (57.36 at halfway).
It was Ed’s return to action after a longish injury setback.