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)

  Press Report 2nd August 2016  

Aug 022016
 

Brooks Last Friday of the month 5K
Hyde Park Friday 29th July

Ilford AC had 5 runners in the July edition of The ‘Brooks last friday of the month 5k which took place at 12.30pm in warm breezy and fairly humid conditions. The race was notable as it saw new series records in both the W80 and M80 age groups. The field was of a high standard with the first 10 runners home breaking the 17 minute barrier.
Many congratulations to Ilford’s Pam Jones for the W80 title whose time of 31.04 for 232nd place set the inaugural age group record for W80, having previously been the W75 record holder (still the record) set, remarkably, exactly 5 years previous.
Ilford’s John Batchelor although not racing in this one has also set the V65, V70 AND V75 on this course, so a good race for Ilfords Vets.
Steve Philcox led the men home in a time of 17:36 to claim 1st M50 spot, followed by Breege Nordin, who continues her good form at the distance, who was first Ilford female home in 21:42 for 106th which remarkably place her 3rd overall in the age graded results with 85.4 per cent. Rob Sargent was next home in 189th clocking 25.13 and 7th M60 followed by Julie Gillender 226th in 29.00 for 7th F45.










Swiss Alpine Marathon
Davos
Peter Spelman completed his 11th Swiss alpine marathon over the weekend. This is the highest marathon in Europe with the challenging route taking in some stunning views and mountain scenery. This year Peter perhaps unwisely ran with a bad cold which resulted in him walking a large part of the course and a slower time of 8:38:56.

  Press Report 26th July 2016  

Jul 262016
 

Newham 10k

On a very hot and humid Sunday morning in Londons East End, 4 Ilford athletes lined up for the annual Great Newham 10k run which finishes with a lap of the Olympic Stadium.
Runners were warned before the race started to not go for PB’s or attempt a sprint finish due to the extreme conditions.
The route seems to change every year, although it may well be that the park changes every year so it just seems different. The course is quite a twisty one with more than its fair share of inclines to deal with and offers no shade at all.
Ilford was lead home by an impressive run in the circumstances by Rohan Alexander in 43:59 followed almost a full 10 minutes later by Billy Green in 53.35.
First female home for Ilford was Carol Muir who continues her good form of late with a time of 60:10.
Suki Jandu completed the Ilford contingent with a time of 63:25

  Press Report 18th July 2016  

Jul 192016
 

Newman Hilly 5
Wednesday 13th July 2016
Ilford AC successfully hosted their showcase event at Chigwell Row last Wednesday evening with the 26th running of the Newman Hilly 5 which was also the 4th race of the extremely popular Elvis series. Well over 200 runners took to the trails of Hainault Forest over a 2 lap course of just over 5 miles on a cool but pleasant evening which provided almost near perfect running conditions although recent rain had made the terrain a little muddy underfoot.
As always this event shows the club at its best and even with an army of volunteers and marshals was still able to put out 21 runners and dominate the men’s race. At the end of the first lap training partners Ahmed Abdulle and Tom Gardner were locked together well out in front with the chasers including a posse of Ilford vets. It was the in-form 17 year old Abdulle who looked the easiest and so it proved as he pulled away opening up a 40 second gap and finishing in 26.57 with Gardner back in second in 27,37, Billericay’s Crispian Bloomfield was third a further 37 seconds adrift and top male vet 40 on the day. 4th place went to Alex Richards of Ilford in 28,43 whilst Steve Philcox, 7th in 30.07, and Andy Catton,50th in 36.10, both scooped the supervet prizes in the MV40 and MV50 categories.
The Ilford men continued to pack well with Paul Holloway, Sam Rahman, Usamah Patel, Robin Mc Nelis and Kevin Wotton making 9 Ilford runners home in the top 20 positions. Needless to say the Club took both the Men’s Race team and Elvis team victories on the night.
The ladies fielded a weakened team with many out either through volunteering duties or through injury but nevertheless still managed to close a team with Bee Nordin once again leading the troops home clocking 37.10 for 3rd lady home and first in the FV55 category. She was joined by Julia Galea 33rd lady in 45.50, Carol Muir 49th lady in 49.46 and Nichola Fairburn, 49.52 as 51st lady closing the team to 6th on the night in the Elvis competition. The club also had 2 ladies from their Harriers section Launa Broadley, 56.28, and Sheila Sinclair, 57.21, 67th and 68th ladies respectively. The usual very strong East London Runners squad were top team on the night in both the ladies team race and Elvis competitions.

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The current Elvis standings with 3 races to go shows Ilford and East London Runners in a titanic battle, locked together on 6 points. In the ladies East London Runners are in a strong and virtually unassailable pole position with just 4 points following their 4th consecutive victory with Ilford back in 4th on 16 points

Other Ilford runners positions and times were 21st Neil Crisp 32.12, 37th Rohan Alexander 34.31, 42nd Terry Knightley 35.02, 51st Bradley Brown 36.11, 74th Declan Cullen 37.57, 115th Satha Alaga 42.1, 148th Sukhbindar Jandu 46.39.

SCVAC Match 4
11th July 2016
The Ilford AC Vets track and field team travelled to Jarman Park Hemel Hempsted last Monday evening to compete in the fourth and final meeting of the season and hosted by Dacorum and Tring.
The evening started positively with Steve Uttley winning the 2000m walk in the over 35 age group in 11:11:3.
Henry Ricketts competing in the same age group placed 3rd in the 200m in 27.4s, 6th in the high jump clearing 1m 10 and finished 1st in the long jump with 5m 24.
Peter Whiting threw the javelin 25m 01 to place 4th in the over 35 age group. His over 50 high jump of 1m secured 5th and his 200m time of 32.3s secured 4th in the same category.

Andy Catton competed in the 3000m for over 60 men and finished 2nd in a time of 12.11.0.
The team finished 7th on the evening and 5th overall for the season. Barnet and District will represent SCVAC at the end of season finale.
A big thank you to all who participated, officiated and supported the team over the 2016 season.

Battersea Park 5k Races
On the same evening Gary Floate took part in the Sri Chimnoy Battersea Park 5k and was pleased with his time of 20.16 which placed him 63rd in a good class field of 168 runners.
The following evening in a much more low key Veterans AC 5km Championships. Ilford AC had 5 runners in a field of only 45 runners and recorded the following results.

Steve Philcox, 4th in 17.37 (M50 Gold), Steve Parker 19th in 22.10 (M60silver), Dianne Crisp 26th in 24.27, Julie Gillender 38th in 28.24 (F45 Bronze), Pam Jones 42nd in 31..17 (F80 gold and age group course record).

  Press Report 12th July  

Jul 112016
 

Felsted 10k

Over 400 runners lined up for the Felsted 10k on a muggy morning last Sunday. The race which starts and finishes at Felsted school is held over a fast flat road course with some gentle undulations. It was also the Essex 10k championships and the 4th county Grand Prix Race for 2016..
Ilford AC had 12 runners competing in these championships with Malcolm Muir returning from a lay off the best of the bunch coming home in 18th place with 36.15. He was followed in by Sam Rahman, 24th in 36.56 and Paul Holloway 32nd in 37.37. Other Ilford men’s times and positions were Steve Philcox, 39th 38.26, Neil Crisp 42nd 38.32, Terry Knightley 58th 39.43, Declan Cullen 153rd 45.38, Steve Parker 179th 46.29, and Satha Alaga 264th 50.59.

The ladies also managed to put out a scoring team with Ilford legend Pam Jones running in her first County Championships as an 80 year old. Pam clocked 64.36 for 438th place and wa joined by Julia Galea 333rd in 55.06 and Carol Muir 416th in 61.49.

Other Races

Elsewhere Club Captain Billy Green took part in the Vitality British 10k London Run where he clocked 48.45 for position 1260 in a mass field of over 11000 athletes. The race was won by Southend’s Paul Whittaker in 32.03

Across the pond Ilford AC’s Rob Sargent took part in the annual 4th July race in Greenville South Carolina USA . On a sunny hot Monday morning over 1100 lined up for the 5km race around the grounds of the picturesque Furman University (where ex Tottenham player Clint Dempsey played his college soccer) over a fast course. Rob ran a steady race in the 85F temperature to finish 439th in 26 mins 44 secs taking 10th spot in the M60 age category.