LONDON CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS PARLIAMENT HILL FIELDS
Saturday 19 November

Ilford’s 17 year old Ahmed Abdulle, being too old to run in the London youth games,stepped up a level to compete in the Senior London cross country championships held over the classic Parliament Hill course of approximately 10k. Ahmed went with lead group from the start putting in a excellent performance to finish 7th in the Seniors but taking the 1st place in the under 20 in32-11. Presenting Ahmed with his medal was South of England official and life member of Ilford AC Phyllis Winger

Essex Cross Country League
Horseheath, Cambridgeshire
Saturday 19 November

The latest match in this winter’s Essex Cross-Country League was held on a chilly Saturday afternoon at the Horseheath Point to Point Horse Race course just over the border in Cambridgeshire.
The Ilford AC ladies team, still under strength due to injuries, raced of 6km and returned encouraging results. Nicola Hopkinson led the way in 41st position in 31 mins 38 secs, backed up by Dianne Crisp with 48th and 33 mins 15 secs. Julia Galea battled well for 75th in 38 mins 21 secs. Doris Gaga and Pam Jones finished 82nd and 83rd in 41m 37s and 42m 04s respectively.
In the match the team finished 9th and after 3 rounds are placed 10th in the 12 team divison one of the league

The Ilford men always had a hard fight on their hands as they turned up with only 5 runners, one short of a complete team for their 8km event. Seb Parris, in his first appearance in the Essex league, was the first home in 79th place in 34m 54s, with evergreen Tony Nixon, the first M60 to finish in the race, 88th with 35m 47s. Neil Crisp returned from injury to come home in 95th in 36m 27s, while Dennis Briggs in 133rd and 40m 02s and Ed Skinner with 140th in 41m 24s completed their line up.
In the match Ilford were placed 10th and are 9th in the league and like the ladies team are in the relegation battle.

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.

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.