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Press Report 15th November 2016

Nov 152016

British and Irish Masters Cross-Country International
Tollcross Park, Glasgow
Saturday 12 November

Ilford Ac’s Pam Jones was called up as a reserve for the strong England team for the International match, featuring England, Scotland. Northern Ireland, Eire and Scotland, held on a testing grassland course at Tollcross Park in Scotland. Pam ran in the open and reserves 6km race and ran a steady pace throughout the 3 lap race finishing strongly in 35 mins 53 secs for 25th spot. England were victorious in the match

Press Report 8th November 2016

Nov 082016

Dublin Marathon
30th October 2016

Ilford AC siblings Carol and Malcolm Muir both competed in the Dublin Marathon the previous weekend. Malcolm was really there mainly to support a great “sister act” by Carol who smashed her marathon PB by a massive 45 minutes. Carol was delighted with her time of 5hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds especially as only two months ago a knee infection had seriously curtailed her training. Malcolm for his part targeted the Father Collins parkrun the day before which he won easily in a speedy time of 16.47. As a result he suffered in the latter part of the following day’s marathon after going through halfway in around 1 hour 21 minutes. Nevertheless he still crossed the line in 3hours 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

Billericay 10k
Sunday 6th November 2016
On a cold and crisp Sunday morning, Ilford AC Super-Veteran Terry Knightley, was the sole club representative in the Annual Billericay Striders 10K Road Race.

Held over an undulating one lap course through the country lanes of Billericay, Terry finished in 46th position from a huge field of 750 entries in 40 minutes and 45 seconds and claimed 2nd position in the Male Veterans Over 50 category as he continued his recovery from a serious Back injury.

Terry won the race outright in 1998, however this year The race was won by Ryan Prout from Chelmsford AC.

World Masters Championships
Perth Australia – Sunday 6th November
The second week of the world masters championships in Perth saw the temperature rising to a high of 37C on Saturday. Fortunately it dropped for the road races the next day but was still in the high 20s for the finish of the half marathon despite a 7am start. Rob Sargent of Ilford AC put in a battling performance clocking 1hr 57mins 29seconds on the scenic course along the banks of the Swan river to take 20th in the M60 category and 5th Brit where the top 3 from GB combined to take the team gold medals.

Press Report 1st November 2016

Nov 012016

Essex XC League Hylands Park Chelmsford
Saturday 29th October

The second match of the Essex Cross Country League was contested at Hylands Park Chelmsford last Saturday with Ilford AC slightly down on numbers but still having a representation through the age groups. The unseasonably fine weather continued to provide dry courses free from mud with conditions ideal for the speedsters.

In the junior races Mathew Hick and Mario Dobrescu both acquitted themselves well finishing in 23rd and 46th positions respectively out of a field of 56. Mungo Prior had an excellent run in the Under 15 boys
just missing out on a podium spot with 4th place. In the same field of 55 Bradley Deacon finished 45th and Leo Ronson 50th.
Jordan Hinds ran in the combined women’s u17 and U20 race crossing the line in a creditable 20th place out of 40 runners.
The senior women’s race saw a total Ilford squad of 5 closing teams in both the main (10th) and veterans (13th) competitions. Nicola Hopkinson led the way in 59th followed in by Dianne Crisp 76th, Pam Jones 117th, Doris Gaga 118th and Julie Gillender 121st. 123 ran,

Tom Gardner was Ilford’s top finisher in the senior men’s race with 6th place. He was well supported by the veteran section of the club in the guise of Paul Holloway 40th, Steve Philcox 76th,Tony Nixon 138th, Terry Knightley 154th, and Andy Catton 165th, these 6 closing the team to 9th place both in the main and veteran competitions. Some great backup was provided by Ted Skinner 183rd, Dennis Briggs 184th and Steve Cheal 206th. 233 finished.

Serpentine 5k – Hyde Park
Friday 28th October

Ilford’s John Batchelor managed to knock a further nine seconds off his Serpentine 5K M75 course record, placing 124th out of 224 finishers of all ages in a time of 21:45, thus regaining top spot in the UK M75 rankings, having lost it by one second only two days after his September outing.

World Masters Championships – Perth Australia

Ilford AC’s Rob Sargent is currently in Perth Australia where he is competing in the World Masters Championships. Rob ran on a warm sunny spring morning in the 8km cross-country event over a 4 lap grassland course. He held his early form in the latter part of the race to finish 31st and 9th in an 11 strong British team in the M60 in age category.Next Rob ran in the 5000m on a chilly blustery showery morning in contrast to the cross-country. He had a steady race in the M60 grouping to finish 30th in a seasons best of 24 mins 24.76 secs.

Press Report 17th October2016

Oct 172016

Ilford Ac’s Malcolm Muir continued his return to form with a fine run at the Wix 5 mile near Manningtree on Sunday. The Ilford man just missed out on a podium place but nevertheless his time of 27.50 was good enough for the top M40 prize of the day. He was joined by the legendary Pam Jones who posted an incredible time of 50.06, her fastest time for the distance to date as an 80 year old, to finish 248th in a field of 306 runners.

The Club had 5 runners in the Harold Wood 5mile event held on Sunday morning. The course comprised 2 loops of multi terrain starting and finishing in Harold Wood Park.
Leading them in was Steve Philcox, 5th overall in 32.23 and providing the top male over 50 run of the day. Next home was Dennis Briggs in 30th place clocking 39.43. Club captain Billy Green followed with 42nd place finishing in 41.21. For the ladies Nichola Fairbairn placed 98th in 49.45 with Julie Gillender 122nd in 54.18. 173 runners completed the course.

Peter Spelman completed his 5th Marathon of the year in excellent conditions in Vannes, Brittany in 4.39.18. He was 39th in his age category.

Press Report 11th October 2016

Oct 112016

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
One Tree Hill, Langdon Hills, Stanford-Le-Hope
Saturday 8th October

Young Athletes
Although the weather is still warm, Saturday saw the start of this year’s cross country season. The first race was the opening Essex Cross Country League at One Tree Hill in Thurrock. The Ilford youngsters had athletes in three races.
First up was Aaron Hick who is only 8 years of age and was in the Under 11’s race, despite giving away almost 3 years to some of the athletes Aaron had a great run to claim 22nd place.
Next up were the U13’s in which Ilford had three athletes,Matthew Hick made a great start and was always up with the leaders, Mario Dobrescu a sprinter by trade was having his first ever outing over the country.The final member of the team Euan Johnstone has missed a bit of training recently so made a cautious start. As the lap progressed, Matthew continued to hang in with the lead group, but was unable to respond when the first three broke away. However he hung to take a brilliant 4th place in a time of 12.48. Mario was enjoying his first outing over the country and worked his way through the field to finish in 18th in 14.03. Euan did not have such an enjoyable run and took a heavy fall in the forest section of the course, he managed to get up and finish in 31st in 15.43. Unfortunately with only three athletes Ilford did not finish a team.

Ilford a had a team of five in the U15’s and Mungo Prior and Aaron Samuels both made good starts, Farris Patel got caught up at the start and had to work to get near the leading group, Jack Halil dressed up for arctic conditions was moving, with Bradley Deacon close behind. Mungo and Aaron continued to remain with the lead group as they moved into the second lap, with Farris still trying to regain contact. Further down, Jack was finding the dry ground to his liking and had moved ahead of Bradley.
As they the last part of the course, Mungo had moved into 2ndplace, but believing he still had another lap to go did not sprint on the final hill and ended up finishing 4th.Aaron had a great finish for 10th place, closely followed by Farris in 13th. The team was closed out by Jack in 33rd place,with Bradley finishing strongly for 45th. Ilford finished with 60points which was good enough for second place behind Thurrock in the team event.

Seniors
Both the ladies and men’s courses were dry but contained a few testing hills. The Senior Ladies raced over 6km and the Ilford challenge was headed by a fine run from Nicola Hopkinson in 50th spot in 32 mins 32 secs. She was backed up by Dianne Crisp in 58th with 34 mins 17 secs and the team was completed by Pam Jones and Doris Gaga in 96th and 97th spot. The team are in the 12 team division one of the league and finished 10th in this match.

The men ran over 8.5km and Ahmed Abdulle, in his first race as an under 20 in the Senior Mens category, was in excellent form and led the race from gun to tape to take victory in 26 mins 23 secs. There was good support from Tom Gardner in 6th with 27 mins 40 secs and Paul Holloway in 30th in 30mins 01 secs. Track runner Simeon Balson-Jones switched surfaces and put in a good performance in 82nd with 33 mins 53 secs, while Tony Nixon recorded 36 mins 20 secs for place 118. The team was completed by Ted Skinner and Steve Cheal in 154th and 164th. The men are also in division one and finished 9th in the match.

TIPTREE 10
Sunday 9th October.

The next morning saw the running of the 2016 Essex 10 mile Championship incorporated into the Tiptree 10 mile road race. The race washeld on quiet rural roads around Tiptree but contained a couple of testing hills . The Ilford team were led home by Malcolm Muir in 5th place in 56 mins 52 secs which earned him the silver medal in the Essex Championship in the M40 category. Next home for the club was Sam Rahman in 16th spot with 60 mins 29secs and the team scorers were completed by Steve Philcox in 33rd in 65 mins 23 secs. Steve finished 3rd in the M50 group and took home a bronze county medal. Andy Catton was the next Ilford man to finish in 73 mins 07 secs for spot 104 and won the Essex Championship in the M60 age category.

Further down the field there were personal best times for Pathrose Louis with 88 mins 56 secs and the club’s only lady competitor Julia Galea with 90 mins 35 secs as she finshed 5th in the W55 group in the Essex race.

Also in action were Steve Parker (282th 78.22) Satha Alaga (190th 81.12) and Rob Sargent (197 82.03)

ROYAL PARKS HALF MARATHON
Sunday 9th October

Also on Sunday the Royal Parks Half Marathon took place in London. The picturesque route takes in 4 London parks – Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St James Park and Green Park. There were three Ilford competitors in the event. New member Dennis Briggs recorded a new personal best of 1 hr 45 mins 27 secs, while Carol Muir came home in 2 hr 18 mins 47 secs and Doris gaga 2hrs 26 mins 16 secs,