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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,

Press Report Ilford AC 4th October 2016

Oct 032016

PLESHEY HALF MARATHON
Essex Championships
Sunday 2 October
It was a good day for a small Ilford AC squad of 7 at the Essex Half MarathonChampionship as they returned home with 5 medals from the Essex half marathonchampionships held at the picturesque village of Pleshey last Sunday.

The race held around the village country lanes was of high quality which was reflectedin the first three home all breaking the old course record. The leading three ofJames Connor (Kent AC), Paul Molyneux (Springfield Striders) and Ilford’s BlairMcWhirter had a close battle which was only decided in the testing last 3 mileswith Connor taking the honours in 67 mins 44 secs, with McWhirter 2nd in a newpersonal best time of 68mins 09secs and Molyneux third. As Connor is notqualified for the Essex Championships McWhirter retained the title he won lastyear.

Backing him up was Amin Kolkai in 6th spot with 74 mins 10 secs which won himthe M40 category gold medal. There was bronze in this group for Paul Hollowaywho came home third in 1 hr 18 mins 53 secs for 15th overall. These threeIlford athletes combined to finish second team and each added a silver teammedal to add to their individual ones.

Steve Philcox was disappointed with his run finishing 29th in 1hr 25 mins 07secs but still won the bronze medal in the M50 age group.
Next home was Rohan Alexander in 65th who also recorded a new best time for thedistance of 1hr 31 mins 48 secs.

Further down the field of 397 finishers finding the going tough on the day wasSteve parker in 1h 45m 03s in 175th and Peter Spelman with 2h 04m 55s for318th.

Essex Cross Country Relays
Hockley – 24th September
Ilford entered 2 senior teams in this event,but with late withdrawals had torevamp the teams. Opening the account on the 1st leg Tom Gardner put in a solidrun for 4th place in 15-00 . On Leg 2 Usamah Patel drafted in at the lastminute ran 16-11 for 7th place. Club stalwart Malcolm Muir slowlyreturning to fitness took over on leg 3 with 15-27 leaving the stage set forAhmed Abdulle with some ground to make up to storm around the course on the finalleg bringing the team home in 3rd place overall and 2nd fastest time of the dayin 14-15 with the fastest time going to Southend AC’s international AdamHickey. The Ilford B team had track specialist Simeon Balson on Leg 1 clocking17-52 and ex club president Ernie Forsyth on Leg 2 running 21-12.
Other Races
Last Friday saw Ilford’s John Batchelor placing 146th out of 286 runners ofall ages and sexes in the monthly Serpentine 5K race. The Ilford superveteranclocked 21m 54s, knocking 27 seconds off his previous M75 course record. Thisplaces him 3rd on the Run Britain all-time rankings for this sparsely-populatedage group.

Sunday saw Andy Catton competing in the Mind charity 5k at Harrow LodgePark, Hornchuch where he finished 6th and 1st vet. This was an 80% grasscircuit where Catton clocked 21.08

Further afield Declan Cullen made his annual trip to Wales for the Cardiff HalfMarathon. He was rewarded by a good run in this televised event to record a newpersonal best of 1hr 37mins 59 secs for 148th in the large field and 15th inthe M60 age group.

Press Report 27th September 2016

Sep 272016

Valentines Park 5k
Sunday 25th September 2016

Ilford AC enjoyed some marvelous success in the last race of the increasingly popular 7 race Elvis summer series by providing both the men’s and ladies’ race winners as well as the Ilford men scooping both the team race and series prizes. Hosts East London Runners provided a carnival atmosphere for the Valentines Park Charity 5k fitting for the series grand finale as an Ilford AC squad turned up in force with the Club’s men going into the race neck and neck with East London Runners in this winner take all battle.

An excellent duel soon developed at the front of the field of nearly 250 runners with Ilford’s young star Ahmed Abdulle, veteran Amin Koikai and an unknown but obviously very talented runner from California, Will Drinkwater, setting the pace. It was Abdulle who had raced only the day before at the county relays, and Drinkwater who finally broke away towards the end of the first lap with Koikai finally having to let them go. Drinkwater looked dangerous and was still sitting on Abdulle’s shoulder as they passed the tennis courts with just over 800 metres to go. It was just after this that Abdulle made his move using his track speed to kick clear and come home comfortably ahead in 15.42. Drinkwater finished some 12 seconds adrift followed in by Koikoi who posted 16.17 for 3rd and 1st male over 40 home.

The Club demonstrated its considerable strength in the veterans section with Malcolm Muir coming in 7th in 17.0 for the 2nd fastest over 40 run of the morning followed by Steve Philcox in 11th who took the over 50’s prize with his 17.24. Just behind him there was yet another excellent run by an Ilford over 40 with Paul Holloway coming in 12th in 17.29. Usamah Patel was 14th in 17.36 to complete the scoring 6 for the Ilford Elvis team thereby managing to pip East London Runners by 1 point in the Series competition. Ilford’s first 3 home comprising of Abdulle, Koikai and Muir also took the race team prize.

In the ladies race Ilford ACs 15 Year old latest starlet, youngster Jordan Hinds, took the honours,coming off a track season , running 400s and 800s , with great success. Jordan went off slowly being caught up at the start of the race and was 5th place after the first lap. In the second lap, Jordan picked it up and started to catch up the female athletes in front of her and outsprinted the field to win the female race in a great time of 20:32. This was a big personal best and a great achievement for a 15 year old girl to take on and beat the entire adult field and once again bodes well for the up and coming cross country season. She was well supported by Zuzana Sinalova, 7th lady home in 21.49, Nicola Hopkinson 16th lady in 23.56 and Dianne Crisp, 23rd lady in 24.39.
The ladies team, often under strength for many races during the series, nevertheless fought well to finish 3rd in this race and 4th in the Elvis competition.
There were many other excellent performances and some seasons best among the rest of the Ilford contingent whose gun times and positions were as follows:-
Robin McNelis, 18.47 (25th), Rohan Alexander 19.44 (37th), Terry Knightley 21.0 (59th), Bradley Brown 21.03 (61st), Declan Cullen 21.55 (82nd), Billy Green 23.04 (106th), Ernie Forsyth 23.20 (109th), Satha Alaga 23.24(11th), Dennis Briggs 23.38(115th), Steve Cheal 24.25(131st), Pathrose louis 24.28 (132nd), Suki Jandu 27.34 (181st), Julia Galea 26.33 (33rd) Nichola Fairbairn 28.01 (48th), Rachel Halpin 28.15 (52nd), Julie Gillender 29.31 (63rd), Carol Muir 30.04 (69th), Pam Jones 30.34 (75th).

The Elvis series now concludes with the Presentation evening to be held in Wanstead on the 7th October. Amongst the prizewinners are the following athletes:-
1st Male Team – Ilford AC, 1st MV40 Paul Holloway, 1st MV50 Steve Philcox, 1st MV60 Andy Catton,
The Series which goes from strength to strength now looks forward to its 10th anniversary next year where fittingly the founders Ilford AC will be in the Chair.

Ilford Youngsters Triumph at Weekend

Ilford AC Youngsters competed over the weekend with great success. The first big Cross Country race of the season was the Essex relays, held in Hockley. All the major Essex Clubs were competing and there was a large turnout. Ilford entered 2 Teams in the u15s Boys race.
In the A team, Farris Patel ran a great opening leg to run the 6th Fastest time of the day in 9:05 and bring Ilford in 3rd Position. Aaron Samuel ran the second leg and went off very quickly to catch up the 2 leading teams. Aaron has missed some training over the summer but he ignored that fact and went away from the field to run an outstanding leg and give Ilford a big lead.Aaron showed how much potential he has by running the 2nd fastest time of the day in 8.57.
The final leg runner was Mungo Prior , who powered round the course in 9:00,the 5th fastest time of the day , bringing Ilford home by some distance and being crowned Essex Champions.This performance bodes well for the rest of the Cross country season
In the B team, 11 Year old Matthew Hick ran the first leg against much older athletes and ran a very promising 10:21 to bring Ilford home in 11th Position.Matthew handed over to Bradley Deacon, who as usual ran very well in 10:41, to hand over to Jack Halil. Jack , more custom to running shorter distance, ran a great leg at 10.14, to bring Ilford home in 13th position. It was great to see Ilford have so much depth at the U15 Boys age group

Berlin Marathon.
Sam Rahman of Ilford AC traveled out to Berlin at the weekend to complete in the 43rd staging of the city’s marathon. The course is regarded as one of the fastest in the world and this was confirmed by the winner’s, Keneneise Bekele of Ethiopia, time of 2h 03m 03s, the 2nd fastest time ever. Rahman made good use of the flat course and the warm sunny windless morning and ran a well judged steady race going thru halfway in 1hr 26 mins. He kept the pace going in the second half to finish in 2hrs 51 mins 38secs (gun Time), 2hrs 50mins 36 secs (chip time), a new personal best time by over 2 minutes, to finish 701st overall out of the 36000 plus finishers.