*ILFORD AC PRESS REPORT. MONDAY 24th APRIL 2017*

*London ‘Mini Marathon’*

*Sunday​*
* April 2​3rd​ 2017*

*Hick Shines at Mini Marathon*

Ilford AC had 6 youngsters representing their borough in the prestigious
London Mini Marathon race, where the best athletes from clubs around the
country compete
​
.

Best performance of the day has to go to Matthew Hick.

Matthew came 32nd in a high quality u13s race and ran 18:21, which was a
personal best of over a minute and continues his impressive performances
over the last few weeks

In the u15s race Mungo Prior ran 17:56 for 84th, Farris Patel ran 18:33 for
102nd and Bradley Deacon 19:53 for 142nd

In the u17s girls Jordan Hinds came an impressive 47th in 20:20
considering she has missed a lot of training due to exams

Finally Katie Deacon ran 28:22 for 149th

*London Marathon*

*Sunday April 23rd 2017*

There was a good showing from Ilford AC in last Sundays London Marathon.

Leading the way for the club was Blair McWhirter who had a magnificent run
to finish 43rd in a new personal best time of 2hrs 22mins 38 secs, a
performance that puts on top of the New Zealand marathon rankings for this
year.

Next to finish was Amin Koikai with 2hrs 48mins 15secs which placed him
45th in the M45 category. Paul Holloway found the last couple of miles
tough as he came home in 2hrs 53mins 22secs.

Robin McNelis had a steady run with a 2hrs 54mins 34secs clocking. Neil
Crisp came home in 3hrs 21 mins 43secs, while Seb Parris was struggled in
the closing miles with 3hrs 38mins 16secs, although it was his best time
for 5years.

There were a trio of Ilford runners who set new best times for the
distance; Declan Cullen improved to 3hrs 31mins 07secs, Satha Alaga took 11
mins off his time for last year with 3hrs 48mins 58secs and Dennis Briggs
set a new pb by 46 minutes with 3hrs 42mins 43 secs.

Carli
​e​
Qirem was the only lady from the club in action recording 4hrs 13mins
49secs on her marathon debut

Ilford’s former Scottish International race walker Stuart Bennett chose
pedestrianism as his mode of progression and covered the distance in just
under 4 hours and 52 minutes in what was a sound performance from one
experienced over such distances. Peter Spelman closed out the squad with
4hrs 41mins 14 secs

…………………………………………….

A fantastic weekend for Ilford AC with medals, P.B’s and records a plenty.
Whilst medals are great I continue to thank everyone though that puts on an
Ilford vest and competes. Well done everyone and thank you

*British Masters 10km*
*Sunday 9th April*
Gravesend Cyclopark

A squad of 10 Ilford AC travelled to Kent to take part in the British
Masters 10km Championship held of 4 laps on the rolling Gravesend
Cyclopath. This masters only event, restricted to athletes over 35 years
old, had strong entry and was raced out on a sunny morning and saw Ilford
return home with six medals, 3 individual and 3 team.. Best for Ilford was
Terry Knightley who showed good form to finish 28th overall and 5th in the
M55 category in 40 mins 38 secs. Next home was Dennis Briggs who took an
incredible 9 minutes off his personal best recording 43m 44s for 47th and
5th in the M40 grouping. Steve Parker battled to 57th with 44m 45s for 6th
in the M60 age category. Tony Hyde was slowed by a bee sting midrace and
had to seek medical assistance but kept going to finish on 46m 08s (and a
medal place), and 65th Satha Alaganandasundaram set another new best time
as he came home in 47 m 06s. The mens squad was completed by club endurance
club rob Sargent in 94th with 52m 25s and 10th in the M60 category.

Best for the ladies was Nicola Hopkinson who finished 88th in 50m 09s and
just missed out on the podium with 4th in the F50 age group. Dianne Crisp
came home 92nd and won the bronze medal in the F55 grouping in 51m 23s
while Carol Muir took silver in the F45 age category in 103rd with 63m 42s.
The evergreen Pam Jones added to her tally of British titles with victory
in the F80 group in 67m 40s.

In the team competition the Ilford ladies won the British F45 title with a
team of Nicola Hopkinson, Dianne Crisp and Carol Muir., while there was
silver for the men’s M55 team of Satha Alaga, Steve Parker and Terry
Knightley. The club also took a bronze in the M35 group with Dennis Briggs,
Tony Hyde and Rob Sargent

*JUNIORS*
*Samuels break 36 year club record with Outstanding run*

A small number of Ilford AC youngsters competed at the Havering open
meeting on Sunday 9th April.
Aaron Samuel, who has come off a great x country season had his mind set on
breaking the Ilford AC club record that has stood for over 36 years.
Appropriately the previous holder of the record was one of Aaron’s coaches
Gary Float.
Aaron set off with an extremely fast first lap and was already 50 metres
ahead of the field
He continued his dominance for the remaining part of the race and sprinted
down the home straight to win in an outstanding 4:20.3,half a second inside
the previous record
This performance ranked Aaron currently 5th in the country over 1500m .

Another excellent performance came from Matthew Hick in the u13s 1500
Matthew took the race from the beginning to try and build a lead from his
competitors but came down the final home straight with a competitor next to
him. However Matthew found some extra strength and was able to beat the
Havering athlete and run a personal best of 5.11, more than 10 seconds
inside his best ever time

Mungo Prior, came off a hard winter to run an 800 m as his opener for the
season and ran a credible 2.16.

…………………………………………….

*World masters indoor championships*

* Daegu south Korea Thursday 23 march*

World championship week continues in Daegu, South Korea and on Thursday the
men’s 3000m was staged.

Ilford AC’s Rob Sargent ran in the M60 category. He ran a steady 15 laps on
the 200m track to come home in 12th in 14mins 16.21 secs.

*World Masters Indoor Championship
**Daegu south Korea
**Saturday 25 March*

The last day of the world masters indoor championship dawned overcast and
drizzled but dried out by the start at 8am of one of the outdoor events
staged at the games – The Half Marathon.

Ilford AC”s Rob Sargent was among the Brits entered in a field made up of
mostly Koreans.

The course was over 2 laps around the Daegu stadium where the 2011 IAAF
world athletics championships were staged.

Rob was running in the M60 age category where Poland were the favourites
for the team title from South Korea with Spain and GB battling it out for
the minor medal.

Rob started steadily aiming at 5 minute kilometres. He reached 8km in 39
minutes and halfway in 53. The second lap was tougher but he stuck to the
task finishing in 1hr 49 mins. 51 seconds for 28tn in the age grouping.

South Korea surprisingly beat Poland for the team title and the Brits took
the bronze medal lead by Paul Thompson of Cambuslang AC in Glasgow who won
the M60 individual title with Dulwich Runners Andy Murray next home and
Ilford.s Rob Sargent closing the team.

Rob was pleased with his run and to have helped GB to the place on the
rostrum

*Lee Valley Half Marathon Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Saturday 25th March
2017*

Closer to home Carlie Qirem competed in the ‘Lee Valley Half Marathon’ set
in Lee Valley’s Velo park, a normal home for cycling.
On this Moto GP styled one mile race circuit, nearly 200 athletes completed
just over 13 laps of short sharp hills.
Carlie was very pleased with her time of 1:49:36 which put her in 66th place
and placed her as the 6th fastest female on the day