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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.

Press Report 20th September 2016

Sep 202016

Ingatestone 5

Sunday 18th September 2016
5 Ilford athletes lined up for the 32nd running of the Ingatestone 5 mile road race which took place last Sunday morning in dry almost ideal conditions, cool and with little wind.

On a challenging course starting from the Anglo-European School at Willow Green, the runners took the road up to Fryerning and on to Beggar Hill, before heading back via Blackmore Road to the finish. First home for Ilford was Steve Philcox in 5th place overall clocking an excellent 29.18 which won him the trophy for the fastest MV50 run of the morning. Ernie Forsyth was next in for the club recording 38.08 in 51st with Satha Alaga chasing him hard in 55th and a time of 38.54. Suki jandu placed 99th with 46.44 and Julie Gillender was the club’s only lady runner finishing in 50.13 for 107th. The race was won by Billericay’s Crispian Bloomfield in a time of 26.42 with Liz Davies of Springfield Striders the top woman posting a very fast 29.29.

This charity race has strong links with Ilford AC being founded by Ilford Legend Howard Williams to raise money for Ingatestone Boys Club. Sadly Howard is no longer well enough to attend but nevertheless every year a willing team of Club volunteers keep Howard’s legacy by providing a team to administer the on the day entries and results service. Special mention therefore goes to the team of John Mackenzie, Andy Catton, Billy Green, Neil and Dianne Crisp, Mr and Mrs Declan Cullen, Martin Clarke and also Ernie Forsyth who helped present the prizes.

British Masters Track And Field Championship
Alexander Stadium Birmingham
Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September

Two endurance athletes from Ilford AC travelled up to Birmingham at the weekend to contest the British Masters Track and Field Championship, both bringing home medals.
Pam Jones ran in her first major championship in the F80 category winning gold, silver and setting a British age group record. In her first race she raced a close contest with fellow octogenarian Anne Martin of Wymondham AC in the 1500m finishing second in 8 mins 43.48 secs. The next day Pam ran a well judged race in the 5000m to win the gold medal in 30 mins 23.17 secs, a British record for the F80 age group.
Also in action was John Batchelor who won gold medals in both his races in the M75 age category. In the 800m his winning time was 2mins 56.08secs and in the 5000m 21mins 37.78 secs.

Great North Run
Sunday 11th September 2016
Last Sunday on a very hot morning Ilford’s Rohan Alexander completed the iconic Great North Run in 1.41.20 in what he described as a great experience.

Press Report 6th September 2016

Sep 062016

The Essex Way – 10 Stage Relay Event
Epping Station to Harwich Lighthouse
Sunday 4th September

Ilford AC had 7 hardy runners, “the magnificent 7” flying the flag for the Club in the iconic 28th running of The Essex Way. This is one of the County’s truly inspirational and premier events with 58 teams from clubs from all over the county and beyond racing on the ancient trails and footpaths which make up the 82 miles of the historic Essex Way that runs from Epping Station to Harwich Old Lighthouse. Rachel Halpin and Nichola Fairbairn duly set off from Epping Station at 8am on Sunday morning to represent Ilford on Leg 1 finishing 7.5 miles later at Chipping Ongar finishing in joint 50th place. The first leg is also jointly organised by Ilford with East London Runners.
Despite still finding his full fitness Malcolm Muir provided Ilford’s highlight of the day by winning his favoured leg 7, covering the 11.2 miles from West Bergholt to Dedham. This followed a solid run by Steve Cheal on leg 6, Great Tey to West Bergholt who finished 42nd over the 5.7 miles. Muir then went on to accompany Billy Green on leg 8, the 8 miles from Dedham to Bradfield with the latter finishing 36th. Nicola Hopkinson chipped in with her usual reliable performance placing 31st on the shoreline leg of the River Stour which runs the 5.7 miles from Bradfield to Ramsey Village. Fittingly it was left to Ilford’s senior stateswoman Pam Jones to complete a truly enjoyable day by running the 10th and final leg from Ramsey and along the Dovercourt seafront to Harwich coming home in 57th place.

It was a shame that Ilford could not field runners on legs 2,3,4 especially when 30 runners had turned out only the week before at Barking which meant that the Club incurred heavy penalties on these legs and was therefore always playing catch up only managing 43rd place in the team competition. No doubt the Harlow 10 being held on the same day provided an unwelcome split of resources.

Therefore once again the dominant Essex club Springfield Striders took the spoils in all 3 of the mens womens and veteran sections. Ilford however maintained an excellent presence at the prizegiving held in Harwich’s Hanover Arms after the race which was also attended by Club President Robin Davis who had assisted and supported throughout the event. At the presentation both the presence and performance of a team from the Netherlands was recognised, the first time the competition has had an overseas team, but pride of place went to the 2 man team from East London Runners consisting of Ciaran Canavan and Aaron Williams who remarkably completed the whole 82 miles between them running alternate legs.

Harlow 10 miles
Sunday 4 September

Blair McWhirter returned to competitive action for the first time since April’s London Marathon and led Ilford Ac to success at the Harlow 10 mile road race on an overcast breezing Sunday morning. Blair took control of the race from the gun and came home for a convincing victory by over 3 1/2 minutes in 53 minutes 53 seconds. He was supported by Sam Rahman and Paul Holloway who ran close together with Sam crossing the line 8th in 61m 16s and Paul 9th with 61m 32s. The trio combined together to win the team prize for Ilford.

Bree Nordin continues to show good form winning the F55 category trophy and taking sixth position in 74mins exactly while Declan Cullen recorded a new personal best of 75m 13s.

Other Ilford athletes in action were Rohan Alexander (54th 71.06) Satha Alaga (83.21) Dennis Briggs (86.49) Pathrose Louis (92.10)

VAC Championship
Kingston
Sunday 28 August

It was a good day for the masters athletes of Ilford AC at the Veterans AC Championships at Kingston who returned with their customary clutch of medals.

Pam Jones continues to excel in competition and won the 800m and 1500m in the F80 category and set new Championship Best Performances in both events. Her times were 4m 23.37s for 800 and 8.59.52 for 1500m.

John Batchelor ran in the M75 group and also won double gold in the 800m in 2 mins 56.45 secs and the 1500m with 6 mins 07.03 secs.

Julia Galea ran in the F60 and ran a well judged race in the 1500m to finish 2nd in 6m 50.77s and also took silver in the 500m with 26mins 05.99 secs.

Rob Sargent ran in the M60 5000m finishing third with 25mins 12.27secs.