Press Report 26th May 2015  

May 262015
 

Essex Track and Field Championships – Days 1 & 2
May 23 – 24 May
Chelmsford

Ilford AC’s Tom Gardner on the County’s endurance track events, the 3000m & 5000m over the 2 days. The 3000m which was run at snails pace at times with some big kickers biding their time and consequently Tom had to settle 4th place in 9-04-62 .However In the 5000m the next day he had a outstanding performance and with a solid pace being set from the start he stayed with the leaders when the experienced Adrian Mussett of Colchester decided to pick up the pace. The Ilford man sat in just behind judging his effort to perfection kicking away at 100m out to cross the line in 1st place for the gold medal in a personal best of 15-22.

Ilfords young athlete section also gave a good account of themselves in their first county champs, with Chloe Chapman 100m in 15-05 Pb 200m in 30-26 Pb, Ellie Wright 100m in 14-32 Pb 800m 2-56-36, Isabella Hick 800m in 2-58 Bradley Deacon 1500m in 5-32 Pb.

Ahmed Abdulle took on the 1500m & 3000m in the u/17 over the 2 days.On a slow run 1500m Ahmed got caught for speed & had to settle for 2nd place & silver medal in 4-19. In the 3000m the next day he made sure he did not get caught putting in a fast last 400m taking 1st place & gold medal in 9-1.

Krystle Balogun improving with every race had a excellent run for 2nd place & silver medal in the 800m in 2-19 Pb.

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BUPA 10k
25 May
London

Ilford AC had 13 runners in the mass event field of Bank Holiday Monday’s prestigious BUPA 10k, the culmination of a 2 day festival of running centred around London’s St James’ Park

The Race starts on The Mall and finishes opposite Buckingham Palace with runners following a clockwise route around the City of Westminster and the City of London, passing many of London’s iconic sights including St Paul’s Cathedral the London Eye, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The event included were the UKA 10k championships so it was also a chance to rub shoulders with the elite with Andy Vernon of Aldershot Farnham & District smashing his PB to win the men’s race in 28.38 and European 10000m champion Jo Pavey recovering from illness to take the women’s title in 32.56.
Ilford runners with their times were Malcolm Muir 33:53,Stephen Philcox 39:39, Iain Knight 40:10, Breege Nordin 45:13, Billy Green 50:44, Nicola Hopkinson 50:46, Doris Gaga 53:08, Kevin Wotton 53:44, Sukhbindar Jandu 53:56, Nicola Chester 57:46, Pam Jones 62:08, Carol Muir 63:26, Satha Alaganandasundaram 67:43.

European Master Road Running Championship
May 15 -17
Grosseto. Italy

Ilford AC endurance coach Rob Sargent travelled to Grosseto on the wst coast of Italy to compete in the European Masters Road Running Championship and took part in 2 races.

On Friday Rob ran in the 10km race, which was divided into 3 sections. He ran in the mens M55+ race, which was held on a flat one lap course on a humid Friday afternoon. Rob ran a controlled race to finish in 51m 27s in 123rd and was placed 31st in the M60 category.

On Sunday morning the half marathon was held. It was a 3 lap course around the old city starting outside the 15th century Cathedral of St Lawrence and then finishing at the athletics stadium a short distance from the city. At the 9.30am start time the temperature was already at 25C and continued to rise to over 32C by the time most competitors were completing the course. Rob, along with a number of runners, suffered in the heat and crossed the line in 1h 59m 47s for 28th in the M60 group and 318th overall out of 371 finishers, although there were a number who dropped out or withdrew before the start.

Hatfield Broad Oak 10km
May 25

The 30th Hatfield Broad Oak 10km was held on its traditional Bank Holiday Monday date on a new faster course from the picturesque village.

Heading the Ilford challenge was Ben Jones in 31st spot in 37m 37s. Andy Catton was next home in 84th with 40m 49s, finishing 3rd in the M60 category, with Steve Parker recording 45m 09s in 232nd. The club’s only female entrant Jenni Sheehan recorded 45m 29s for 245th and the team was complted by Rob Sargent in 49m 23s for 433rd out of the 1253 finishers.

  Press Report 19th May 2015  

May 192015
 

No less than 26 athletes from Ilford AC took to the paths of Havering’s Raphael’s Park last Tuesday to compete in the 1st leg of the very popular East London Five Interclub Series (Elvis) hosted by Havering 90 Joggers.

Despite a very strong contingent from East London Runners Ilford Club Captain Malcolm Muir proved too good for all his rivals leading a field of over 200 runners home in a time of 27.03. He was well supported by Sam Rahman (13th) who still ran 29.36 despite still having tired legs from the marathon, Iain Knight (25th) 32.06, Neil Crisp (27th) 32.18, Terry Knightley (30th) 32.27 and Rohan Alexander(43rd) in 33.12 who were the scorers in the 6 man Elvis Team. Ilford also scooped all 3 male veteran prizes with Malcolm Muir, Neil Crisp  and Peter Ryan (59th) in 35.09 all placing 1st in their respective age categories,
In the Womens Race Ilford were once again up against superior numbers from the East London squad but nevertheless ladies captain Jenni Sheehan marshalled the troops well and leading them home in 65th place overall with 35.33. The other 3 scoring runners in the Elvis competition were Mel Jones (84th) in 37.32, Dianne Crisp (110th) in 39.07 and Rachel Halpin (122nd) in 40.38.
Both the Men’s and ladies teams had key personnel missing but battled valiantly to finish 2nd in both competitions.
Other Ilford runners acquitting themselves well with good times were Declan Cullen 36.32, Kevin Wotton (injured) 38.00, John Mackenzie 37.55,Nicola Hopkinson 40.56, Billy Green 41.02, Peter Spelman 43.02, Baldev Singh 43.06, Stuart Bennett 43.07, Doris Gaga 43.15, Suki Jandhu 43.40, Pathrose Louis 44.03, Julia Galea 45.24, Nicola Chester 46.02, Carol Muir 48.30, Pam Jones 49.24.[shashin type=”album” id=”148″ size=”medium” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”n” order=”date” position=”center”]

Malcolm Muir and Sam Rahman then went on to compete in the England Athletics 10,000m championships & Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs on Saturday at the Parliament Hill track.Sam competed in the E race which was first and finished 10th in 36:33 still feeling tired from the London Marathon. Malcolm was in the next race (D) and finished 7th in 33:23 .

  Press Report 12th May 2015  

May 122015
 

A small team of Ilford veteran athletes recently took to the track and field at Lee Valley competing in the first of four matches of the SCVAC season.

Due to injuries and the small matter of the London Marathon the day before the depleted team acquitted themselves well to finish 5th on the evening out of 10 teams.

Mike Horsey started the evening covering the 35 plus age group 100m in 14.4s. He also competed in the 400m and 1500m finishing in 69.8s and 6.13.1 respectively. His best placing being 4th.

Henry Ricketts covered the 40 plus age group with 13.7s for the 100m. In the field events 7m 57 was achieved in the shot, 24m 34 in the javelin and 4m 36 in the long jump. His best placing was also 4th.

Stuart Bennett showed great adaptability in the 50 plus age group. He placed first in the 2000m walk in a time of 11.23.4. He also competed in the 100m, 400m and 1500m in times of 16.8s, 85.0s and 6.45.6 respectively.

Steve Uttley competed as a 35 plus athlete finishing the walk in 10.30.6 for second place.

John Batchelor took part in the 70 plus age group where despite picking up an injury during the race he finished in 18.8s to secure 4th place. John is now out for the season.

Rob Sargent competing in the 60 plus age group completed the 400m in 86.5 and the 1500m in 6.46.9 with a best position of 4th.

Gerald Daniel debuted in the shot achieving 7m 95 to secure 3rd in the 60 age group.

Peter Whiting competed in the shot, javelin and long jump in the 50 age group. His respective distances of 7m 54, 4m 19 and 3m 44 saw a best placing of 5th.

The 4x100m relay team of Henry, Mike, Rob and Stuart brought the baton home in 62.6s for 5th in the last event of an increasing cold evening.

Match 2 is on Monday 18 May in Stevenage

Baptism of Fire
Last Sunday, Kim Baxter, Normally the club photographer, made her official Running debut in the colours of Ilford Athletic Club at the Inaugural Rochford 10K Race organised by Rochford Running club.
On a tough course comprising of Trails, Grass, gravel paths and roads amongst 330 athletes, Kim finished in 70 minutes and 11 seconds.
Also running and still recovering from a serious foot injury was Over 50 Veteran, Terry Knightley, who finished in 9th Position in 40 minutes and 57 seconds.

The Race was won by local athlete Ty Farrar of Southend.

Halstead Marathon

Nearly 500 runners took to the roads of North Essex last Sunday to compete in the Halstead and Essex Marathon. Ilford AC’s Bree Nordin made up for missing out on the London Marathon last month by taking the Essex FV55 Gold medal in a time of 3hrs 48.45 nearly 7 mins clear of her closest rival Sue Spong of Havering 90. Nordin was also highly placed in the overall women’s race and 134th overall.

  Press Report 28th April 2015  

Apr 282015
 

London Marathon

Sunday 26 April

There were 8 runners from Ilford AC among the 37500 plus on the Greenwich start on an overcast chilly morning. Fastest from the club was Malcolm Muir who put in a tremendous race to smash the Club veteran Marathon record when finishing 143rd overall in a time of 2hrs 35mins 23secs, which also improved his best time for the distance by 3 seconds! This placed him as 16th master in the M40 category. Sam Rahman also set a new personal best of 2h 52m 54s despite finding the going tough in the last few miles. Close behind was Robin McNelis with 2h 53m 21s, while Kevin Wotton, who had his preparation interrupted by injury, recorded a good time of 3h 08m 31s. Next home for Ilford were 3 runners all recording new personal best times: Declan Cullen, who ran the two halves in exactly equal time, with 3h 42m 25s, Satha Alaganandasundaram, breaking 4 hrs for the first time with 3h 59m 27s and Rachel Halpin with 4h 01m 48s, an improvement of 28 minutes. Completing the line up was Julia Galea, making her marathon debut, exceeded all expectations with 4h 16m 33s. Members, relatives and friends manned the Club water station giving support and encouragement to thirsty runners and handing out a record amout of water as part of one of what is always one of the Capital’s greatest annual spectacles.

Those inspired by the event will have an immediate opportunity to do something positive about it as Ilford AC are running a 12 week “First Steps” improvers / beginners course supported by Redbridge Vision.The sessions are free and will be held on the Club’s Wednesday “Harriers” evenings at the Melbourne Road entrance of Valentines Park starting at 7pm on Wednesday 6th May. Look out for the Ilford flag. Further details can be found on the club web site at ilfordathleticclub.co.uk.

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LONDON MINI MARATHON BOROUGH CHALLENGE INCORPORATING BRITISH ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ahmed Abdulle led the way for Redbridge & Ilford in this 3 mile race. Moving up an age group he put a excellent performance in coming 5th in 15-25 in the Borough Challenge race. He also represented London in the British road team champs finishing in 7th place .Usamah Patel with very little training of late surprised himself with 53rd in 16-39. The u/13 boys packed well with Arun Manget leading the way with 60th place in 18-35 Manjaj Gill 84th in 18-58 Bradley Deacon 121st in 19-32 and Farris Patel 129th in 19-42.

Ilford Back on Track

After absence of nearly five years, Ilford fielded a senior track team in the Southern athletics League at Braintree, last Saturday. In Ilford’s absence the league structure has changed and it is now a combined Men’s and Women’s league.
Injuries and marathon commitments meant Ilford’s small team of four Women and nine men was mainly made up of young sprinters and jumpers.

On the women’s side, Ilford only had four athletes, but the quality made up for the quantity. Ilford won both A and B strings in the women’s 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m.

Krystle Balogun ran within a tenth of a second of her best time in winning the 800m in 2.20.8, she followed this up by smashing her week old 400m PB with a time of 59.8 in winning the 400m. Unfortunately, Krystle then had to go to work and the Women were therefore unable to field relay teams.
Naomi Browne achieved a sprint double, winning the 100m by a clear margin in 12.8. She followed this up with a win in the 200m in 26.7. Later in the day she came 2 nd in the discus 17.74 and 2 nd in the High Jump with 1.60m.
Vicky Onyeka was even better with a sprint treble winning the 100m in 13.7, 200m in 27.4 and the 400m by a clear 8 seconds in 62.7. To finish off her busy afternoon Vicky also took 4 th place in the Hammer with 19.09.
Kelly Mavididi who is still nursing a long term injury opted for the longer distances. A brave front running attempt earned her 1 st place in the B string 800m in 2.27.7, she followed this up with a solid 3 rd place in the 1500m in 5.34.0, before rounding off the afternoon with 3 rd place in the discus with 17.85.

In the men’s events, first up was Gus singer, a former English Schools high hurdler. Gus rolled back the years in placing 5 th in the 400m hurdles in a time of 82 seconds. He followed this up with a 4 th place in the b string long jump with 4.20m, and despite injuring himself in the long jump still managed a throw of 30.96 m to take 4 th in the javelin.

Kelechi Okorie was impressive in winning the 100m in 11.6, but was even better in winning the 400m in 51.4. There was a strong headwind and favourable conditions he will surely clock sub 50 soon. To round things he was a member of both relay teams.

Amazigh Laoudi had a busy placing 3 rd in the 100m in 12.2, 2 nd in the 400m in 54.0, 3 rd in the 800m in 2.05.9, but capped this brilliant last leg of the 4x400m which ensured Ilford won the final event.

Mohammed Weyli was just a busy with a 2 nd place in the 200m in 22.8, 2 nd in the 800m in 2.04.5, 3 rd in the high Jump in 1.40m and ran a great second leg in the winning 4x400m relay team.

On his outdoor debut, Zehn Ahmed took 2 nd place in the 200m in 24.7, 5 th in the Long jump in 4.79m and also ran a leg of the 4x 100m.
Two others making their debuts were Nathan Meskell and Gbolade Ogunyemi; Nathan came 4 th in the Triple Jump with 9.61m, 4 th in the shot with 7.12m and ran non- scoring 200m in 26.1. Gbolade placed 5 th in the shot with 5.84m and also did a non-scoring 200m in 26.9

Jeffrey Nkrumah who is the coach to many of athletes also had a busy day with 4 th in Javelin with 25.93m, 5 th in 1500m and straight after finishing, he went to the Triple jump, which could be Jeffrey’s new event. He finished 4 th with an excellent 11.04m. To round off his day he also ran the 3 rd leg of the 4x400m relay. After spending all afternoon racking the sand pit, Andy Catton took 4 th place in the 5000m.

Ilford finished off 5 th overall with 154 points, in a match won by London Heathside with 333. It is hoped that a larger team will be fielded in the next match.

  Press Report 21/04/2015  

Apr 212015
 

Press Report

A small group of Ilford AC athletes made an appearance at the Woodford Green Open meeting during the week with many of the younger athletes competing for their first time on the track. Opening the account was 12 year old Chloe Chapman 3rd in the 100m in 15-74 & 32-1 for the 200m. Isabella Hick 13 & Ellie Wright 12 both ran Pbs in the 800 with Isabella 1st 2-48-12 and Ellie 2nd 2-49-74. Both athletes then competed in the sprints with Isabella recording 31-18in the 200 and Ellie 15-25 in the 100m. . Bradley Deacon 11 also had Pb in the 1500m clocking 5-33 in very windy conditions.

Senior lady Krystle Balogun doubled up in the 400m & 800m with Pbs in both, 61-44 for the 400 and 2-20 for the 800.

In the 3000m Tom Gardner and training partner Ahmed Abdulle controlled the race from the start with Tom 1st in 9-10 and Ahmed 2nd in a new pb of 9-12.

Things did not go to well for Jack Maher when on course for a sub 2 minutes 800m pulled up at 600 with a foot injury.

Elsewhere Tony Hyde was back in action on Sunday when he competed in the Thames Fullers Tow Path 10 mile race, his first main race for some time other than a few park runs.

On arrival at the Tube station Tony was greeted by the news that there were no buses running so had to run the 3.2 miles to start carrying his large bag. Undaunted and in true Ilford AC spirit he saw the funny side of the situation and still managed a creditable time of 64-18 which placed him 23rd overall .

Many of the Club’s other runners were resting up in preparation for next Sunday’s premier event through the streets of the Capital, the Virgin London Marathon, where members, friends and supporters will manning the water station at the 19 mile point in Canary Wharf. Those inspired by the event will have an immediate opportunity to do something positive about it as Ilford AC are running a 12 week “First Steps” improvers / beginners course in conjunction with Redbridge Vision.The sessions are free and will be held on the Club’s Wednesday “Harriers” evenings at the Melbourne Road entrance of Valentines Park starting at 7pm on Wednesday 6th May. Look out for the Ilford flag. Further details can be found on the club web site at ilfordathleticclub.co.uk.