Press Press Report 6th October 2015  

Oct 062015
 

Blair McWhirter of Ilford ran his first marathon since London last year at Chester on Sunday and put in another great performance. Starting off with the lead pack Blair went through halfway in 73 mins 17 secs in 5th place. In the second half he gained a place to come home 4th in 2h 27m 50s.

In Wales Declan Cullen took part in the Cardiff Half Marathon finishing in 2676th in a field of almost 16000 in a new personal best time of 1h 41m 34s.

Nearer to home Ilford AC had 3 runners in a mass field of over 1300 competitors at the Southend Classic 10k on Sunday. Steve Philcox posted the best of the Ilford times clocking 37.52 for 30th place. Bradley Brown was next home in 42.19 for 111st followed by Carol Muir in 63.25 for 978th.

  Press Report 29th September 2015  

Sep 292015
 

Valentines Park 5k
Sunday 27th September 2015

Ilford AC fielded one of their stronger squads in the 7th and final race of the East London FiVe Interclub Series (Elvis) held at Valentines Park and hosted by East London Runners last Sunday.
Held over the traditional two lap 5kilometre course 236 runners enjoyed the warm September sunshine producing some very fast times with the leading 2 runners going sub 16 minutes and the top 7 cracking the 17 minute barrier.
Ilford’s men’s team was strengthened by the appearance of 2 talented youngsters, Ahmed Abdulle and Usamah Patel who had both raced the day before at the County Cross Country Relays butnevertheless put in excellent performances. It was Abdulle who led the Ilford charge involving himself in a titanic struggle with Orion’s Jack Stroud which went all the way to the line. As both athletes sprinted for supremecy it was the Orion man who just edged it clocking 15.53 to Abdulle’s 15.55. Crispian Bloomfied of Billericay and the course record holder was back in third with 16.06.­

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The club also dominated the veteran categories with Amin Koikai 7th overall in 16.54 getting the better of an under trained Malcolm Muir 9th in 17.07  in the Male Vet 40 division. Andy Catton easily won the MV60 class in 20.06 placing 54th overall and Tony Hyde just missed out in the over 50’s with his 18.37 and 24th overall being runner up to East London’s Manjit Bedi. Usamah Patel completed the winning scoring team of 4 for the race with 17.13 and 10th place. Next home were Sam Rahman 17.27 and Stephen Philcox 18.01 in 14th and 16th respectively, these 2 athletes closing the team of 6 required for the Elvis competition where once again Ilford triumphed on the day.

The women’s race was notable for the cameo appearance of Havering’s England international Faye Fullerton who holds the ladies course record set a few years back. Fullerton more at home over 1500 metres is however soon to run the Cardiff half marathon and was using this race as a test of pace. Running largely untroubled with her watch set to pace rather than time she picked off some of the faltering leading men in the latter stages to finish like an express train just shy of her own record in 16.42.

Krystle Balogun was Ilford’s top woman in 20.14 for 58th. With club captain Jenni Sheehan unwell and unable to compete the Ilford ladies rallied well with Breege Nordin next home and topover 55 of the day recording 21.36 for 80th place overall just 3seconds ahead of Melinda Jones 21.39 and 83rd closing the ladies team to 2nd place in the race. Nicola Hopkinson ran well to complete the 4th team member home for the Elvis Competition recording 23.11 and 117th.
Other Ilford runners with positionsand times were as follows:-
20th Kevin Wotton 18-16, 25th Neil Crisp 18-40, 49th Rohan Alexander 19-51, 52nd KieranMcKenna 20-03, 54th Andy Catton 20-06, 55th TerryKnightley 20-09, 72nd Gary Float 21-10,84th Stephen Parker 21-46, 112th  John Mackenzie 22-42, 126th ZuzanaSinalova 23-44, 143rd Pathrose Louis 24-31, 145th VictoriaMorgan 24-35, 151st Rachel Halpin 24-49, 154th ErnieForsyth 25-03, 164th Sukhbindar Jandu 26-01, 167th JuliaGalea 26-10, 188th Doris Gaga 27-26, 189th Carol Muir 27-30,219th James Huddart 32-19, 225th Meredith Floate 34-10, 226th MichaelCroft 34-21.

Essex Cross Country Relays
Saturday 26th September 2015

Ilford AC had four young athletes teams representing them at Hockley near Southend last Saturday in one of the best club turnouts coach Ian Gains could remember.

At one stage it looked like the U/17 boys team would not be able to defend their title as they were struggling to put out a team when sprinter Kelechi Okorie came to the rescue opening the account on Leg 1 with 13-01. On Leg 2 Usamah Patel returning to full fitness put in the 6th fastest time of the day with 10-51 before handing over to Ahmed Abdulle on Leg 3. Ahmed Abdulle then put in aoutstanding leg 34sec faster than last year to record 10-11 which proved to be the fastest time of the day by some distance and elevating the team to 8th position.

The U/15 Girls competing at this level for the first time gave an excellent account of themselves. On leg 1 Jordan Hinds 13-25, leg 2 Isabella Hick15-33, leg 3 Katie Deacon 21-22 combined for a team position of 11th.
The U/13 boys A team although 3rd last year had to settle for 4th place this time but ran over 2 minutes faster to produce a solid all round team performance. Leg 1 BradleyDeacon 13-12, leg 2 Farris Patel 13-07, leg 3 Arun Manget 12-19 collectively placed 4th in the team competition.

The U/13 Boys B team had an excellent start with Matthew Hick just edging out the Ateam on leg 1 in 13-04 and solidly backed up by Mehdi Harun on leg 2 with 14-40 and on leg 3 with Euan Johnstone 14-39 giving them a team position 4th in B team race.

  Press Report 22nd September 2015  

Sep 212015
 

Ingatestone 5
Sunday 20th September
Some very pleasant running conditions greeted a field of 121 runners who lined up for the 31st running of the iconic Ingatestone 5 Road race last Sunday.The race was founded by Ilford AC legend Howard Williams back in the 1980’s andthe Club recognised his legacy by providing a turnout of 10 runners as well as the Officials team who assisted the Ingatestone Boys Club in this annual charity event.
Sam Rahman brought the Ilford men home in a time of 28.59 in 6th place withSteve Philcox, 7th in 29.03 and Neil Crisp 19th in 30.44 closing  the team to 3rd place. Bradley Brown was 42nd in34.57 and Ernie Forsyth 83d clocking41.36.
The Ilford Ladies placed 4th with Bree N ordin 46th in 35.52, Mel Jones 49th in 36.00, and Doris Gaga closing in 80th with 40.55. Carol Muir, 106th in 48.03 and Julie Gillender 109th in 53.59 provided good support. There were veteran prizes for Mel Jones and Bree Nordin, winners of the FV45 and FV55 veteran categories respectively.
Thomas Beedell of Woodford Green headed a class field clocking 26.44 with Mark Newton of Springfield Striders 2nd and Crispian Bloomfield Billericay 3rd.

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Belfairs Wood 5 miles
Sunday 20thSeptember
Nursing a very serious injury to his right Gluteus Maximus muscle sustained two weeks ago at the Wissey Half Marathon which has prevented him from any proper training, Ilford Stalwart Terry Knightley managed to run/jog the second ever Belfairs Woods Five Miles Race at Leigh on Sea.
Over an incredibly hilly cross country course including some thick mud in places, Knightley managed to finish in 40th position from a field of two hundred in approximately forty minutes.

 

  Press Report 15th September 2015  

Sep 152015
 

PLESHEY HALF MARATHON
Sunday 13 September

On a bright sunny Sunday morning Ilford AC’s endurance squad enjoyed yet another successful outing at the Pleshey half marathon near Chelmsford which once again doubled as the Essex half marathon championships, as they won 6 county medals

The race, run on a gently undulating and well marshaled rural route from the picturesque village of Pleshey, saw the welcome return of New Zealander Blair McWhirter to the Ilford ranks following a spell working aboard. Blair picked up where he left off winning the race and the Essex title in a years best od 1hr 11mins 18 secs. He was supported by the in form Sam Rahman who attacked the race to set a new personal best time of 1h 18m 10s for 19th place, while Malcolm Muir, who is still hampered by a stomach injury, came home 23rd in 1h 18m 43s. This performance won him the Essex bronze medal in the M40 category These three combined to place third team in the Essex Championship.

Next home in 29th, and 6th in the M40 category, was Steve Philcox in 1h 21m 14s and there was another Essex bronze for the team as Neil Crisp took 3rd in the M50 category with 1h 25m 31s. Paul Holloway recorded 1h 26m 31s for 74th and Steve Parker recorded 1h 42m 00s in 164th. Declan Cullen finished 189th in 1h 44m 51s and Peter Spelman 272nd with 1h 54m 53s. In 380th and 5th in the M70 ageband was Graham Williams in 2h12m 15s

Leading the ladies also to a county team bronze was Bree Nordin in 12th place with 1h 38m 17s which placed her 2nd in the Essex F55 category. She was supported by Jenni Sheehan who broke 100 minutes for the first time as she lowered her best time to 1h 39m 15s in 143th overall and 15th lady, The team was completed by Mel Jones. in her first half marathon for over 10 years recorded 1h 42m 05th as 15th female and 173th overall.

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