CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Redbridge Cycle Circuit, Hainault

The latest round of the Chingford League was a 5km road race at the Redbridge Cycle Centre at Hog Hill Hainault. It is a hilly course, and another interesting feature of the race is that it is run in the dark in the evening.

The Juniors were the first to run over a shorter 2k course and our 4 runners all performed well.
In the U11 race, Arnav Rathi was 9^th in 7:51 and in the U13 race Barney Perkins was 2^nd in 6:47, Khalif Ali 3^rd in 6:49 and Elias Furreedan 16^th in 8:37.

The U15/17 race was run over the longer 5k course and again there were good performances by our runners. Sam Horsley finished in 1^st place in 16:31, with Ryder Islam coming home in 7^th place for 18:51

The Ilford AC Senior teams, who are competing in division 2 this season, put in another good set of performances in their matches.

The Ilford ladies won their event with 4 runners in the top ten and Jordan Hinds taking victory in an excellent time of 19 mins 38 secs.
Gemma Ellender is also running well now and came in 3^rd in 21 mins 23 secs with Carlie Qirem 6^th with 22mins 04 secs. Joanne Reeves finished 10^th in 22 mins 49 secs and Alison Sale 18^th with 24mins 19 secs. Julia Galea completed the scoring team and Launa Broadley (46^th 31:41) and Frieda Keane (48^th 32:08) were also in action.

The ladies are currently 3^rd in the league table.

Ilford had 13 runners in the men’s race with Sam Rahman leading the way in 7^th spot in 18 mins 25 secs. Josh Alder had another good race as he crossed the line 5 secs behind Rahman and Dan Holeyman was 17^th in 19 mins 38 secs. Joel Denning showed improved form finishing 24^th in 20 mins 35 secs. Recent recruit to the squad Tarik Qirem came home 31^st with 21 mins 47 secs, and Steve Crane rounded out the scoring team in 32^nd and 21 mins 46 secs

In the match the men finished 3^rd and are 2^nd in the division 2 table.

Also in action were:  Steve Horsley (37^th 22:06) Craig Livermore (38^th 22:09) Steve Lacey (39^th 22:13)  Tony Young (52^nd 24:17)  Sean Costello(59^th 26:05) Batnmanader Ramen (65^th 28:16) and Rob Sargent (68^th 30:25)

STEBBING 10 (Miles)

The Stebbing 10 took place over a rolling course from the picturesque village of Stebbing on an unseasonably mild November morning and is always held on Remembrance Sunday.

The race starts just after 11 o’clock and a short Remembrance Sunday service.
Ilford AC had 3 runners on the day, with 2 achieving Personal bests over the distance.

First home for the club, with a PB was Tarik Qirem in 85^th place in 1 hr 15m 05s, closely followed 5 places later by Carlie Qirem in 1hr 15m 20s.

Completing the team with the 2^nd PB of the day was Alison Sale who came home in 161^st place in a time of 1 hr 23m 17s

Elsewhere two newer members to the club were in action over the weekend.

Nick West crossed the Atlantic to run the New York City Marathon.
He found the bridges on the course challenging and suffered from cramp in the closing stages to finish in 4hrs 30 mins 35 secs, a new best time for the distance

While Jashim Uddin ran the half marathon at the Battersea Park Festival of Running in 1 hr 40 mins 40 secs for 239^th in his first race at the distance.

 

 

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE

Gloucester Park, Basildon

Round 2 of the Essex League was held over a challenging course in Gloucester Park, Basildon featuring a tough series of climbs on the hills in the Park.

Ilford Ac fielded full teams in both the senior men and ladies races.

The men raced over 9km and ran the hill complex 3 times with Tom Gardner leading the way in 18th spot in a large field in 31 mins 40 secs, followed home by Malcolm Muir in 45th with 34 mins 09 secs. Josh Alder is improving race by race and finished 63rd with 35 mins 31 secs and Steve Philcox was one place behind and was the first in the M55 age category. Dylan Harrod  ran 35 mins 42 secs for 70th and Dan Holeyman completed the scorers in 125th. The Ilford team came 9th in the division 1 match and are 8th in the league.

Neil Crisp finished 4th in M60 grouping 

Also running were:  Bradley Brown (165th)  Steve Crane (197th)  Tarik Qirem (228th)  Tony Young (252nd) Sean Costello (261st ) and Rob Sargent (272nd)

The ladies event was over 7 km but still included the hills three hills. Ilford were led home by Jordan Hinds in 21st with 32 mins 44 secs with the in-form Carlie Qirem 56th with 36 mins 28 secs. Anna Crawley recorded 37 mins 19 secs in 65th and completing the scoring team was Alison Sale in 74th with 38 mins 55 secs. the team finished, like the men, 9th in the match and are currently 9th in division 1.

Other Ilford ladies in action were: Pauline Tester (105th)  Dianne Crisp (137th) and Frieda Keane (149th)

Essex XC League JUNIORS 

Ilford sent a team a 12 youngsters to the 2nd cross country match of the season in Basildon

Fist up was Arnav Rathi in the u11 race. He started strongly and held his position to come home in 19th place.

In the u13 race over 3k we had a team of 3 boys. Barney Perkins continued his recent improvement finishing in 18th place closely followed by teammate Khalif Ali in 20th only 4 seconds behind. Elias Furreedan showed grit and determination to keep running up the difficult hills when many competitors around him were walking and finished a very creditable 47th.

Ilford had a team of five boys in the U15 race over 4k the highlight of the day for the squad came with Sam Horsley’s first league win. Sam had a slow start but showed his strength to come through the field and now looks towards county and area qualification in future races. He was followed in by Aron Berhe (17th) and Ryder Islam (18th) after a great sprint finish between the two. Luke Thake (29th) and Jayden Kyle McDermott (31st) showed their improvement this season both with strong races over a difficult course.

Finally in the u17s all 3 boys struggled over 5th and 6th hill of the course on lap 3  but kept going to score in the team race. Samuel Crane was 9th, Aaron Hick 17th and James Thake 35th.

Leigh-On-Sea 10k

The Leigh-On-Sea 10k is an after dark event combined to coincide with Halloween, where participants are encouraged to wear headlights.

Over 500 runners set off from The Carpark at Leigh-On-Sea and spectators were treated to a carnival of lights and even some Halloween outfits as runners raced round two tree island country park, along Marine Parade and through Old Leigh town before heading back to the station car park for a finishing line glass of prosecco.

Representing the club this year were Billy Green and Rachel Halpin.
Billy finished 241st in 1:00:06 with Rachel just 2 places and 10 seconds later.

 

Chingford League
Dagenham

Ilfords AC had 6 youngsters competing in the Junior event at last weekend’s Chingford League match in Dagenham.

In the U11/U13 Mixed race held over a 2k course Barney Perkins finished 2nd in 6m 55s with Khalif Ali just one place and 2 seconds behind him.

Saif Crane also put in an excellent performance finishing 59th in 9m 28s

We also had 3 youngsters competing in the U15/U17 race held over 4.5k. Jayden McDermott led the way in 21st place in 18m 13s, followed by Luke Thake 23rd 18m 29s and Mya Ward 31st 24m 19s

 

 

ESSEX CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE
One Tree Hill

The Essex Cross-Country League opened this winter’s fixtures on a warm sunny day at One Tree Hill in Basildon last Saturday.  The races were held over the trials in the country park with the course featuring a couple of stiff climbs on each lap.

Ilford AC were very well represented across all age groups.
We had 10 athletes in our Junior races, which is a testament to our Coaches Ernie, Gary and Wayne, and the hard work they put in to ensure the future of the club is in safe hands.

In the year 5 and 6 grouping the 1st Ilford athlete with a very impressive debut in a high class field was Khalif Ali followed by Arnav Rathi also making an impressive debut .
Next finisher was Elias Furreedan with a really solid performance.
In a very high standard U13 race Barney Perkins finished in 14th place and he will no doubt improve on this performance as he gains more experience.
In the U15 boys race Sam Horsley ran a very impressive race to finish 2nd, and was backed up by good runs from Aaron Berhe in 19th and Luke Thake in 38th.
There were also 3 excellent performances in the U17 Men’s race with Samuel Crane in 9th place, Aaron Hick in 17th and James Thake 21st.

The senior ladies race was over 6.6km and an Ilford team weakened by injuries and non availability put in a good performance to claim 11th spot in their division 1 match.
Alison Sale led the team home in 72nd position in 32 mins 41 secs with support from Pauline Tester in 94th spot and Dianne Crisp in 119th.
Ever reliable Frieda Keane closed the team in 142nd in a large field,

The Ilford AC men had a big turnout of 18 for their 8km race over 2 laps.
First home for the club was Tom Gardner in an excellent 7th place  and 3rd in the M40 category in 27 mins 29 secs. Next over the line in 17th was Alex Richards in 28 mins 21 secs with the ever reliable Malcolm Muir in 42nd  in 30 mins 29 secs and 4th in the M45 age group.
Steve Philcox came in 64th and 2nd in the M55 group and Josh Alder 78th.
Dylan Harrod, who is still in the U20 age group, completed the scoring team in 110th.
This placed the club in 7th in division one of the league.

Neil Crisp was 3rd in M60 category and 125th overall and club stalwart Andy Catton 1st in the M70 grouping.

Backing up the team on the tough course were:  Danny Holeyman  116th   Richard Woolterton   129th   Seb Parris  147th  Ray Dzikowski  160th     Bradley Brown  179th  Steve Crane   189th   Tony Young  44.02  Sean Costello  237th  Rob Sargent  254th  Jim Tilbrook  255th

CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5km
Olympic Velopark

The first fixture of the season in the Chingford League took place under the lights at the Olympic Velopark road circuit in Stratford. Ilford are competing in the second tier of this competition and produced good results on the night.

Off first was the U15/17 race and in a field of 60 runners Ilford had two U15 boys who had great races. Sam Horsley came first in a time of 16:51 followed by Ryder Islam in 8th place in 18:36.

Next off were the Senior women, led home by Gemma Ellender in 23rd place in 21:12. Coming in next was Alison Sale in 23:08 and Pauline Tester in 25:25.
Completing the ladies team were the ever reliable Launa Broadley 172nd 30:32 and Frieda Keane 183rd 32:32.

The ladies finished 6th on the night.

Last race of the day was the Senior men. In a large field of over 300 runners, Ilford AC had 10 runners competing.

First home was Ronan Edwards 14th 16:44, followed by Sam Rahman 34th 17:24.
Next in were 3 within a minute of each other, Danny Holeyman 100th 19:23, Joel Denning 112th 19:38 and Seb Parris 19:59.

The squad were backed up by excellent performances from Nick West 184th 21:43, Stephen Lacey 190th 21:55, Steven Horsley 202nd 22:17, Anthony Young 251st 24:09 and Jim Tilbrook 276th 26:21

Tiptree 10 (10 Miles)

The Tiptree 10 has been awarded ‘the best road race in the Essex AA area’ as voted by running clubs 3 times since 2008 and offers a beautiful scenic course through the Essex village.
This year the race incorporated the Essex 10 Mile championships, and in a large field Ilford AC had 10 athletes representing the club.

Leading the team home in an incredible sub 60 minutes was Malcolm Muir in 59:41 for 15th place. Just one place behind was Sam Rahman winning an Essex Silver VM40 medal in a time of 1:00:07. Sam was followed by Stephen Philcox who gained a VM55 Gold medal with a time of 1:04:20. Our other medallist on the day was Alison Sale with a well deserved Essex Silver in the VF55 grouping with a time of 1:24:22 for 186th place.

Backing up the medallists, all with great performances of their own were :- Danny Holeyman 46th 1:05:45, Richard Woolterton 61st 1:07:09, Terry Knightley 87th 1:12:17 Nick West 161st 1:21:04, Hannah Sheikh 241st 1:30:43 and Launa Broadley 349th 1:44:04

Essex Grand Prix

At the end of the Essex Road Championships season the top 3 runners in each age category are awarded prizes based on their season’s performances.

Ilford are proud to announce that Sam Rahman won a Gold medal in the MV40 grouping, whilst Terry Knightley added Essex County medal No 80 to his collection with a Silver medal in the MV60 grouping.