Press Report 14th February 2017

A light falling of snow greeted the runners for the final Essex League fixture of the season at Basildon on Saturday. Although the snow meant that some of the fields were a little down in numbers, this was a real cross country test, with repeated ascents and descents of a steep hill on every lap.
First up was Matthew Hick in the Under 13 race. Matthew had hit a bit of form in the last few weeks and his confidence was high and this showed in the way that he started the race. After the opening 400m, Matthew was up with the leaders nicely placed around 11th. The course then took the runners out of view to the hilly sections. Matthew dug deep on the hills and by the time the runners reappeared he had moved up to 8th, but unfortunately lost two places in the sprint finish, but still ended up an excellent 10th which also placed him 8th overall in the final tables.
Next up were the Under 15 Boys in which Ilford had four runners. Mungo Prior led with a charging effort followed by Aaron Samuel. Next was Jack Halil who also made an aggressive start and finally Bradley Deacon. The Under 15’shad a similar course to the Under 13’s, but with an additional loop at the end of which saw Mungo contesting the lead with Aaron back in about12th, Jack behind and Bradley in the mid 20’s. As the race progressed Mungo was still in the top three and Aaron was making rapid progress through the field. Jack was having his best run of the season and Bradley had moved up a few places. Descending the final hill Aaron overtook Mungo and held onto third place, Mungo came in fourth place. Run of the day was from Jack who came in a brilliant 11th, Bradley also had a great run getting a best ever league finishing position of 21st. The final overall tables saw Mungo in a brilliant bronze position with Bradley 20th. The boys finished top of the tree in this fixture out of 9 competing teams and 5th out of12 in the final tables.
After a tough winter season, which has been disrupted by injury and exams, Jordan Hinds had her best race of the season in the Under17’s women’s race. Although a small field, in was packed with quality ,including the first four in this year’s Essex champs. The leaders made an early break, but Jordan had positioned herself in a great position just outside the top ten and as the field approached the hills she pushed on into the top ten. On the long run into the finish , it looked like she might even take a few more places, but the women in front just held on, and Jordan ended up with a League best place of 8th.
Away from the Country two of Ilford’s younger girls took part in the Valentines Park Run, Lesley Rogers produced a great personal best of 27.12 to take 51st place overall and 8th in the ladies section. Katie Deacon was rewarded for all her recent hard training with a personal best of 30.40 for 97th overall and 25thin the ladies section.

In the Senior Races at Basildon the Ilford AC men rallied to place 5th  place out of 12 to lift themselves to 8thposition in the final tables thus avoiding relegation. They were boosted by the appearance of their U20 top runner Ahmed Abdulle who produced his normal brilliant run finishing 2nd only being beaten by the established Cambridge veteran Sullivan Smith. He was well supported by Alex Richards who had an extremely solid run for 10thplace and veteran Paul Holloway likewise producing the goods with 31st place in a very high class field. Seb Parriss continues to impress and improve with 54th place ahead of the dependable Neil Crisp in 64th sharing another good run with another veteran Dennis Briggs in 119th. Ted Skinner flew the flag in the over 60 category with 155th place. Additionally Paul Holloway placed a very high 4th in the mv40 final tables , Dennis Briggs 27thand Ted Skinner the 5th mv60.

Unfortunately a depleted Ilford ladies team could not stave off relegation despite the efforts of 2 club stalwarts Bree Nordin who finished 41st and Dianne Crisp not far behind in 58th. Final reckonings placed Ilford 11th out of the 12 competing teams in Division 1 with Nicola Hopkinson showing 8thand Dianne Crisp 11th in the w45 section.

Elsewhere and on the roads Satha Alaganandsundaram took part in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 10km last Sunday (Feb 112) run in the park pasting the main Olympic stadium on a flat fast course. Satha, who is running in the London Marathon in April, showed his training is going well by finishing a well paced race in 157th in a field of 737 with a new personal best time of 47 mins 08 secs chipped time gun time 48m 28s. His previous best was at BUPA 10k few years ago 47m 48s.

South of England Cross-Country Championship
Parliament Hill Fields
Saturday 28 January 2017

The Senior Men’s race was contested over the usual 15km course which is one of the toughest in the country. Ilford AC entered 4 men and were led home by the ever reliable Malcolm Muir who put is usual 100% effort to finish 136th in a field of over 1000 runners from all over the South of England in a time of 53 mins 49 secs. Paul Holloway battled away to record 61 mins 17 secs for 390th with Neil Crisp 518th in 64 mins exactly. Seb Parris was running at the venue for the first time came home 539th with 64 mins 28 secs.
100 up for Julie
Ilford AC also extend congratulations to Julie Gillender who completed her 100th parkrun at Raphels Park last Saturday

Essex Cross Country League
Braintree 14/01/2017

Ilford Young Athletes had some encouraging runs at the fourth Essex League held at Braintree on Saturday. The snow from Thursday had but gone, but the freezing conditions meant that parts of the course were still frozen and slippery underfoot.
First up was Matthew Hick in the Under 13 race. After a slow start Matthew began to move up through the field and on the twisty part of the course he was flying along. The final part of the course involved a switchback followed by a steep uphill section and long downhill run into the finish.After negotiating the switch back, Matthew flew up the hill and was still taking people as he came into the finish for an excellent 8th place.
The U15 boys have been Ilford’s most successful team this season. However they have failed to close a team since the first match and yet again late illness meant they only had three runners competing. However all three had very good runs. The team was made up of Aaron Samuel, Mungo Prior and Bradley Deacon, all of whom made good starts with Mungo and Aaron being up with the leaders and Bradley working his way through. By the end of the small lap a lead of group of about eight had been established of which Aaron and Mungo were a part. A little further down the field Bradley was making good progress. In the final mile the lead group brokeup with Leon Wheeler of Thurrock stretching away for Victory. Despite almost falling on one of the hills, Aaron had his best run of the season for 3rdplace. Mungo was in his own battle which he just lost on the line yet still ended up in 5th place. Bradley was still moving through the field and powered up the last hill to take 28th place, which was his best position yet in the league and reward for all his recent hard training.
Jordan Hinds was Ilford’s sole runner in the U17 ladies race and after a season interrupted by injury and exams is gradually racing her way back to form. After a steady start she was nicely positioned inthe middle of the field. Her long flowing style is not ideally suited to muddy cross country, but as the race went on she was moving through the field. As with the others the final part of the race involved a steep hill, and the Saturday morning hill sessions clearly paid off as she pulled away from other runners to take a best place in the under 17 category of 11th.

The Club seniors once again had a disappointing turnout due to illness, injuries and other commitments and now both mens and ladies squads have a hard battle in the last round at Basildon on February 11th to stay in the top division of the league.
The women’s race was over 5.2km and the in form Nicola Hopkinson led home the clubs trio of runners placing 35th in the field of 90 finishers in 26 mins 48secs. Next home was Dianne Crisp in 50thwith 28m 43s and Jenni Sheehan was not far behind with 29m 03s for 52nd spot.In the match the team placed 10th in the 12 team division 1 and are 11th in the league.
The mens race was traditionally longer at 7.5km event where Ilford were led home by the ever reliable Malcolm Muir in 9th pace, and 2nd in the M40 category, with 25m 45s.Paul Holloway put in a good performance to come home 34th with 27m 28s and Neil Crisp placed 71st in 29m 57s. Dennis Briggs returned from a back injury to finish 123rd in 35m 23s. Another back from injury, Ed Skinner was138th in 40m 45s, while the 6 man scoring team was closed by Rob Sargent, 139th with 41m 14s. In the match the Ilford squad finished 7th, their best result of the season, and have climbed to9th in the division 1 table, just above the relegation zone.

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