Valentine’s Park 5km
Ilford
Sunday 28 September

Ilford AC fielded no less than 26 athletes in the local Sunday’s Valentines Park 5k and event co hosted with East London Runners. It was a very successful day for the Club with 9 finishing in the top 20. Warm sunshine greeted the field of over 200 runners in what was also the final fixture of a very successful ELvIS summer series, a grand prix event comprising 7 local races between 8 competing local Clubs.

Tom Gardner was always in the leading pack and took control of the race on the second of the two laps to win in 16mins exactly. 16 year old Ahmed Abdulla was close in second in a new personal best of 16m 09s. The ever reliable Malcom Muir was 4th with 16m 53s taking the M40 category prize, while another 16 year old also recorded a personal best in 6th spot with 17m 04s. Steve Philcox placed 8th and second in the M40 grouping with 17m 26s and Kevin Newell continued to show good form ahead of his run in next month’s Dublin Marathon, in 9th with 17m 36s. Kevin Wotton came home 16th in 18m 18s , Tony Hyde 17th with 18m 19s and Neil Crisp placed 2nd in the M50 category in 20th with 18m 30s.

The men were completely dominant in the team match retaining the ELvIS league title they won last year after a season long tussle with East London Runners

In the ladies match there were also good performances from the Ilford team. Krystle Balogun came home second in a new personal best of 19m 40s, while Jenni Sheehan moved through the field on the second lap to finish 5th in 20m 50s, which smashed her previous best time for the distance by 45 seconds. Bree Nordin was again the F55 group winner in 21m 32s for 9th lady and Mel Jones gave a brave performance to finish 15th despite being troubled by an Achilles tendon problem in 22m 52s and won the F45 category.

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The ladies finished a close second to East London in the ELvIS match and East London came out worthy winners for the season competition.

Veteran Peter Ryan, more renown for his Racewalking exploits , won the M60 age group in 20m 27 in 49th overall while 78 year old Gerry Pells had a run out finishing in 34m 08s. Another notable prformance came from Carol Muir who equalled her personal best of 25m 55s finishing 139th.

Also in action: Kieran McKenna (26th 18m 59s) Rohan Alexander (32nd 19.26) Declan Cullen (91st 22.53) Billy Green (104th 23.47) Steve Cheal (121st 25.01) Suki Jandu (129th 25.26) Nicola Chester (145th 26.48) Sharon Honey (148th 26.58) Julia Galea (153th 27.27) Pam Jones (161st 29.07)

ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY RELAY CHAMPS 2014
Ilford had 2 teams at these championships held at Hockley last Saturday both competing over 3 legs each of 3k.
U/17 team
Jack Maher,the Club’s track specialist opened on on Leg 1 coming home in 12th place but still not too far adrift of the leaders. This meant that on Leg 2 Usamah Patel had the task of pulling back the lead putting in a excellent run and bringing the team up to 4th place in a tight finish. This left Ahmed Abdulle on the anchor leg to give chase. Having one of Essex top athletes George Ellliott of Chelmsford with him he broke him about half way through the last leg to bring the team home in 1st place & champions

U/13 Team
This team who have only been together for a short time & never run in a event like this before were outstanding coming home in 3rd place for the bronze medal. On Leg 1 Arun Manget got them off to a excellent start,with Bradley Deacon on Leg 2 holding it together. This left Manraj Gill on the anchor leg to bring the team home for this superb performance.

Walkers News
Folks,
Ilford AC walkers were in action on Wednesday at Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park
within sight of Egbaston Cricket Ground, for the annual 10 Kilometres’
Championships of both the British Police and Civil Service. These 2 separate
events were held in conjucton over 6-and-half laps on a sunny afternoon but
using a course with fallen leaves and conkers spelling danger with possibilities
of athletes turning ankles on such obstructions.
Overall winner was Sussex policeman Gary Witton, one better known as an
accomplished steeplechaser, in 51.47, with fellow early pace setter Pete Ryan
(Essex Police) 2nd in 53.46. 3rd was stalwart John Hall (Civil ervice)in 56.32.
4th was Civil Service Walking Secretary Steve Uttley in 57.23 who started well,
but eased back after a caution late into lap 2 from a fussy judge. Uttley
rallied well to edge ahead of Stuart Bennett (Metropolitan Pollce) who clocked
57.23. Former Ilford AC members John Llewellin (7th) & Gary Smith (9th)
represented their Organisations as did Civil Servant Bob Dobson, 18th in 68.49,
who has more appearances in this event than anybody else!
Medals were claimed by Ilford AC members, as the 2nd Police athlete was Ryan,
and 2nd Civil Servant was Uttley. Bennett was 3rd in the Police stakes and was
in the Metropolitan Police team which retained their British Police
Championship, with 2nd placed Essex Police including Ryan in their ranks.
On a hot Saturday afternoon at the delighfully situated Hemel Hempstead track,
the Enfield League held their annual “One Hour” race in which competitors have
an hour to race walk as far as they can. Clear favourite was star teenager
Callum Wilkinson (Enfield & Harringey AC) who opened a small gap over Ilford’s
protagonist Francisco Reis in the early stages before hotting-up his pace just
before halfway when storming to victory by covering an impressive 12,860 metres,
as Reis came 2nd with 11,579 metres under his belt. Captain Steve Uttley walked
soundly to reach 10,603 metres and 6th spot, while Team Manager Stuart Bennett’s
10,120 metres secured him 7th position.
Issued by Ilford AC Walking Section (01708-377382)

Pleshey Half Marathon
incorporating the Essex County Championships
Sunday 20 September

On a calm Sunday morning a field of over 400 gathered in the picturesque Essex village of Pleshey for the annual half marathon, which once again included the Essex County Championships within the race. The route is over a rolling course on quiet roads around the village and is a test for all standards of runner.

Ilford AC fielded 10 entrants in then Championship and were led home by a great performance by Kevin Newell in 8th place in a new personal best of 1 hr 18 mins 19 secs. Supporting him were Steve Philcox in 12th with 1h 19m 04s, just seconds outside his best time for the distance, a run which won him the county silver medal in the M40 age group. The team scorers were closed by Neil Crisp. who showed good form with 1h 24m 31s in 37th and took the bronze medal in the M50 category. Ilford were placed 5th team in the county championship.[shashin type=”album” id=”141″ size=”medium” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”y” order=”date” position=”center”]

Bree Nordin was best of the club’s ladies placing 14th in the race with 1h 37m 18s and once again took the county title in the F55 category. Another club athlete putting in a good performance was Jenni Sheehan who in her debut at distance recorded 1h 41m 33s for 170th overall and showed much promise for the future. Dianne Crisp recorded 1h 51m 24s in 257th and Carol Muir was 330th with 2h 03m 25s.

Rob Sargent ran his best half marathon time for two years with 1h 42m 22 in 179th, with Declan Cullen close behind in 186th and 1h 43m 09s. The squad was completed by Graham Williams who finished 354th and 4th with M70 age category in 2h 04m 21s.

Blackwater Sprint Triathlon
Sunday 21st September 2014

Ilford AC Super-Veteran TerryKnightley and club photographer Kim Baxter competed in the 12th running of the Blackwater Leisure Charity Sprint Triathlon on Sunday 21st September 2014 in Maldon. At 7.30am sharp the 200 competitors started lining up in their triathlon suits and goggles for the 400 metre pool swim to commence the event.After completing the weakest of his three disciplines in 11 minutes and 4seconds, Knightley raced into transition and speed off into a chilly headwind round the 23km undulating two lap bike course finishing in 49 minutes and 9seconds but he really came into his own on the 6km two lap multi-terrain run which he completed in just 25 minutes and 17 seconds overtaking many competitors on the way !

The NineTimes Essex County Road Running Champion Knightley finished in 65th place overall in 1 hour 28 and 44 minutes taking 6th place in his age category whileBaxter knocked 8 minutes off her personal best time and came home 130th in 2hours 3 minutes and 40 seconds for the event.

BH5K – Sunday 21/09/14
On Sunday Ilford AC’s Chris Togwell took part in his 7th BH5K, a bi-annual fun run around the beautiful woodland grounds of the Naturist Foundation in Orpington (Brockenhurst Wood). The club is set in 50 acres on theside of a hill and the course is 2 and a half circuits of their perimeter path with a couple of circuits of the meadow first; this ranges from concrete roadways to woodland paths, which were rather pitted this time due to the excessive rains of the last year. There was a good turnout of 45 runners. Starting at the top of the course, Togwell led the field around the first circuit of the meadow, but dropped to 4th place on the second. Running without a watch he guessed his pace was faster than normal but felt comfortable.Staying with this group, he was able to move up to 3rd place on the second main lap. However, this was at the cost of a slight twitch in his right ankle, so he settled in and held his position until the end finishing in a time of 20:04 on a course that was slightly less than 5k.

Round Norfolk Relay
Saturday 20th September / Sunday 21st September 2014
Meanwhile Ilford AC 2nd claimer Sally Gillam competed in the prestigious Round Norfolk Relay which is a 197 mile continuous relay in 17 separate unequal multi-terrain stages,
the ultimate club challenge and a unique experience.Sally ran leg 11 which was the 12.45 miles between the Norfolk villages of  Eresham and Scole. Competing for her first claim Cub Harwich she set off slightly behind schedule at 10.40 pm on Saturday night on a miind blowing straight stretch virtually all on the A143. As this was a night leg on a major road she had to be accompanied by a support car with a flashing amber light and Ilford AC’s Martin Clarke on a push bike. Undeterred by the rapidly falling temperature and the onset of a driving drizzle Gillam picked up the pace closing down some runners towards the end finishing very strongly and vrtually bang on her predicted time of 1hour 52 minutes being only 9 seconds adrift.

Ingatestone 5 14th September 2014

The 30th running of the Ingatestone 5 Mile Road Race took place last Sunday in ideal running conditions. Unfortunately the race’s founder and Ilford AC legend Howard Williams was unable to be present having retired from Race organistion earlier this year and although intending to make a cameo appearance was laid up with flu. Nevertheless the Club provided an excellent team of race officials to co-host with Keith Cranmer of Ingatestone Boy’s Club thus maintaining the legacy of this iconic Charity Race.

Twelve runners from the Club made the trip to compete over 5 miles of a rolling course. The team were in good form with Kevin Newell leading the way in 5th place with a new personal best time for the distance of 28mins 26secs. He was followed home by Steve Philcox in 7th in 28m 59s taking the prize for 1st in the M40 grouping and Neil Crisp with 30m 20s for 10th and first spot in the M50 age category. These three combined to win the team award.

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Leading the challenge for the ladies was Jenni Sheehan in 7th place, 49th overall, with 35m 45. with Bree Nordin taking the F55 category award in 8th with 35m 59s. The scoring team was completed by Dianne Crisp in 13th spot with 38m 27s. The ladies finished in 3rd place in the team event.

There was a rare race appearance by Ben Jones in 11th with 30m 31s, while Bradley Brown finished 40th in 34m 21s and coach Rob Sargent was 68th in 38m 27s. Carol Muir recorded a new best time for the distance with 43m 18s and Julia Galea recorded 45m 20s for 3rd in the F55 category and Pam Jones was 4th in the same age category with 48m 18s.
The race was won by Chelmsford’s Ryan Prout in 26mins and 27 seconds with Nikki Brockbank of Springfield Striders taking the top women’s prize in 30.59.
Ilford AC’s Chris Togwell was also in action clocking 21.46 at Saturday’s Southwark Park Run for 22nd place.
Further afield Peter Spelman ran the Auray Vannes half marathon in Brittany in 26 degree heat on Sunday finishing in 02:04:47

Walking News:-

Yesterday (Sept 11th) at “The Harrow” in Hornchurch Ilford AC’s walkers held a well-attended
and enjoyable social luncheon. In attendance were 4 athletes who’d placed 2nd in
the famous London-to-Brighton, 3 who’d won a British 100 Miles, a former GB
Walking Team Manager, Ilford AC’s President, a Commonwealth Games medalist and
an Olympian & European Games medalist as well as 12 Centurions. It was also the
40th Anniversary of the 1974 Leicester-to-Skegness 100 Miles, when Ilford AC
closed-in a team in such an event for a first time (scorers Dave Neagle, Alan
Barber & Dave Ainsworth were all there to recollect that occasion). And we were
able to welcome popular Centurion Steve King and his wife Jean as they visited
us on the penultimate day of their UK visit (from Canada). Looking at empty
plates being collected from our tables, the quality of food was much
appreciated! Thanks to all who supported this function with their attendance.
In attendance was former Ilford AC walker Alec Tiffin, who left his Art Class
early in order to support our function. In 2 weeks time at Hornchurch’s Queen’s
Theatre is an exhibition of work by talented local amateur artists. Alec will
have 2 pictures on show, both portraits – with one being a portrait of
well-known Ilford AC Club stalwart, the late Freddie Plumm. Admission if free.
At our function, guest Pam Ficken announced that 3 tickets were still available
for Saturday’s Commonwealth Games Tribute Luncheon at the Tower Hotel (12 noon
for 12.30pm). 2 tickets were snapped-up immediately – leaving just 1 solitary
ticket if any of you have a second thought. If so, please call Pam on
01223-207411.