Press Report 8th September 2026
BARKING PARK 5km
The penultimate round of this year’s Elvis competition was held over the unusual twisty but fast course in Barking Park. Ilford AC had a large team of 24 runners on the day
Leading the team home in 1st place was Shamil Mohamad in 15:13 followed by Samuel Crane in 2nd place in 16:14.
Coming home in 4th place and placing 1st VM40 was Tom Gardner in 16:30.
Chris Goldsmith placed 6th in 16:35 followed by Sam Rahman in 15th for 17:15 and Chris King in 17th for 17:29.
The men’s team of 6 placed 1st on the day and finished the Elvis series in 3rd place in Division 1.
Natalie Crisp led the ladies team home in 14th place in 21:57. Next in was Alison Sale who claimed 1st VF60 with a time of 24:01for 22nd place.
Completing the incomplete team of 5 was Gaye Young in 46th place for 27:31, Dianne Crisp in 28:09 for 52nd place and Julia Gallea in 33:18 for 85th place.
On the day the women finished 2nd in Division 2 and also finished the series in 2nd place
5 Ilford athletes also received Elvis series awards, with the best 6 results in the 8 race series counting towards the awards.
These were:-
Shamil Mohamad – 1st Male
Chris Goldsmith – 3rd Male
Malcolm Muir – 1st VM50
Stephen Philcox – 1st VM60
Alison Sale – 1st VF60
Also running for the club on the day were:-
Tomas Krukauskas 17:31, Stephen Philcox 17:49 (1st VM60), Malcolm Muir 17:52 (3rd VM50), Richard Woolterton 18:41, Danny Holeyman 19:09, Peter Clinch 19:58, Neil Crisp 20:05, Michael Perkins 22:29, Stephen Lacey 22:43, Andy Catton 24:16, Sean Costello 24:37, Ray Everingham 28:50 and James Huddard 31:07
The Essex Way Relay 2026
The Essex Way relay is held on the first Sunday in September every year and covers 82 miles of ancient trails, footpaths, and countryside across Essex starting from Epping Station at 8am and finishing after 6pm at the Harwich Old Lighthouse in a 10 stage relay.
This is one of the County’s premier events with 70 teams from across Essex and beyond competing.
Ilfords squad this year consisted of :-
Leg 1 Epping to Chipping Ongar Seb Parris (7.5 miles)
Leg 2 Chipping Ongar to Good Easter Alison Sale (9.5 miles)
Leg 3 Good Easter to Little Leighs, Danny Holeyman (9.5 miles)
Leg 4 Little Leighs to Cressing Dyfan Garmon,(10.1 miles)
Leg 5 Cressing to Great Tey Malcolm Muir,(9.4 miles)
Leg 6 Great Tey to West Bergholt Mandy Reid,(5.7 miles)
Leg 7 West Bergholt to Dedham Neil Crisp, (11.2 miles)
Leg 8 Dedham to Bradfield Billy Green, (8 miles)
Leg 9 Bradfield to Ramsey Dianne Crisp, (5.7 miles)
Leg 10 Ramsey to Harwich Frieda Keane (5.5 miles)
Of the 70 competing teams Ilford AC finished in 6th place.
At the end of the race it is tradition for some of the runners along with Robin Davis who always comes along to support the later stages meet up at the end of the last leg for a Fish and Chip supper as reward for the day’s work.
