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.

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE MATCH 3
Writtle
Saturday 13 January

The third leg of this winters Essex League was held in the grounds of Writtle College near Chelmsford. The course was mainly soft grass which caused some runners problems in the sticky muddy sections.
The senior ladies race was over 6 km and leading the challenge for Ilford Ac was Nicola Hopkinson in 46th place in 30 mins 16 secs, which ranked top of the F55 category.
Close behind in 49th was the improving Carlie Qirem with 30 mins 42 secs, while Anna Crawley placed 77th in 33 mins 11 secs.
Closing the teams scorers was Julia Galea with 36 mins 39 secs for 101th and 4th in the F55 grouping. Sharon Honey was 109th in 38 mins 01 secs and Launa Broadley, who finishes higher in each round in 114th and 40 mins 28 secs were the other Ilford team members.

Ilford ladies finished up as the 3rd division 2 team in this fixture and with one match remaining are still top of the table and are aiming for promotion back to the top tier. The club are also doing well in the individual rankings in the F55 category with Nicola Hopkinson 1st, Dianne Crisp 2nd and Julia Galea 4th.

The senior mens race was a 8km event and the ever reliable Malcom Muir led the way for the Ilford squad in 23rd spot, and 3rd M40 age group runner to finish in 30 mins 50secs. Paul Holloway showed great form in 30th with 31m 23s and was placed 4th in the M40 category despite being at the top end of the age group. Sam Rahman came home in 33m 17s for 68th with Neil Crisp two places behind in 33m 39s.John Crawley finished 73rd with 34m 01s and the last Ilford scorer was Seb Parris, just back in action following a hernia operation in 90th with 35 mins 16 secs.

In the match the mens team placed 8th in division one and are 7th in the table for the overall season.

Tony Nixon rolled back the years to be the top M70 in action in 107th with 36 mins 16 secs.

Also representing the club were: Dennis Briggs (141st 39.25) Steve Cheal (162nd 41.13) Tony Young (165th  42.01) Bill Green (181  43.51) and Satha Alaga (193rd 45.40)

Ilford AC Boxing Day Handicap
Hainault Forest
December 26th 2017

A record field of 23 brushed off the Turkey and Christmas hangover’s to toe the line for the 9th annual Ilford AC Boxing day handicap. The overnight rain had turned the course into the usual swamp and choice of footwear was completely irrelevant.

The idea of the handicap is that the slower runners go off first at varying time intervals and the fastest runner goes off last and tries to catch everyone, unfortunately time constraints meant the course was not marked or marshalled. A few people were unaware of the course and made up their own route.

First off were Sharon and Roger Honey, with Roger being a former 110m hurdler the race was slightly over distance, they were followed by Julia Galea, Sally Gillam and Pauline Tester.  New member Anna Crawley off 4 minutes made a good start. The Hick family had dominated the race the last two years, and young Aaron aged just 9 was competing in the race for the first time. Eventually after 20 minutes the last runner Paul Grange of Havering went off.

The on course report suggested that Satha was struggling with the mud, Jak Wright had lost one of his shoes and at a certain point of the course everybody had chosen their own route. Meanwhile back at the front of the race Anna was making the most of her generous handicap and had moved into the lead. Further down the field young  Aaron was passing people and Stephen Philcox was moving the fastest.

Anna held onto her lead to win by 41 seconds, from Sally Gillam, closely followed by Pauline Tester.
First male home in  5th place was former winner Alun Jones and another former winner Matthew was the first of the Hicks home, closely followed by younger brother Aaron. Steve Philcox turned out to be the fastest of the day  for 15th

Witham Boxing Day 5
Witham
Tuesday 26th December 2017

Malcolm Muir was one of three runners from Ilford AC in a 400 strong field contesting the Witham RC 5 mile run held over a rural course on a beautiful sunny Boxing Day morning.
Conditions were great apart from the slight headwind on the road out of Witham, however, this was compensated by slight wind ‘assistance’ on the final 2 miles back into Witham.

Malcolm, on the road to full fitness after a long injury still finished in 12th place overall clocking 28:10.
Nicola Chester was second home for Ilford in 293rd place clocking 46:17, followed by Malcolm’s sister Carol Muir in 330th place for 50:09

Ilford AC 10 mile Cross Country – (Race for Kev)
Hainault Forest
Saturday 30th December 2017
SENIORS

On Saturday Ilford AC hosted their winter showcase 10 mile cross country event on a cold crisp morning.

Over 70 runners were treated to the thick mud and hills that characterises most of the 3.3 mile course which is negotiated 3 times.
Overnight rain ensured the course would be slower than previous years, with just one runner, Thomas Payne, breaking the 1 hour barrier finishing in 58:34 and finishing 6 minutes ahead of his closest rival.

Ilfords first 3 runners finished in 3rd, 4th and 5th places.
First home was Paul Holloway in 1:05:20 for 1st VM40, followed by Stephen Philcox in 1:08:54 for 1st VM50 and John Crawley in 1:10:35 for 3rd Senior Male on the day.
With the race also doubling up as the clubs Cross Country Championships the three also picked up Club Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.
Also running in the mens team was Dennis Briggs 17th in 1:20:20, Billy Green 40th in 1:33:33 and Satha Alaga 55th in 1:43:55

Breege Nordin was the first Ilford lady home in 24th place 1:23:41 for 1st VF55 and club Gold medal.
Silver went to Nicola Hopkinson 31st place in 1:27:20 and 2nd VF55.
A well deserved Bronze went to Carlie Qirem competing in this race for the first time and finishing 33rd in 1:29:37 and second Senior female on the day.

Completing the ladies team were Anna Crawley 51st in 1:42:12, Julia Galea 56th 1:44:08 and Freida Keane 59th 1:47:15

The race is now held annually to commemorate Ilford AC stalwart Kevin Newell who unfortunately suffered a serious brain injury three years ago and now requires full-time care . A donation will be made from the race proceeds to a suitable charity. It is not only supported and promoted by his comrades at Ilford Athletic Club but many of his friends that he has made from the local running community and throughout the county also turn up to either run, volunteer, or just cheer on the runners in tribute to Kevin.

Ilford AC 10 mile Cross Country – (Race for Kev)
Hainault Forest
Saturday 30th December 2017
Juniors

Ilford Juniors had the option of running one lap, 3.3 miles, on Saturday.

Six Juniors took up the challenge.
First home was Aaron Samuel, who was actually in 2nd place over the entire field at the end of lap one. Aarons time was a remarkable 20:12.
Aaron was followed home by Jak Wright 22:04, Bradley Deacon 23:13, Matthew Hick 24:02 and Jordan Hinds 25:23.
Jack Hall, unfortunately, had to pull up with a twisted ankle half way around the course.