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.

  Press Report 30th August 2016  

Aug 302016
 

Barking Park 5k
Bank Holiday Monday 29th August 2016

Ilford AC fielded a large squad of 30 runners when successfully contesting the 6th race of this summers’ 7 race Elvis series held traditionally at Barking Park on Bank holiday Monday. After two previous years of torrential rain this year’s event was blessed with some fine sunny weather as the Club’s under 20 star Ahmed Abdulle capped a successful weekend as he sped round the flat 2 lap 5k course to take the victor’s spoils in a new personal best of 15.49. He was well supported by training partner Tom Gardner back in 3rd with 16.15 and with Malcolm Muir, back in action yet still not fully fit taking 11th place in 17.08, the men’s squad also took the Race Team prize defeating the usual strong East London Runners outfit.

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Muir’s was also the top MV40 run of the day and with Sam Rahman, 14th in 17.18, Stephen Philcox,18th in 17.28 and Paul Holloway 24th in 17.56, combining with Abdulle and Gardner to make up the 6 man series scorers Ilford also managed to win the elvis fixture by 71 points to east London’s 108 thus setting up a grand finale and showdown between the 2 clubs at the Valentines Park 10k on September 25th where the winner of the match will also take the series. The Club also had further success with Andy Catton taking the MV60 prize recording 20.59 for 74th spot. There were also notable performances by Satha Alaga and Pathrose Louis who both ran personal bests for the distance of 23.25 and 24.06 respectively.

In the women’s race East London Runners were already in an unassailable position in the series and their strong squad duly took bot the race and series honours. However the Illford ladies battled bravely to put up a good performance led by Breege Nordin who produced the best FV55 run of the day recording 21.00 as 7th woman. Supported well by Zuzana Sinalova 10th in 21.48, Nicola Hopkinson 25th 23.58,and Dianne Crisp 36th 24.59, the Ilford ladies placed 3rd in both the race and series team competitions.

A record 257 runners finished the race as the Elvis series grows in popularity.
Other Ilford performances with overall positions and times were as follows :-
Neil Crisp 35th 18.51, Rohan Alexander 74th 20.16,
Bradley Brown 88th 21.39, Abdi Berleen 93rd 21.43, Billy Green 119th 22.44, Ernie Forsyth 130th 23.22, Stephen Cheal 168th 25.17, Peter Ryan 173rd 25.33, Julia Galea 186th 26.25, 193rd Suki Jandu 26.56, 199th Nichola Fairbairn 27.22, 203rd Rachel Halpin 27.38, 206th Sharon Honey 27.46, 214th Julie Gillender 29.04, 223rd Doris Gaga 29.41, 228th Pam Jones 30.51, 239th Yvonne Forsyth 33.42.

  Press Report 23rd August 2016  

Aug 232016
 

Woodford Green Open Graded Meeting
Tuesday 16th August

The 4th open graded meeting this season was held at Woodford Green’s Ashton playing fields last Tuesday evening and involved 6 Ilford athletes in the middle distance events. The youngsters contested the 800 metre races with Jordan Hinds in the U17F category posting the fastest time for the Club coming home 8th in her race in 2.26.40. In the same race Bradley Deacon clocked 2.37.40 in the U15M category finishing 11th. Keshan Beckett-Edwards finished 6th in his race recording a time of 2.44.30 in the U13M category.

In the 3000m Ilford had 3 athletes packing together finishing in 4th, 5th and 6th places. Leading them home was senior male Sam Rahman who just missed out on cracking 10 minutes being given a time of 10.00.02 with V50M Steve Philcox just behind in 10.02.70. Just another couple of seconds behind him young Mungo Prior had a superb run clocking 10.04.90 in the U15M category.

Isle Of Wight Half Marathon
Sunday 21st August

Ilford AC’s Malcolm Muir was back in action following injury when running on a tough course in the Isle of Wight half marathon at Ryde last Sunday. The Ilford man finished 8th in a time of 80.23 and was happy with his run considering that he is not yet fully fit.

  Press Report 16th August 2016  

Aug 172016
 

Pride 10k
Saturday 13th August

Ilford AC had 2 runners taking part in the Pride 10km held on a fast course in Victoria Park this weekend. Robin McNelis clocked 39.07 for 51st spot whilst Doris Gaga showed improving form recording 63mins 12 secs for 848th place in a field of over 1000 runners. Times given are gun times.

  Press Report 9th August 2016  

Aug 082016
 

Orion Forest ELvIS Five
Saturday 6th August

The fifth leg of this summer’s ELvIS series was incorporated into Orion Harriers Forest Five series over a challenging off road course over 5 miles through Epping Forest on a hot sunny morning. Thomas Grimes of East London lead home a near record field with a fine performance. The Ilford AC challenge was headed by the in-form Steve Philcox in 5th spot in 30 mins 17 secs which won him the Over-40s trophy despite competing in the over 50s category. Next home was Paul Holloway with a powerful run taking him to 9th spot in 30m 41s which was the true top over 40 run of the day and was therefore unlucky not to receive the award given to his clubmate Steve Philcox. Kevin Wotton placed 20th in 32m 00s and Neil Crisp was the second runner in the M50 category to finish in 25th spot with 32m 24s. Terry Knightley came home 53th with 35m 26s and closing the scorers for the Ilford squad was Andy Catton in 36m 12s for 63rd. With Woodford’s top over 60 Dave Cox being given the over 50s trophy this meant Andy Catton received the MV60 prize. In the match East London ran out winners with Ilford being pipped by one solitary point for 2nd by the host team Orion harriers. In the league East London have a slight advantage over Ilford which means that with two matches to go Ilford must win them both to snatch victory in the Series.

Declan Cullen finished 3rd in the M60 category in 38m 12s placing 87th overall with Ernie Forsyth showing improved form in 133th and 41m 23s and Club Captain Billy Green 140th with 42m 01s.
In the Ladies race Bree Nordin again showed great form placing 7th with 37m 25s winning the F45 group trophy. Supporting her was Nicola Hopkinson who is just back in action following injury who placed 162nd with 43m 49s. Sally Gillam was able to compete as a registered 2nd claimer and came home 187th in 45m 49s while Sharon Honey closed the scorers in the match for the club with 51m 12s in 227th spot. The Ilford ladies placed 6th in the match which was good enough to hold their 4th spot in the series with East London already in an unassailable position despite the 2 remaining matches.

Also ran: Satha Alaganandasundaram (149th 42.44) Pathrose Louis (178th 44.59) Peter Spelman (215th 49.03) Suki Jandu (219th 49m 41s) Nichola Fairbairn (241st 53.19) Julie Gillender (248th 54.49) Pam Jones (254th 56.09) Doris Gaga (272d 62.10)