Press Report 16th December 2014  

Dec 162014
 

South of England Masters Cross-Country Championships
Horspath, Oxford,Saturday 13th December

A small contingent of Ilford veterans made the trek to a cold but sunny Oxford last Saturday to compete over a tough but very interesting 10k course with a good mix of grassland, farm tracks and calf high mud plus two big hills thrown in for good measure.The 4 entrants each running in different age categories produced some good runs with the following age group results :- Malc Muir 8th M40 Paul Holloway 17th M45 Steve Cheal 56th M50 Andy Catton 5th M60.

More significantly at the other end of the age spectrum Ahmed Abdulle ran brilliantly to finish 3rd in the Southern Inter Counties U17 race. With another year in the age group Ahmed worked his way through to 3rd and only missed out on silver medal by one second.

Southend 5 mileRudolph Run
Sunday 14th December
3 Hardy souls from Ilford Athletic Club braved the crisp, cold, windy conditions on Southend Sea Front to compete in the 4th Staging of The Southend Five Mile Rudolph Run. In a field of well over 300 runners, some decked out as Santas and Elves in keeping with the festive nature of the event.
Terry Knightley, winner of the original inaugural race, finished this year in11th place overall to win the First Male  Veteran Over 50 Prize in a time of 33 Minutes and 30 seconds.Next home for the club in 18th
position and winning the First Male Veteran Over 40 prize was Bradley Brown in35 Minutes and 6 seconds.
Female Over 40 Veteran, Carol Muir, finished next in 138th Position in 45 Minutes and 37 seconds and 8th in her age category.All Finishers of the race were awarded Christmas Puddings and Mince Pies
along with their medals and prizes !

  Press Report 9th December 2014  

Dec 092014
 

Essex Cross-Country League

Great Notley Country Park, Braintree
Saturday 6 December

The third round of this winter’s Essex Cross-Country League was held at Great Notley Country Park, Braintree on Saturday and Ilford AC produced their best results of the season.

The u-13 boys raced over 3000m on the grassland course which featured one tough climb. Arun Manget headed the squad in15th spot in 10 mins 39 secs, with Manraj Gill 2th with 11m 04s and Bradley Deacon 34th in 11m 10s. Together the boys placed 8th in the team competition.

The u17 men gave the team their best results of the afternoon with an excellent run by Ahmed Abdulle coming 2nd in 18m 26s for the 6km course with took the hill in twice with Usamah Patel supporting well in 9th with 19m 31s. In this category Ilford were 8th team.

The women raced on the same course and Krystle Balogun produced her best ever run on the country to take 9th spot in 22m 43s, while Jenni Sheehan continued to show good form in 26th in 24m 02s. Bree Nordin continued her dominance of the F55 category in 36th with 25m 48s and Nicola Hopkinson closed the team with 49th place in 27m 11s. Dianne Crisp returned to the team following illness recording 30m06s in 67th and Doris Gaga in her first season on the country came home 82nd in 32m 56s. The team finished in a superb 5th spot.

The senior men also ran over 2 laps but their distance was 7.5km. Malcom Muir headed up the squad in 9th with 24m 44s and was the first M40 to finish. Tom Gardner was next home in 25m 31s for 15th and Kevin Newell put in a spirited run for 50th with 27m 36s. Sam Rahman showed good form in 57th in 27m 59m and Paul Holloway was next over the line for 59th in 28m 00s.Kevin Wotton placed 64th with 28m 10s and closed the team while Neil Crisp was 7th M50 and 78th overall in 29m 05s. Also in action were Steve Cheal (142nd 36m 34s) and Rob Sargent (145th 6th M60 38m 19s). The team were placed 7th in the match.

Bedford Half Marathon
Sunday 7 December
Kevin Newell followed the Essex League match with a run out in the annual Bedford
Half Marathon. A a cold blustery Sunday morning with the onset of rain gretted the athletes as they stood at
the start line. Newell made a steady start, tackling tough hills at 6 and 9 miles,
with strong cross winds also making it tough for the runners. This was followed by an easier
downhill section before a slight climb in the last mile. The Ilford man finished ina
creditable 79.59 which gave him 13th place out of 957 runners.
Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5k
Hyde Park
Friday 28th November
Two of the oldest active Ilford AC members took part in a field of 264 runners. John Batchelor at 73 years young placed 86th and leading M70 in a time of 21:05, just four seconds faster than in the October race while Pam Jones, now 78, managed 255th in 30:46, still showing a fair few runners a clean pair of heels.Conditions this time however were cold and breezy, in contrast to warm sunny weather for the previous race. Carol Muir (FV40) was 220th in 26:40.

  Press Report 1st December 2014  

Dec 012014
 

Essex Veteran Cross Country Championships
Chigwell Row
Saturday 29 November
Veteran athletes from all over Essex enjoyed ideal running conditions in some warm autumnal sunshine as they tackled a classic challenging cross country course hosted by Ilford AC at their Chigwell Row venue last Saturday morning. The heavy rain leading up to the Essex XC Veterans Championship event had produced some very boggy conditions as the first race combining the over 50s men category with the women set off from the Common opposite Lambourne Road at 11am. Within 200 metres of the start the 200 strong field were into the worst of the long muddy climb which had to be negotiated twice on the 2 lap course of 5.4 miles.
Neil Crisp led the men’s A team home finishing 21st in 38.49. A strong run by Andy Catton was rewarded by a silver medal in the V60 category clocking 39.22 for 26th. He was followed in by Terry Knightley, 54th in 44.00 and Steve Parker who closed in 60th place in 45.28.The “B” team was headed by John Mackenzie 76th in 48.38 who was joined by Steve Cheal, 87th in 50.50, Rob Sargent 94th in 53.56 and Graham Williams 104th in 61.36 who also took the bronze in the over 70s. The two Ilford mens teams were 9th and 17th respectively out of the 17teams competing. The mens 50s race was won by Colchester’s Colin Ridley in 35.00.

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The ladies race produced the run of the day with Sarah Stradling Colchester Harriers taking the women’s title clocking 36.00 and beating the 3rd man home in the process. Bree Nordin led the women’s squad home in 30th position,46.32, a performance which also took the W55 gold medal. She was well supported by Mel Jones,33rd,46.53,Nicola Hopkinson,45th,49.99 and Pam Jones, a silver medalist in the W65s in 92nd and 64.02. The Ilford ladies team placed 11th out of the competing 16 teams.
The younger veteran 40 men set off in their separate race an hour later with a reduced field of only 67 runners due to many last minute cancellations. The course, by now badly churned up. was much to the liking of Ilford’s Malcolm Muir who started as one of the three favourites with Orion’s international triathlete Nick Sasha and former Essex Senior XC Champion Kevin Murphy of Woodford Green. Indeed it was these three that made the early pace with former winner Alan Smalls of Colchester and Barny Foot of Orion giving chase. By halfway Sasha had set up a 100 metre lead on the Ilford man with Murphy about the same distance adrift in 3rd. Going up the last climb it seemed that Murphy might catch Muir having closed to within 25 metres but Muir used his speed to pull away again through the flatter section through the woods and the long sprint in back across the common. It finished Sasha 1st in 32.51, Muir 2nd in 33.14 and Muir 3rd in 33.37.
Steve Philcox was another Ilford man producing an excellent run making 10th position with 35.31 and Kevin Wotton adding great support placing 27th in 37.31. Unfortunately The Club were unable to close a team of 4 in this race due to the forced retirement of Tony Hyde who sustained an injury on the first lap.

Serpentine 5km
Hyde Park
Friday 28 November

Two runners from Ilford Ac ran in the November edition of the Last Friday of the Month 5km in Hyde Park. Carol Muir came home 220th and 36th female in 26min 40 secs, while Pam Jones was once agin first in the F75 category in 30m 46s

Kingston 10km
Sunday 30 November

Club newcomer Doris Gaga travelled to Surrey to run in the Kingston 10km recording 59m 09s for 106th female and 323rd in a field of over 450 starters.

 

  This weeks News  

Nov 252014
 

This week we lovingly prepare the course for this Saturday’s Extravaganza at Chigwell Row aka the Essex Veterans Cross Country Championships…..Having been advised that the Common is nowhere near boggy enough for traditionalists of the Sport I have arranged for several shipments of Stour and Thames Estuary mud to be liberally applied to the same, watered and ploughed in by a herd of stampeding Suffolk Red Poll Cows richly fed on decaying meadow grass and triple senokot….this should get the area a litlle bit more akin to Parliament Hill both in terms or appearance and aroma whilst also adding some extra atmosphere to the event.
Martin

Press Report
Ilford AC’s Malcolm Muir was in the middle of a busy weekend of Championship action this weekend. On Saturday he tackled the rolling slopes of Nottingham’s Wollaton Park which played host to the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International. Muir featured strongly in the open 8k race where he narrowly missed out on a podium place finishing 4th in a top class field of veteran athletes and within 45 seconds of the winner.

The following afternoon he had returned to Essex to compete in the Chelmsford 10k which also included the Essex County Championships. Another 4th placing in a time of 33.16 saw the Ilford man scoop the Essex Veteran over 40 Gold as he headed some excellent performances from the Cricklefields based club.
The extremely wet condtions did not deter the likes of Kevin Newell,26th, and Sam Rahman,31st, who ran a seasons best of 35.36 and a personal best of 35.52 respectively. Another one in the county medals was Neil Crisp whose 52nd placing and 37.55 was good enough for bronze. Superveteran Graham Williams was top over 70 man of the day finishing in 59.26 and placing 450th out of 516 finishers.
In the ladies race Jennie Sheehan was the club star of the day obliterating her previous best for the distance by some 3 minutes and leading the squad home in 121st and an excellent time of 42.09. She was followed in by Bree Nordin who once again took county gold in the FV55 running 44.21,176th. Nicola Hopkinson 48.16, 254th, and Carol Muir,391st,55,50 completed the team.
Local club Springfield Striders provided both the male and female winners in the guise of Scott Cousins 33.14 and Elizabeth Davies 36.25.

The annual Elvis Series Presentation Award Ceremony was held at the Mill House Social Club in Dagenham last Friday night. This was the 7th year of the increasingly popular series which is held over 7 races and sees 8 local running clubs competing against each other throughout the summer. Ilford had many prizewinners which included the overall Men’s team shield with individual prizes going to Malcolm Muir 1st Man, Krystle Balogun 1st Lady, Jennie Sheehan 3rd Lady, Steve Philcox 1st MV40, Neil Crisp 1st MV50, Andy Catton 1st MV60, Bree Nordin 1st FV55.

 

  Press Report 25th November 2014  

Nov 252014
 

Ilford AC’s Malcolm Muir was in the middle of a busy weekend of Championship action this weekend. On Saturday he tackled the rolling slopes of Nottingham’s Wollaton Park which played host to the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International. Muir featured strongly in the open 8k race where he narrowly missed out on a podium place finishing 4th in a top class field of veteran athletes and within 45 seconds of the winner.

The following afternoon he had returned to Essex to compete in the Chelmsford 10k which also included the Essex County Championships. Another 4th placing in a time of 33.16 saw the Ilford man scoop the Essex Veteran over 40 Gold as he headed some excellent performances from the Cricklefields based club.
The extremely wet condtions did not deter the likes of Kevin Newell,26th, and Sam Rahman,31st, who ran a seasons best of 35.36 and a personal best of 35.52 respectively. Another one in the county medals was Neil Crisp whose 52nd placing and 37.55 was good enough for bronze. Superveteran Graham Williams was top over 70 man of the day finishing in 59.26 and placing 450th out of 516 finishers.
In the ladies race Jennie Sheehan was the club star of the day obliterating her previous best for the distance by some 3 minutes and leading the squad home in 121st and an excellent time of 42.09. She was followed in by Bree Nordin who once again took county gold in the FV55 running 44.21,176th. Nicola Hopkinson 48.16, 254th, and Carol Muir,391st,55,50 completed the team.
Local club Springfield Striders provided both the male and female winners in the guise of Scott Cousins 33.14 and Elizabeth Davies 36.25.

The annual Elvis Series Presentation Award Ceremony was held at the Mill House Social Club in Dagenham last Friday night. This was the 7th year of the increasingly popular series which is held over 7 races and sees 8 local running clubs competing against each other throughout the summer. Ilford had many prizewinners which included the overall Men’s team shield with individual prizes going to Malcolm Muir 1st Man, Krystle Balogun 1st Lady, Jennie Sheehan 3rd Lady, Steve Philcox 1st MV40, Neil Crisp 1st MV50, Andy Catton 1st MV60, Bree Nordin 1st FV55.