Press Report 14th February 2023  

Feb 142023
 

ESSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Saturday 11th February
Hainault

The final leg of this winter’s Essex  League was held at Hainault Forest over a traditional tough and hilly cross country course in good weather conditions.
The match was hosted by Ilford AC who also fielded 23 athletes in the fixture.

One of the first races of the day was the u15 boys who raced one large lap of the course, approx. 4.5k. Ilford AC were able to put out a full team and the promising season for the boys continued with good placings for all.
Samuel Crane came home in 7th, Ryder Islam 15th, Aron Berhe 21st and James Thake  23rd.

The team finished 5th on the day and 4th overall for the season

The senior ladies raced over 6k and were led home by Jordan Hinds who has had an excellent season in 12th place in 26 mins 20 secs. In the individual table for the league Jordan placed 9th. 
Next home was Anna Crawley with 29 mins 07 secs for 31st with Alison Sale in 46th with 30 mins 51 secs and 5th in the F 55 category. Alison just missed a medal in her age group placing 4th by 1 point.
A good run from Pauline Tester closed the club’s scorers as she came home 62th in 32 mins 53 secs.

In this match the ladies finished in 6th and occupied the same position in the final division 1 league table.

Also in action were Hannah Sheikh in 69th, Dianne Crisp 83RD and 4th in the F60 group. Julia Galea 102th and 1st in the F65 age category and Frieda Keane 105th.

The senior men’s race was over 8km and the Ilford squad were led home by Tom Gardner in 15th with 31 mins 30 secs. Tom is another runner who has had a good winter placing 6th in the individual table for the season. Steve Philcox was also in good form finishing 48th with 34 mins 28 secs and 1st in the M545 age group. Over the season Steve placed 2nd in his category and took home the silver medal.
The ever reliable Malcolm Muir came home 66th with 35 mins 44 secs and won the bronze medal in the M45 group for the winter. 
Berekhey Berakhy who is taking part in cross country for the first time this year placed 77th in 36 mins 38 secs and U20 runner Dylan Harrod was 84th with 37 mins 02 secs, which placed him 7th in his age group..
The last scoring runner for Ilford was Seb Parris in 89th with 37 mins 46 secs.

In this fixture Ilford finished 5th and their final division 1 placing was 6th, the same as the senior ladies.

Supporting Ilford runners were  Alex Richards who was leading the pack before having to pull out with a calf injury, Steve Crane 108th, Neil Crisp 111th, Dan Holeyman 129th and Bradley Brown 143th 

The club would like to thank the army of volunteers, some of whom were in position for over 3 hours, some who volunteered before their own races and some of whom turned up at 8am to mark out the course. Without volunteers there would be no race, so thank you very much

  Press Report 7th February 2023  

Feb 072023
 

CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5Mile Road Race
Saturday 4th February
Victoria Park

The latest round of the Chingford League was held in good conditions on the fast course in Victoria Park, Hackney. There was a good turnout of 18 Senior runners from Ilford Ac in the event and the good results, including 5 new personal bests for the distance, showing that their winter training for the upcoming spring marathons and road races is going well.

In this competition Ilford raced in division two and the men’s squad was led home by Sam Rahman, who showed great form to finish 8th in the match in 28 mins 23 secs just 1 second off his best time for the distance. Paul Holloway came back from a spell of injury to set a new best time for 5 miles of 29 mins exactly in 11th spot. Berekhet Berakhy raced the distance for the first time and returned a fine performance in 16th place in 30 mins 52 secs. Richard Woolterton also recorded a new personal best of 31 mins 09 secs for 19th while Diarmuid Mac Donnell came home in 26th with 31 mins 49 secs. Steve Crane closed the teams scorers in 30th with 32 mins 51 secs as the team finished 2nd in the match and are placed 8th in the league.

Joel Denning set a new best time of 33mns 28 secs in 35th with Dennis Briggs 41st  with 34 mins 52 secs. Two of the clubs coaches also took part with Gary Floate 47th in 36 mins 18 secs and Rob Sargent 73rd  with 45 mins 40 secs

The ladies team were also in good form with Jordan Hinds placing an excellent 3rd in their division 2 match in 32 mins 50 sec. Zuzana Sinalova on her return from her native Slovakia came 4th in 33 mins 19 secs. Hannah sheikh ran a personal best of 37 mins 22 secs in 12th and Gaye Young was next home in 16th in 38 mins 11 secs, closely followed by Pauline Tester with 38 mins 17 secs in 17th and Alison Sale in a new best time of 38 mins 31 secs for 18th.
Supporting these runners were Mandy Reid in 31st in 42 mins 29 secs and Frieda Keane with 47 mins 37 secs in 41st.

In the match the Ilford ladies finished 1st and are placed 6th in the division two table.

Earlier in the day Ilford were able to field a remarkable 15 youngsters over various age groups, which is a testament to the hard work put in to the foundation group at the club by Coaches Ernie Forsyth and Andy Catton.

All the youngsters put in great performances and can be proud of their runs.

In the U11 Boys we fielded 4 runners with Khalif Ali 4th, Zac Forsyth 13th, Andre Mullings Roache 30th and Saif Crane 44th.

5 runners represented us in the U13 category. For the boys Kaleb Berhe was 12th, Jayden McDermott 14th and Luke Thake 18th. For the girls Sofia Crane was 13th and Ruby Moffat Virk 14th.

The U15 category was a particularly successful one for the club. For the boys Aaron Hick ran a great race to finish 1st and was very closely followed by Ryder Islam in 3rd place and James Thake in 5th. For the girls Leila Sharma was 5th and Anika Sharma 7th.

Finally in the U17boys Mohamed Zergouat ran very well for 6th place in a strong field.

  Press Report 30th January 2023  

Jan 302023
 
Southern Area Cross Country Championships
Beckenham Place Park
Saturday 28th January 2023
Ilford AC sent a small team of Juniors and Senior Athletes to this yearly event on a pleasant January Day.Event of the Day for the Club was the boy’s u15 race where Ilford put together a team of four. Samuel Crane had his best race of the season coming home in 48th place, beating many competitors who had previously beaten him in the recent county championships. He was backed up by good runs from Aaron Hick (99 th ) who had his usual strong finish, Ryder Islam (117th) who ran strongly the whole way and Aron Berhe (156 th ) in his first large championships.
The Team finished 21 st.

Unfortunately in the Senior Men’s 15 kilometre race Ahmed Abdulle had to withdraw with injury after being in the leading group through 5 kilometres.
Malcolm Muir (201st) and Steve Crane (480th) finished for the club with strong runs.

Ware Cup
Loughton
Saturday 28th January 2023

Ilford AC fielded 5 runners in the Junior races of the Ware Cup, hosted by Loughton AC, all producing promising performances for their athletic futures.

In the U13 girls race Ruby Moffat Virk made her Ilford AC XC debut and ran a very good race to finish in 9m 17s over the 1.5k distance.
For the 13 boys race, held over the same distance Jayden McDermott also ran his first XC race for the club and finished in 7th place in a good time of 7m 43s whilst Luke Thake finished in 13th place in a time of 8m 15s for 13th place, improving on last years time by 30 seconds.

The U15 boys ran a 5k course and James Thake had a great run for 2nd place in a time of 22m 34s.
Mohamed Zergouat ran a strong consistent race in the U17 event over a muddy and wet course for 6th place in a time of 26m 25s

The Seniors had a tough 8k wet and muddy course to contend with, so much so that the club, for the second week running, could only put out a senior ladies squad. Ilford Ladies never shirk a challenge.
Alison Sale led the team home in 16th place in a time of 40m 52s followed closely by Gaye Young who came home in 19th place for 42m 01s. Mandy Reid, who is having a very strong season in the leadup to her Spring Marathon came home in 28th place for 44m 36s, with the team being closed by the consistent Julia Galea in 40th place for 50m 12s.

The ladies performances secured them a 5th place position on the day

  Press Report 24th January 2023  

Jan 242023
 

Chingford League Cross Country
Epping Forest
Saturday 21st January

On a cold, icy Saturday morning, Ilford AC sent a small team to Epping Forest for the toughest Cross Country fixture in the Chingford League season, a  hilly 5 miles in Epping Forest.
A race only for the hardcore runners, so much so that Ilford were unable to field a men’s team.

The ladies however did the club proud with a great team performance from Alison Sale, Pauline Tester and Frieda Keane..
In the ladies 2nd division match Alison Sale was 6th home in 46 mins 56 seconds, followed by Pauline Tester in 12th place in 52 mins 31 secs and the ever reliable Frieda Keane in 21st place in 1 hr 1 minute 22 seconds.

The performance earned Ilford a 5th place spot for the ladies on the day.

Farnborough Winter Half
Saturday 21st January

The Farnborough Winter Half is a fast, flat, traffic-free route; that starts under the historic Airship Hangar alongside Farnborough Airport and takes you on a delightful semi-rural loop around Farnborough and its surrounding areas.
Ilford AC had 2 runners taking part in this years event. Both Joel Denning and Joanne Reeves put in impressive performances, continuing their fine season, with Joel coming home in 375th place, in a field of over 1700 runners in a time of 1 hr 34 mins and 15 seconds and Joanne finishing in 468th place in 1 hr 38 mins and 27 seconds

MADEIRA 8Km
Funchal, Madeira
Sunday 22 January

The European Masters Marathon Championship was held on a warm morning over a challenging course in Funchal, the capital of the island of Madeira.
Two runners from Ilford AC took part in one of the supporting races, the 8km, which was actually 8.33km. Club endurance coach laced them up for this one and recorded 49 mins 07 secs for 174th in the men’s race and 11th in the M65 age category. Julia Galea had a good run winning the F65 age group by over 3 minutes in 49 mins 39 secs for 84th overall in the ladies event out of 221 finishers

  Press Report 17th January 2022  

Jan 172023
 

REGENTS PARK 10KM
Sunday 8th January

The Regents Park 10km is held over 3 twisty laps on the paths in the Park.
This year the race incorporated selection for the England Masters team to race in Chester later in the year and was of a good standard in all age groups.
Ilford Ac had a team of 10 in this event with Joel Denning leading the team home despite taking a fall towards the end of the race. He finished 68th overall in 42 mins 19 secs with Dennis Briggs 91st in 45 mins 06 secs.
Jo Reeves was the pick of the ladies team in 97th overall and 33rd female with 45 mins 26 secs, with Hannah Sheikh recording 119th overall and 42nd female with 48 mins 41 secs and Gaye Young 123rd and 44th in the ladies race with 49 mins exactly.
Sean Costello in his first competitive 10km finished in 50 mins 04 secs whilst Mandy Reid improved her personal best over the distance to 54 mins 23 secs.
Rob Sargent came home in 59 mins 48 secs closely followed by Batmanaden Ramen, also making his 10km debut, in 60 mins 41 seconds and Doris Gaga in 65 mins 01 secs.

Mercury 10
Epping Forest
Saturday 14th January

Saturday morning saw the 100th running of the Mercury 10 in Epping Forest.
 Incorporating tough muddy hills the race, whilst picturesque in places, is a real challenge for runners. Ilford’s sole representative Mandy Reid, however, was up for the challenge and continued her outstanding season so far with a gritty performance to finish in 1 hr 51 mins 22 secs for 127th place.

Benfleet 15
Sunday 15th Jan

Terry Knightley was the sole Ilford AC representative at the 35th Annual Benfleet 15 Miles Multi-Terrain Race.
The race was held over the unbelievably challenging and Hilly Haldleigh Downs in deep thick sticky Mud and also sections of the Canvey Island Sea Wall running against a biting chilly wind.
Terry found the conditions tough but persevered and finished in 2 Hours 14 Minutes and 30 seconds for 148th place out of over 700 athletes and was 4th Male Veteran Over 60.

Every finisher was rewarded with a medal with the inscription on the side ‘The Battle Of Benfleet’