Ilford AC’s run of the weekend came from Paul Holloway who continues to steadily crack all his personal bests. Sunday saw him on the South coast where he was among 9000 plus runners tackling the popular Brighton marathon. The Ilford man set off at a sensible pace running conservatively and reaching 10k in 41mins 34 seconds before keeping steady for the remainder of the race as it wound around the city to the finish on the seafront. Holloway was well pleased as he crossed the line in 2hrs 58 mins and 9 seconds, the first time he had cracked the magical 3 hour barrier which placed him high up the field in 75th position.

Further afield Peter Spelman competed in the Paris Marathon which starts and finishes by the Arc de Triumph and runs past most of the city’s popular landmarks. Peter went through halfway in 1.59 but was unable to keep the pace going in in the second half of the race partly due to the unusually warm Spring weather of around 19 degrees. Nevertheless he posted a creditable time of 4 hours 11 minutes 53 secs which placed him midway in a field in excess of 40000 in a time of 4hrs 11mins 53 secs.

The Hillingdon Half marathon based at Brunel University in West London saw Doris Gaga dip under 2 hours for the distance for the first time with a new best time of 1hr 58 mins 10 secs finishing 234th out of the 347 finishers.

Elsewhere on Sunday, five weeks after fracturing one of the metatarsal bones in his left foot at The Sidcup 10 mile road race, Ilford AC stalwart, Terry Knightley, returned to the road racing circuit at The St Clare Hospice 10K Road Race in Harlow.

Using the race as a very slow training run to nurse the injury and keep it at bay, Knightley finished in 47 minutes and 45 seconds in a field of over 300 athletes.

He was joined in the event by the evergreen Pam Jones who finished in 63 minutes and 21 seconds and was first over 75 female to finish.

Peter Ryan has also been racing prolifically recently at a variety of Southern venues. Firstly at the Weymouth Bay 10k on 22nd March he placed 31st in a time of 43.24.
Four days later he competed at the Weston Prom 5 miles finishing 91st in 35.21 which also put him as the 2nd over 60. Last week it was the turn of theYeovilton 5k to see Peter crossing the finish line in an excellent 20.50, placing him 56th out of 155 and once again good enough for runner up spot in the over 60s.

Essex Road Relays 28th March 2015
Harwich

Strong coastal winds gusting across Dovercourt Bay greeted over 170 runners representing 53 teams from the cream of the county’s running clubs as they contested the Essex Relay Championships last Saturday. The event held at Chelmsford for many years was switched to Harwich this year in an enterprising move by the host Club Harwich Runners to present a fast accurately measured 5k course along the seafront with the innovation of chip timing. For the first time in Essex Road Running’s history runners transported a baton around the course which contained the chip technology. With the stiff wind behind they were assisted along the promenade for the first 2k until the turnaround when they had to battle against its full force on their return.

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Ilford AC fielded a depleted mens team but nevertheless competed with distinction in the vet 40 section which was held over 3 legs. Robin McNelis led off giving the team a solid start coming home in 18 mins 9 secs before handing over to Paul Holloway who matched this with an 18 min 4 secs effort. It was then left to Malcolm Muir to bring the team home to a bronze medal with the 2nd fastest run of the day overall clocking 16.19 which was also the top male 40 time.
Ilford ladies were unlucky not to come away with a medal with both teams just missing out by occupying 4th spot. In the Female Open were Krystle Balogun,19.38, Bree Nordin, 22.23, and club captain Jenni Sheehan 21.51 whilst the ladies vet 45 team had Dianne Crisp,24.08, Julia Galea,27.09, and the evergreen Pam Jones,31.23 contesting the spoils, the latter competing against opposition over 30 years her junior.
The fastest run of the day came from Rob Warner of Havering AC in 16.10 whilst Colchester’s Nicola Rogers topped the women’s times with 18.18. the team winners were as follows:-

Ladies Open Colchester Harriers A – 58:16
Ladies FV35 Saffron Striders – 62:10
Ladies FV45 Colchester Harriers – 62:30

Men Open Southend AC A – 67:32
Men MV40 Havering AC A -51:52
Men MV50 Colchester Harriers A – 57:10
Ladies and vets ran three legs while the male open ran four legs.
The event proved to be a great success for Harwich Runners who not only received some very positive feedback for the course and organisation but also came away with a silver in the team Female 35 and Female 45 categories, and a bronze in the male 50. In addition Harwich’s Kate Hodgkiss was top over 35 runner of the day with 19.28.

Braintree 5 miles and Colchester Half Marathon
29th March 2015

There was success for 2 Ilford AC runners at Braintree 5 mile road race on Sunday held on a slightly undulating rural course.The race avoided the worst of the weather and Bree Nordin was once again dominant in the FV55 age group taking the trophy in 36min 32secs which placed her 71st out the total of 308 finishers. Ilford legend Pam Jones won the FV65 category with 51m 45s. Coach Rob Sargent had a run around placing 114th with 39m 44s and Julia Galea finished 183rd in a time of 44m 19s.

The Colchester half marathon was held in very wet conditions but this did not deter the two Ilford athletes from recording personal best times, showing their training for the London marathon is going well. Declan Cullen came home in 1h 41m 43s in 313th in a field of over 2000. Team mate Satha Alaganandasundaram was not far behind in 541st with 1h 48m 54s