Press Report 23rd September 2024  

Sep 232024
 
National Cross Country Championship
Shropshire

The 2024 National Cross Country Championships were held this year at Weston Park Shropshire.
The men’s race consisted of a really tough, hilly 3 x 4k laps.
Only one Ilford athlete was prepared to put themselves up against the best cross country runners in the Uk, and that was Jim Tilbrook who was very pleased with his time of 1 hour 12 minutes and 58 seconds which placed him 505th on the day

Valentines Park 5km (ELVIS)
Ilford

The concluding race of the 2024 ELVIS series was held on a flat fast course in Ilford’s Valentines Park.
Ilford entered a remarkable 31 runners, which resulted in both our men’s and women’s teams gaining 1st place on the day

First home for the men was Samuel Crane in 3rd place with a time of 17:10, Josh Adler came in very soon after in 17:36 for 6th place and Chris King was in 9th and 2nd Senior Male with 17:46.
In 11th, 12th and 13th place respectively were Stephen Philcox 17:49, Malcolm Muir 17:59 and Berekhet Berakhy completing the scoring team also recording a time of 17:59.
These 3 were also 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the M50 age category on the day.

With 6 runners in the top 13, all recording a sub 18 minute 5k, it truly was a great day at the office for Ilfords men, finishing 1st on the day and 2nd in the final league table

Leading the ladies home was Jordan Hinds, placing 5th female on the day in a time of 20:23. Jordan was backed up by Gemma Ellender in 11th place for 22:02, Leila Lauder in 12th place in 22:07, Carlie Qirem in 18th in 22:52, Breege Nordin in 20th in 23:47, which placed her first VF60,  with Alison Sale completing the women’s team of 6 coming home in 24:29 to claim 26th place.
A very good day for the ladies, claiming their first victory of the 8 match season and securing 4th place overall for the 

As well as the first, second and third M50 winners and first FV60 winner, Ilford AC also picked up the following prizes on the day:-

1st, 2nd and 3rd M60 prizes – Neil Crisp 28th 19:33, Dave Thomas 40th 20:13 and Steve Chissell 42nd 20:28
2nd VM70 – Andy Catton 88th 23:25
2nd VF60 Pauline Tester 110th (29th female) 24:52.

With the season reaching its conclusion, the following prizes will be awarded at next months awards night, with results based on the individuals best 6 of the 8 races:-

Stephen Philcox – 1st VM50
Danny Holeyman – 2nd VM50
Steve Chissell – 1st VM60
Neil Crisp – 2nd VM60
Dave Thomas – 3rd VM60
Andrew Catton – 1st VM70
Dianne Crisp – 2nd VF60

Ilford’s other runners on the day were:-

Ryder Islam 26th 19:25, Samuel Joseph 33rd 19:45, Tarik Qirem 51st 21:28, Adam Coals 57th 21:49, Aron Berhe 59th 21:57, Stephen Lacey 61st 21:55, Leila Lauder 65th 22:07, Stephen Crane 84th 23:03, Anthony Young 87th 23:23, Dianne Crisp 158th 28:19, Fabrizio Stefanoni 175th 29:35, Launa Broadley 188th 31:18 , Julia Galea 196th 31:57 and  Renee Chissell 203rd 33:07

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  Press Report 17th September 2024  

Sep 172024
 

PLESHEY HALF MARATHON (Incorporating the Essex Championship)

The Essex Half Marathon Championship was held in conjunction with the Pleshey half marathon for the 11th consecutive year.

The race from the village green in the picturesque village is held over rural roads on a rolling course and was held in warm conditions.

Ilford AC had 10 runners among the 300 or so finishers and came away with a handful of county medals.

Sam Rahman led the way for the club in 20th spot with 1:17:41 to claim a bronze medal in his age grouping. Next home was Stephen Philcox in 37th place in 1:23:03 to gain a silver medal in his age grouping. Next home was Danny Holeyman in 45th place in 1:23:57 followed  by Richard Woolterton in 1:26:41 for 61st and Diarmuid MacDonnell in 1:29:11.

Third medal of the day went to Steve Chissell who claimed a Bronze medal in his age grouping, coming home in 1:32:37 for 83rd place.

Terry Knightley was next home in 92nd place for 1:34:37, followed by Alan Pearl in 1:39:42, followed just one place and 2 seconds later by Tarik Qirem.
The squad was completed by Dennis Briggs, who came home in 121st place in a time of 1:41:29


DEDHAM 10K

Also running in Essex was Billy Green, who was Ilford AC’s sole representative in the Dedham 10k. The race, in its 30th year runs through Constable country in Essex and offers a very scenic, but challenging, hilly course.
Billy placed 114th, with a time of 50 minutes 54 seconds.


CAUSEWAY COAST HALF MARATHON

Further afield, John Crawley represented the club in the Causeway Coast half marathon.
The course traverses the Causeway Coastal Path and takes in some of the best scenery and trail running Ireland has to offer. A mix of terrain, from rocks, gravel and sand to mud, grass and seaweed with some steep climbs thrown in for good measure.
Given the difficulty of the course, John was pleased with his time of 1:47:33, which placed him 11th in a field of over 500.

  Press Report 10th September 2024  

Sep 092024
 

Southern Counties Veterans Athletic Club Final

Last Saturday, the Ilford Vets team travelled to Oxford for the 7 team finals day against the other divisional winners.

The day was going to be a test with a small team and athletes having to come down age groups to cover the middle distance events.

Sam Malekout had a busy start to the day covering 3 field events as M35 all scheduled for the same start time. He finished fourth in the long jump, seventh in the hammer and sixth in the pole vault where he injured his calf. In between the field events he also competed in the A string 100m finishing fifth. Despite the injury he also finished sixth in the shot, fourth in the discus and second in the javelin also as M35.

Akwasi Nkrumah was A string in the 200m, 400m and 800m finishing sixth, sixth and fifth respectively. In the B string 100m he finished fifth and second in the triple jump.

Chris Scott covered the B string 200m, 400m and 800m finishing sixth, fifth and third respectively.

Fabrizio Stefanoni ran the A string but placed as B string 1500m and 3000m finishing third and fourth respectively. He also ran over 800m as M50 finishing fourth.

Malcolm Muir ran B string but placed as A string 1500m and 3000m placing fifth and seventh.

Michael Osunsami ran the M50 sprints finishing seventh over 100m, 200m and 400m and placed fourth in the M50 high jump

Neil Crisp came down an age group to cover 1500m and 3000m M50 placing seventh and sixth.

Henry Ricketts covered most M50 field events finishing fourth long jump, sixth triple jump, sixth shot, fifth discus and fifth javelin. In the M35 high jump he placed sixth.

James Lambden as M60 finished fifth in 100m and seventh in 400m. He placed sixth in the high jump and fourth in the long jump.

Peter Whiting in the M60 discus and javelin placed sixth in both. In the M50 hammer he again placed sixth.

David Butler coming down an age group ran the 1500m and 3000m as M60 finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Winners on the day were Wesley Clarke in M60 hammer, Steve Crane M35 walk and Steve Uttley M50 walk. Ernie Forsyth finished an impressive fourth in M60.

The 4 x 100m relay team of Henry, Michael, Chris and Akwasi finished seventh and the 4 x 400m relay team of Akwasi, Michael, Chris and Fabrizio finished sixth.

The team performed admirably to finish sixth on the day.

Huge thanks to Steve C and Ernie for helping with field judging all day other than when they were walking and to Claire Levey as track judge throughout the day.

Thanks to all the athletes over the season who competed for the team resulting in 3 match wins and then the finals day.

If you’re interested in vets athletics for next season, please get in touch. We are eager to welcome all age groups especially the younger age group and ladies to form a team.


THE VITALITY BIG LONDON HALF

Five Ilford runners were amongst the 10,000 runners who took to the streets of the Capital in The Vitality Big London Half Marathon.

The race starts by Tower Bridge and finishes at the Cutty Sark, passing by some of the greatest sights our capital has to offer.

First male and female finishers for the club, despite not running together, finished within 25 seconds of each other. Steve Chissell finished in 1 hour 36 minutes and 23 seconds, placing 7th in his age group very closely followed by Zuzana Sinalova in 1 hour 36 minutes 48 seconds.

Coincidentally the next 2 runners also finished very close to each other whilst not running together. Nick West finished in 1 hr 54 mins 05 secs, followed by Stephen Lacey in 1 hr 54 mins 26 secs. Closing the team out was Karen Kufour who was pleased with her effort, coming in at 3 hours 8 mins 27 secs.


DORNEY LAKE HALF

Situated just outside Windsor, Dorney Lake hosted the 2012 London Olympics rowing events and provides a wonderful backdrop for running events.

Sam Rahman of Ilford AC, who is currently training for the Chicago marathon, showed how well his training is going by running a 9 year PB to finish in 3rd place overall in a time of 1 hour 18 mins 08 secs.


THE GREAT NORTH RUN

Three Ilford AC runners made their way north to Newcastle for this year’s Great North run, joining in excess of 60,000 others running the 13.1 miles from Newcastle down to the coast at South Tyneside.

The race set off in typical geordie, late summer weather. It was wet and miserable. 

Leading the trio home was Tony Young, returning to his native North East, coming home in 1 hŕ 53 minutes 56 seconds, closely followed by Nick West in 2 hours 4 minutes 07 seconds.

Georgina Carney was very pleased with her time of 3 hours 17 minutes 20 seconds, which was a personal best for her over the distance.


TAKELEY 10K

The Takeley 10k is an off-road countryside race that starts along the Old Disused Railway Track and finishes back at the Takeley Silver Jubilee Hall. 

This yearly event is to raise funds towards the redevelopment of the Village Hall and Sports & Social Club in Takeley.

This year Mandy Reid was Ilfords sole representative, and she was pleased to place 16th in her age category in a time of 59 minutes 34 seconds

  Press Report 3rd September 2024  

Sep 022024
 

The Essex Way Relay 2024

The Essex Way relay is held on the first Sunday in September every year and covers 82 miles of ancient trails, footpaths, and countryside across Essex starting from Epping Station at 8am and finishing after 6pm at the Harwich Old Lighthouse in a 10 stage relay.

This is one of the County’s premier events with 82 teams from across Essex and beyond competing.

Ilfords squad this year consisted of :-
Leg 1 Epping to Chipping Ongar Seb Parris,
Leg 2 Chipping Ongar to Good Easter Frieda Keane and Alison Sale,
Leg 3 Good Easter to Little Leighs Danny Holeyman,
Leg 4 Little Leighs to Cressing Malcolm Muir,
Leg 5 Cressing to Great Tey Jim Tilbrook,
Leg 6 Great Tey to West Bergholt Sharon Honey,
Leg 7 West Bergholt to Dedham Neil Crisp,
Leg 8 Dedham to Bradfield Billy Green,
Leg 9 Bradfield to Ramsey Dianne Crisp,
Leg 10 Ramsey to Harwich Mandy Reid 

Of the 82 competing teams Ilford AC finished in 16th place overall and 10th in the vets category.
At the end of the race it is tradition for some of the runners and support crew to meet up at the end of the last leg for a Fish and Chip supper as reward for the days work.

With the logistics of running a relay cross country, especially getting people back to their cars, the club were grateful for the support of Robin Davis,  Roger Honey, and Catherine Green

 

BARKING PARK 5km

The penultimate round of this year’s Elvis competition was held over the unusual twisty but fast course in Barking Park

Leading the way for Ilford AC was Sam Rahman in an excellent 9th place in 17 minutes exactly. Chris King was next home in 17 mins 27 secs for 14th and Josh Adler was 16th in a new personal best of 17 mins 35 secs. Steve Philcox was first in the M50 age category in 17th with 17 mins 41 secs. Next home was Fabrizio Stefanoni in 17 mins 59 secs for 20th and U20 Sam Crane completed the scorers in 18 mins 07 secs.

In the match Ilford finished 2nd  and are 3rd in the league with one match to go.

Further down the large field there were new best times for the distance for Michael Perkins (21 mins 04 secs) and Batmanaden Ramen (25 mins 02 secs) whilst Joel Denning equalled his personal best of 19 mins 20 secs, and Neil Crisp was the 1st in the M60 age group in 19 mins 19 secs.
Steve Crane race-walked the event in 28 mins 34 secs.

Leading the way for Ilford ladies was Jordan Hinds with a fine 4th place in 19 mins 11 secs in the female section of the race. Anna Crawley came home 12th with 21 mins 30 secs and another of the club’s U20 athletes Leila Lauder set a new personal best of 22 mins 42 secs in 21st.
Alison Sale recorded 23 mins 49 secs for 30th and one place behind was Bree Nordin with 23 mins 52 secs which won her the F60 age category prize. Pauline Tester completed the team in 42nd place with 24 mins 48 secs.

In the match the Ilford team placed 5th and sit 4th in the league after this match.

 Also representing Ilford in the match were:  Paul Holloway (23rd 18.10)  Ryder Islam (36th  18.54)  Dan Holeyman (39th  19.02)  Diarmuid Mac Donnell (44th  19.18)  Steve Chissell (60th 20.09)  Dave Thomas (65th  20.32)  Tarik Qirem (73rd  21.08)  Bradley Brown (78th  21.16)  Steve Lacey (90th  21:58)  Tony Young (104th  22.33)  Dennis Briggs (107th  22.40)  Andy Catton (113th  22.53)  Sean Costello (167th  25.09)  Mandy Reid (186th  26.18)  Dianne Crisp (209th  27.25)  Jimmy Huddart (220th  28.05)  Freida Keane (235th  29.46)  Rob Sargent (247th  30.00)  Julia Galea (273rd  32.08)

 

  Press Report 27th August 2024  

Aug 272024
 

Southern Athletics League 4 (SAL)

16/08/24

Going into the final league match of the season Ilford AC were at real risk of relegation. The whole club came together from first year under 17s to seasoned veterans to pull off a brilliant result of equal 4th place on the day which meant that we stayed in the 2nd division for another season.

Thanks must go to team managers Wayne Hick and Gary Floate who have done the job for ten years built the team, gained promotion and kept us up.

In the league athletes who are willing to go above and beyond, do multiple events and try new events make a real difference to the squad. 

Five athletes who have done this, this season and scored over 35 individual points across the season are Sam Malekout, Jordan Hinds , Anna Crawley, Krystle Balogun and Dan Wheeler. Sam scored an excellent 14 points in this match including a valuable 5 points with 2.15 in the pole vault. Jordan had another excellent day in middle distance the highlight being her 2nd place in the 1500m after already doing the 400 and 800.Finally Anna Crawley again went above and beyond her highlight being 3rd in the 1500m on the day. Krystle and Dan were unavailable on the day but we are very grateful for their contribution this season

Eight more athletes finished the season with 20 or more individual points. Peter Whiting again filled in for throws and jumps with an excellent 3rd in the b string hammer on the day to score 29 points across the season. James Thake was disappointed with his 800m but returned with a PB (52.67) and third place in the 400m to finish his season with 27 points. Matching this points total across the season was Josh Adler who came 3rd in the steeplechase and Nat Senior who although injured completed in the shot put for third place. Also in the 400m Oliver Blainey came 2nd and finished the year with 20 points. Adaeze Oyem had a brilliant second year in the team, Adaeze has an excellent attitude scored 25 points across the year and improved in every discipline her highlight of the match being her win the 100m hurdles b string. She was ably supported by Clare Thake in the throws who scored a valuable 21 points over the season. Finally Dylan Harrod was unavailable in the day but scored a very helpful 22 points across the season.

On the day we had many senior and veteran athletes making their season league debuts. Highlights were club captain Alison Sale track debut and the return of Zuzana Sinalova in the 5000m. Fabrizio Stefanoni won the b string steeplechase, Sam Rahman broke 10 minutes in 3000m and threw the Javelin. Versatile Rhys Edwards made a welcome return and ran a brilliant 65.35 in 400m Hurdles. Ellie Wright and Aleena Lawrence also had strong runs in the sprints

A massive contribution to the seasons has come from our development group. Regulars Stacey Kwarteng-Amaniampong and Marissa Osas-Bavis as usual performed well. They were well supported by excellent debuts from Renee Chissell (400m and Javelin), Bineta Keita (high jump and 100m), Victoria Ananwa (discuss and 100m), Sam Horsley (1500m), Jochebad Asante Antwi (100m and long jump), Mya Ward (800m and long jump) and Leron Kwame who ran a brilliant 11.48 in the 100m and had a great long jump.

Over the season 47 different athletes scoring the team, two great managers and fantastic officials and supporters thanks to everyone for their hard work.

WORLD MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIP
Gothenburg Sweden
Saturday 24 August

The 25th World Masters Athletics Championships continued in Gothenburg Sweden last week. On Tuesday morning the Cross Country took place over a grassland course in Slottsskogsvallen Park. Rob Sargent of Ilford AC took part in the M70 age group race of 3 laps of 2km. He ran steady for the first two laps but tired on the 3rd coming home 36th in 36 mins 52 secs.

On Saturday the half marathon took place in good conditions over 4 laps of the same tough 5.5km lap in the park.
Julia Galea from Ilford Ladies took part despite having been suffering from a chest infection during the week before the race. With this in mind and the stiff climbs on the course she ran a steady well judged race to finish 26th in 2hrs 30mins 04 secs in the F65 category. 
She was also placed in the Great Britain F45 team to fill a gap and the team were placed 4th in the team event.