*ILFORD AC PRESS REPORT. JULY 3rd 2017*

Run-through Chase the Sun Victoria Park 10K
London Victoria Park
28 Jun 17*

Carlie Qirem continued her fine form this year by achieving a PB in this pleasant race at Londons Victoria Park.
Carlie was 142nd in a time of 48:54.
There were 360 finishers.

Fast Friday
Walthamstow
Friday 30 June

This track meeting is a series of 5000m and 10000m designed to encourage fast track running.
There were 2 Ilford athletes in action.
Ahmed Abdulle ran in heat 1 of the 5000m, was up with leaders throughout the race and finished in a new personal best time of 15mins 04.7 secs in 5th spot
In heat 2 of the 5000m Sam Rahman ran his usual well-judged race to come home 15th in 17 mins 28.3 secs.

Orion Forest 5
Chingford
Saturday 1st July

Four Ilford runners competed in the second of the series of three ‘OrionForest 5’ races last Saturday.
The 5 mile, multi terrain course is a challenging one with a couple of sharp inclines, but conditions were ideal for running on a dry but cool morning.
First Ilford runner home, in 44th place with a time of 36:41 was DennisBriggs, followed by Billy Green in 56th place in 38:25.
Leading the ladies home was Julie Gillender in 132nd place for 54:37, followed closely by the evergreen Pam Jones in 134th for 54:45

 

Brentwood 10km including the Essex Championship
Blackmore
Sunday 2 July

This 10km road race is held over rural roads from the Essex village of Blackmore, which included the Essex Championship with Ilford AC winning 4 individual medals..
Amin Koikai led the Ilford AC challenge in 8th spot in 34 mins 13 secs and taking the bronze medal in the Essex championship for the M40 category.
Next home, giving 100& as usual, was Malcolm Muir in 21st with 36m 18s. One place back was Steve Philcox winning the Essex M50 age group in 36m 23s. Sam Rahman ran steadily to record 37m 12 for 29th and Neil Crisp gave a creditable performance in 41st, and 6th Essex M50, with 38m 40s.Terry Knightley came home 47th in 39m 03s and there was a bronze Essex medal for Declan Cullen in the M60 group as he came home 102nd in a new personal best time of 43m 59s Steve Parker was the 6th M60 home with 45m 09s for 121st.

The Ilford ladies team was fronted by Zuzana Sinalova in 149th place overall with 47m 10s. She was backed up by Nicola Hopkinson in 161st with 48m 05s and Dianne Crisp with 49m 33s for 183rd and the silver medal in the Essex F55 category. Julia Galea recorded 56m 48s in 258th, Frieda Keane 58m 32s for 268th and Pam Jones finished 292nd with 64m 39s. There were 311 finishers

 

*Newham 10k
Olympic Park
Sunday 2nd July*

Nine Ilford AC runners competed in this iconic 10k race which takes runners past all the major venues in the Olympic Park before finishing inside the Olympic stadium.
Whilst the Olympic Park offers great views for the runners it offers very little shade, which made it a tough run on a hot morning.
Star of the morning was Ahmed Abdulle, who followed up his 5k PB on Friday with a 10k PB on Sunday.
Not only was Ahmed first Ilford runner home he was also the event winner in a time of 32:48, beating his nearest rival by almost 2 minutes.
Second Ilford runner home, just 951 places behind Ahmed was club captain Billy Green in 48:58 closely followed by Anthony Young,1047th in 50:14.
The Ilford contingent then all came in thick and fast with Rhoan Gabbidon, 1375th in 51:48, Adnan Karim, 1410th in 52:00, Alan Pearl 1455th in 52:13, Carol Muir 3,917th in 1:04:50, Natasha Mansouri 3,955th in 1:05:05 and Brennie Gabbidon 5,481st in 1:19:13.
There were over 7,000 finishers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Counties Senior Inter County Match
Kingston
2 Jul 17

Two Ilford race walkers represent their county.

Ilford AC members Sebastian Parris (Essex) and Mark Culshaw (Middlesex) both put in excellent times in the 3km race walk for their respective counties at the senior 8 inter county track and field match on Sunday.

A long trip to west London at host surreys kings meadow athletic stadium and in hot conditions saw both men record good times.
In the A string Seb finished 3rd male in a pb of 16.01 and Mark recorded a seasons best of 16.34 to claim 4th.
Strong performances from the club helped the counties no end.
Essex men took 1st team and Middlesex men took 2nd team. On the day Essex were narrowly pipped into 2nd place in the combined gender overall prize with Middlesex finishing 4th.

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*ILFORD AC PRESS REPORT. 20th JUNE 2017*

Veteran’s AC 5 MILE Championship
Battersea Park
13th June 2017

*Five runners, five medals over 5 Miles*

On a warm June evening at Battersea Park 5 Ilford AC athletes raced in the 5 Mile Championships and every one came back with a medal.
In 5th place and 1st M50 was Steve Philcox in 29:06, 18th place and 1st V60 was Steve Parker in 36:29 and 21st place and 3rd M60 was Ed Skinner in 37:28.
For the Ilford ladies in 27th place and 1st W50 was Nicola Hopkinson in 39:03 followed by Pam Jones in 40th place and 1st W80 in 51:29

Southern Athletics league Track meeting
Bury St Edmunds
17th June 2017

*Ilford go fourth*

For the first time this summer Ilford were greeted with hot weather for their third southern league match of the season at Bury St Edmunds. For many of the young athletes it was their first coach trip to a League match.
After two very tough first fixtures, this match offered Ilford the chance of finally beating another team.

On the track the meeting started with the 400m hurdles, and as one of the athletes was stuck in traffic, young Mungo Prior stepped into the breach to run in his first ever hurdle race, he did brilliantly to not only take second place, but edge his own Coach Wayne Hick who took 5th place, but more importantly second place in the B string.

In the women’s 800m, Ilford’s reliable pairing of Krystle Balogun and Jordan Hinds was reunited. For once Krystle did not have to lead the race and was content to sit in behind the Luton athlete, and was poised to move down the home straight, but the Luton athlete was surprisingly strong and Krystle suffered a rare defeat.
Just back in training after exams Jordan was content with winning the B string. In the men’s 800m Jack Maher took 3rd in the A string in 2.11.7 and Tom King 3rd in the B string in 2.17.7

Conditions were perfect for sprinting and, in the women’s 100m Efe Adjarifo had a great run to finish 5th in a time of 13.4. The men’s saw some very good sprinting with Dan Wheeler running a PB of 11.6 to take 3rd in the A string. Even quicker was Temi Adeoshun who also ran a PB of 11.3 for 2nd place in the B string.

Krystle was again in action in the women’s 400m and again was narrowly defeated, but was content in having a run a PB of 59.3. On the men’s side Team captain Simeon Balson Jones was back from injury and produced a powerful run to win the A string in 50.3. He was backed up by Vignesh Rameshbabu in the B string who came 2nd in 53.3

Onto the long events which was a 3000m for the women and a 5000m for the men. In the women’s race Nicola Hopkinson gained valuable points in finishing 4th in a time of 13.34.2. Ahmed Abdulle and Malcolm Muir contested the 5000m, and whilst Ahmed went with the leaders, Malcolm was content to run to win the B string. Ahmed was eventually beaten by a very good athlete from Victoria Park, but ran seasons best of 15.40.4. Malcolm’s plan worked to perfection as he won the B string in 17.09.6

Ellie Wright was the A string in the women’s 200m and ran her third PB of the season in running 27.5 for 3rd place. Efe was back in action in the B string running 29.3 for 3rd. On the men’s side Uche Egborn fresh from exams ran a PB of 23.4 for 3rd place and Dan Wheeler set his second PB of the day in winning the B string in 23.5.

Ahmed took to the track again for the 1500m, and after running the 5000m, he held himself back and worked his way through the field to eventually finish 2nd in 4.16.6. Jack Halil struggled a bit in the heat, but still took 3rd in the B string.

The final individual track event was the steeplechase and fresh from his run the hurdles, Mungo Prior led from the off and proceeded to run away from the field, he eventually won by 50 metres and set his third PB of the week. His winning time was 6.51.4. Malcolm Muir again ran for the team, but this time had to settle for 2nd place in the B string with 8.36.3.

Such was the depth of the team that some athletes had to do non scoring events in the non scoring 100m, Anthony George ran a PB of 12.3 and new member Qeda Clarke-Jones ran 12.5. In the non scoring 200m PBs were run by Temi Adeoshun in 23.5, Vignesh Rameshbabu in 24.3 and Krystle Balogun in 26.7

In the field events Dan Wheeler was slightly below par, but still managed 1metre 70 in the High Jump for 2nd place. He was backed up by Simeon Stuart who cleared 1m 50 for 3rd in the B string. Ellie Wright was Ilford’s only lady to do a field event and she cleared a PB of 1m 30 for 3rd Place.

Simeon was back in action in the Long jump where his 5m 78 was seasons best, but was only good enough for 4th place. Anthony George did the B string Long jump and managed 5m 22 for 5th in the B string. Anthony then switched to specialist event the Triple Jump and managed 12m 62 for 4th place. Sam Malekout was as ever very busy after jumping 10.80 to win the B string Triple jump; he managed to borrow a pole from Victoria Park and proceeded to clear 2 metres for 2nd place in the Pole Vault.

Prior to these events Sam had competed in the shot putt where he came 5th with 8m 70, the discus where he was 5th in 26.89 and the Javelin where he was 4th was 36.40. Tom King was Ilford’s B string javelin thrower and threw an impressive 31.94 for second in the B string.

The remaining throws were covered by Pete Whiting and Neil Johnstone. Pete began with 6.53m for 5th in the shot and then 16.55m for 5th in the hammer. Whereas Neil threw 15.58 for 4th in B string Hammer and 14.04 for 5th in the B string discus.

The final events were the relays, in the women’s 4x 100; Efe gave Ilford a great start, before handing over to Jordan who maintained their position.
Ayshah ran the third league and is beginning to make this leg for own, she powered round the bend bringing Ilford into contention. Ellie bought the team home in 3rd place in a season’s best time of 55.1

In the men’s short relay Uche led the time and had a great, before handing over to Temi, who was making up ground along the back straight. Anthony ran the third leg and had a great change over to Dan, who went past the Woodford, runner but was just unable to catch the Victoria Park athlete and had to settle for 2nd place in 45.5.

On to the Women’s 4x 400 relay, Jordan ran he customary first leg, and although lacking in training, she gave everything with an excellent split of 65.5 to bring the team in first. Ayshah is not really a 400m runner, but she went off very fast maintain the lead, although she slowed over the last 50m, she kept the team in first place and ran a great 71.8. Next up was Ellie who stretched the lead with a solid 65 sec split. Krystle could have taken it easy, but that’s not in her nature and she pushed it the whole way with a 60.8 split to bring the team home first in 4.23.1

The final event was the men’s 4x 400 and Uche gave Ilford a great start, coming home in 3rd position. Vignesh was on the second leg and he immediately moved into second place and began to catch the leader, by the end of the leg, Ilford were just in the lead. Anthony ran the 3rd league and despite a great dropped back to 3rd. Simeon was on the last leg and flew round, moving Ilford up to second, but was not quite able to catch Victoria Park. The team’s time was 3.35.9.

When the final points were announced Ilford placed 4th with 196 points, which is their highest points total since re-joining the league. They have already nearly matched last season’s match points total after only three fixtures.

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*ILFORD A.C PRESS REPORT 5th JUNE 2017*

*Orion Forest 5. Chingford Saturday 3rd June 2017*

 

On a very warm Saturday morning, 6 Ilford AC athletes were amongst the 177 runners lining up for the first of Orions 3 race ‘Forest 5’ summer series.
The undulating multi-terrain course follows a one lap route around Epping Forest.
Leading the Ilford men home, and placing first in the M50 category was Stephen Philcox with a time of 30:41 for 16th place.
Next home was Dennis Briggs in 67th place in 37:05 with the mens team closed by Billy Green in 103rd place in a time of 41:37.
The women were led by Julia Galea who placed 140th in 47:07 followed closely by Julie Gillender who continues to improve in a time of 53:38.
The ladies team was closed by the ever popular Pam Jones, fittingly wearing the No 1 race number who placed 172nd in a time of 55:20 for 1st W75 placing.
In the 3rd race of this series last year Pam raced on her 80th Birthday, and improved her time by almost a minute this year.

*Moulton Open 5 Mile race walk Saturday 3rd June 2017*

*ILFORD WELCOME BACK FORMER STAR*

Ilford AC contested the annual Moulton Open 5 Miles’ Walk on an out-and-back course in the quiet Suffolk countryside on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Pride of place for the Cricklefields-based Club was recent signing Mark Culshaw who finished 4th in good class 51 strong field, clocking 47 minutes and 47 seconds.
Ilford’s next finisher, in 15th position, was former President Brian Armstrong who became the youngest holder of this office when aged only 29 in 1977. Now a veteran who has recently retired and moved to Frinton-on-Sea, Armstrong appeared for his first walking race in over 5 years, having done some training along the seafront at his new location.
He was rewarded with an excellent time 51.52, which drew praise from colleagues and rivals alike.
In 17th spot came Kevin Marshall with 52.18 on the stopwatch. Currently the UK’s No.2 walker over 100 miles, a mere 5 miles was well below his best distance!
The team were closed in by stalwart Bob Dobson in 58.32.