Press Report 10th November 2015  

Nov 102015
 

Stebbing 10
Sunday 8th November

Hit by illness and injuries Ilford AC were forced to field a weakened squad in the Stebbing 10 mile road race which incorporated the Essex Championship last Sunday.

First Ilford man home on the undulating rural course was Sam Rahman in 19th place with 60mins 04 secs with Steve Philcox next in 30th in 62m 32s, which won him the bronze medal for the M50 category in the Essex championship. Neil Crisp completed the scoring team showing improved form in 36th in 63m 12s and 5th spot in the Essex M50 grouping. The team placed 5th in the Essex championship.

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Robin McNelis came in 55th with 65m 39s, while the ladies challenge was headed byJenni Sheehan with 72m 49s for 121st overall and 17th in the female race. Mel Jones returned her best time for over 10 years as she recorded 75m 02s for 149th in the main race, 25th female and 4th in the Essex F45 category. The team was closed by Nicola Hopkinson in 82m 21s , which also finished in 5th place.

Rachel Halpin placed 278th overall with 85m 23s and Julia Galea set a new personal best time by 3 and 1/2 minutes of 92m 59s and placed 6th in the Essex F55 grouping. Nicola Chester completed the squad in 96m 58s.

Chingford League 5km
RedbridgeCycle Circuit
Tuesday 3 November

Ilford AC had 6 athletes runnng as guests in the third match of this winter’s Chingford League as the Club have no entry in the Team competition. The race is over a 3 lap courseof the demanding Hog Hill circuit and Sam Rahman had a good run in 30th spot in 18 mins 08 secs, with Rohan Alexander coming home 76th with 20m 27s. Ed Skinner placed 149th in 24m 33, while Rob Sargent was 161st with 25m 14s. Best for the ladies was Rachel Halpin in 26m 12s for 169th and Nicola Chester finished 188th with 28m 31s. There were 212 finishers.

 

  Press Report 2nd November 2015  

Nov 022015
 

Essex Cross Country League ….Round 2
Hockley Sat 31st October 2015

Runners from Ilford AC and representing a variety of age groups contested the 2nd round of the Essex Cross country League held at Hockley Woods in extremely pleasant autumnal running conditions last Saturday over the usual challenging and varied course comprising some steep climbs open fields and a wooded section.

Once again many of the Club’s younger members shined in the junior races. For the first time in many years Ilford had 6 U13 Boys competing. First home was Farris Patel in 12th place , quickly followed by Arun Manget in 13th. Both these athletes were challenging at the front for a large part of the race and were not far behind at the end of achieving a top 6 finish.

Following these boys home were Matthew Hick in 23rd, Bradley Deacon in 26th, Euan Johnstone in 46th and Mehdi Harun in 47th. In the U15’s boys and Girls race, Jack Halil came 42nd in the boys race and Jordan Hinds came a respectable 26th and Isabella Hick 39th for the girls.
The best performance of the day came in the U17s where Ahmed Abdulle led the race from start to finish, winning by a large margin.
A field of 90 women took part in the senior ladies race over approximately 7km and best for Ilford AC was Krystle Balogun in 15th place with 27m 48s, while Bree Nordin finished 36th in 30m 38s and Nicola Hopkinson gave a solid performance in 48th recording 32m 43s. The trio combined to finish 12th in the team match.

The senior mens race of around 8.5km attracted over 170 starters. Leading the way for Ilford was Tom Gardner who ran an excellent race to come home in 2nd place with 30m 17s, being beaten only by Colchester’s in-form Adrian Mussett. Supporting him well were Paul Holloway in 51st in 35m 19s and Kevin Wotton with 36m 27s for 36m 27s. Neil Crisp recorded 36m 58s in 75th. They were backed up by 2 of the clubs legendary elder statesmen, Andy Catton, 95th in 39.26 and Tony Nixon 11th in 40.36 who closed the 6 man scoring team to 9th place. Also in action were Ed Skinner 148th (48m 03s).James Huddart 167th and Graham Williams 168th.

After two matches both men and women lie 10th in divison 1 of the league.

Billericay 10k
Sunday 1st November 2015

On a crisp cold foggy Sunday morning, Ilford AC legend, Terry Knightley, was the sole representative from the club in the annual Billericay Striders 10K Road Race.

Back in 1998 he won the race outright. However this year in a field of around 600 runners, Knightley managed to finish in 30th place in 39 minutes and 20 seconds to win the First Veteran Over 50 Prize for the Fourth time in the last Six years !

The race was won by Paul Whittaker of Southend AC In a course record of 30 minutes and 31 seconds.

Dublin Marathon

Ilford’s Declan Cullen travelled to Dublin to take part in their marathon held on the late October bank holiday Monday. Despite suffering a few injury problems in his build up Declan ran a well controlled race, running the first half in exactly the same time as the second to record a finishing time of 3hrs 38 mins 07 secs,a new personal best time by 4 minutes and placing him 3806th in a large field of almost 13000 and 18th in the M60 age category.

 

  Press Report 27th October 2015  

Oct 272015
 

Great South Run
Portsmouth
Sunday 25October

The city of Portsmouth on the South Coast provided the setting for Sunday’s Great South Run on a calm morning with warm sunshine. A trio of runners representing Team Ilford AC, all giving good performances, were amongst a massive field of nearly 14000 finishers. Sam Rahman was first from the club to complete the 10 mile race around the city passing a number of the area’s notable landmarks including Spinnaker Tower and HMS Victory. Sam continued his excellent form of late finishing in a superb 73th spot clocking a new personal best of 58 mins 36secs. Jenni Sheehan is another running well at the moment and also recorded a new best time for the distance of 72 mins 31 secs in 886th place overall and 83rd female. Club coach Rob Sargent also ran recording 79mins 55 secs in 2260th.

The men’s and women’s elite races were won by Moses Kipsiro of Uganda and Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot.Kipsiro clocked a time of 46 minutes while Cheruiyot was 17 seconds outside the course record, with a time of 51 minutes 17 seconds. Jo Pavey, the reigning European 10,000m champion and two-time winner of the Great South Run, came second in the women’s race with a world-over-40 best time of 52 minutes 44 seconds.

MarathonNews

Baldev Singh completed in the Toronto Marathon recording 4hr 35 mins 59 secs for 2934th and 291st in the M65 age category.

 

  Press Report 20th October  

Oct 202015
 

Wix 5
Sunday 18 October

There was more success for the endurance squad of Ilford AC as they rallied up 5 Essex county medals, 5 personal bests and plenty of season’s best times in the Wix 5 mile race which featured as the Essex County 5 mile championship. The race was held on a calm morning over a fast course based in the village of Wix, just outside Harwich.

First home for Ilford was Tom Gardner, who was always up in the leading group,in an excellent second place in 26 mins 14 secs winning the county Silver medal. Next home was Sam Rahman in 17th improving his best time for the distance by 37seconds to 28m 22s, with Steve Philcox one place behind in 28m 24s. Steve had just moved into the M50 age group and was rewarded with the bronze medal in this category. These three combined to take second team and the silver medals in the county championship. Neil Crisp was the next to finish in 34th with a season’s best of 30m 13s and was followed over the line by Kevin Wotton in 30m 20s, also a season’s best. Terry Knightley was another runner who posted his besttime of the year in 57th with 32m 06s.

Tony Nixon was another county medallist with 32m 55s in 70th and winning the bronze medal in the M60 category. Completing the line up for the men was Declan Cullen who recorded a personal best of 35m 51s in 128th spot.

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There was a big improvement for Ilford’s leading lady, Jenni Sheehan as she improved her time by one minute to 34m 15s as 13th lady and 96th overall. Bree Nordin won the F55 gold medal in the county championship in 34m 51s as 16th lady and 109th overall. The scoring team was completed by Mel Jones as 23rd female,133rd overall, in 36 minutes exactly. Nicola Hopkinson recorded a season’s best of 38m 26s and Julia Galea finished in a new best time for the distance of 42m36s. Doris Gaga recorded 43m 23s and Carol Muir 46m 37s, a season’s best. Completing the Ilford ladies line up was Julia Gillender who smashed her pb by3 1/2 minutes to 50m 21s.

The Ilford ladies team finished 4th in county championship and there were 328 finishers.

  Press Report 13th October  

Oct 132015
 

Ilford AC’s youngsters were well represented in the first Cross Country Essex League race held at One Tree Hill and hosted by Thurrock Harriers on Saturday

First up in the U11s Boys racewere Matthew Hick and Euan Johnstone. Matthew ran a great race to finish in 3rd position and Euan in his first race over the country finished a very credible 12th.
Ilford then put out 4 athletes inthe u13s Boys race that followed where Farris Patel, improving with every race, led the club home in 10th place and was followed in by Aaron Manget in 14th. Bradley Deacon was next home in 2nd followed by Mehdi Harun who came in 52nd.
In the U15 girls Jordan Hinds worked her way through the field to finish 11th whilst Isabella Hick recorded 32nd. In the Boys U15s Jack Halil, in his first cross country race finished 42nd.

The U17 men’s race was full of quality where Ahmed Abdulle ran suberbly to finish 2nd.
In the senior races Ilford had Krystle Balogun, 19th, and Breege Nordin 43rd flying the flag for the women. The results of the men’s race are still being finalised.

Breege Nordin was in action again the following morning posting 73.34 at the Tiptree 10 to take the top over 55 run of the day prize just getting the better of her long-term adversary Sue Spong of Havering. Yet the top Ilford run of the day went to Steve Philcox who demonstrated he is returning to something like his best form when clocking 60.25 for 7th place.