Press Report 3rd December 2007

 

Ilford Athletic Club brought serious Essex Cross Country competition back to Chigwell Row when they proudly played hosts to the county veterans cross country championships on Saturday afternoon. As the gusty winds of a threatening morning abated into an unexpected sunny interlude the drama of the afternoon was soon to unfurl on what proved to be a popular 2 lap course which boasted a bit of everything in its 5 miles of hills, forest tracks and open parkland.  

The over 50s race went off at noon with former winner Andy Catton determined to do well on his home turf despite the usually strong team squad being decimated through injuries. Catton put up a tremendous performance to record 6th just losing out on 5th place when Thurrock's Micky Bumstead launched a determined attack as both athletes vied for rights of way on the wooden footbridge leading to the finish. The race was won by Woodford's Dave Cox for the 2nd consecutive year with the Butler brothers, David (Billericay) and Alan( Thrift Green) in close attendance. Ilford's James O'Brien, recently returned from the US finished in an excellent 27th with John Mackenzie 40th and John Platt 41st closing the scoring squad. Other finishers were Peter Spelman 66th, Ray Rawlinson 73rd, Les Hislop 84th, Martin Clarke 86th, Graham Williams 94th and Robin Davis 105th.

 

Bree Nordin ran strongly in the accompanying women's race and her 19th position overall won her an Essex bronze in the over 45s section as she led the women's squad home. Dianne Crisp gave her some superb support coming through the field strongly for 35th. Sally Gillam 52nd and Pam Jones 55th also did exceptionally well as the other 2 women scorers. 

    

The over 40 men's race followed at 1pm with the current holder Ilford's 47 year old Iain Campbell defending his title against a high calibre contingent of new vets including Thrift Green's Dale Laughlin and Springfield's Paul Dobson amongst the pre race favourites. The race went true to form with Campbell holding 5th place as Laughlin emerged from the woods holding what was surely a winning 30 metre lead from Dobson with just 400 metres to go. Another new vet Haverings Matt Bland was back in fourth just behind Colchester's Paul Spowage . However an extraordinary turn of events occured as Laughlin turned to check back on his pursuers he appeared to lose his footing and pulled up sharp clutching his calf. The stunned crowd could only look on with Dobson reluctantly accepting victory as Laughlin was sympathetically applauded limping the last 100 yards of his painful journey to the line. This promoted Paul Spowage to runner up with Matt Bland 3rd and Campbell just missing out on a medal in fourth. Neil Crisp was next Ilford man home in 33rd with Abdi Berleen 65th just getting the better of Alan Lattimore, 69th. Henry Ricketts and Steve Cheal were locked together for most of the race coming 77th and 78th respectively. Sprinter and local resident Alan Jones put up a spirited performance back in 83rd.

 

The previous Friday Ilford's star road man Malcolm Muir decided to sharpen his 5k speed in the last Friday of the month Serpentine 5k in Hyde Park. In windy conditions and on a slightly different course he was disappointed with his 16.16 clocking but nevertheless finished 2nd in the race to Belgrave's Richard Ward who finished in 16 minutes dead. The omnipresent Pam Jones was also somewhat adrift of her normal time finishing in 25.11 and first over 70 in a 186 strong field.

 

With now nearly 3000 runners taking part in the Grim Challenge in Aldershot the race is now split over 2 days. New recruit Ben Jones was first to tackle the demanding 8 mile course on the Saturday and was delighted to finish 73rd out of 1500 in a very good time of 62mins and 13 seconds. This paved the way for Keelie Brooks and Duncan Turner who travelled down on Sunday and had obviously picked the wrong day with weather conditions rapidly deteriorating. This event is held on land that is used to test Army vehicles and proved to be very interesting! In gale force winds and driving rain they reached a long hill shortly after the start before descending again eventually reaching a water filled ravine. The course continued over puddle-strewn paths before they then had to crawl under camouflage netting. Eventually they reached some man-made mounds before arriving at and running through some rather large puddles. By now soaking wet they ran on to the fast vehicle driving circuit where it is rocky underfoot. before coming to some more large areas of water and arriving at the finish area. Tackling the course with cheery relish they both afterwards reported a very enjoyable experience surviving the ordeal in 74 minutes.

 

Harrier Amanda Heslegrave, a prolific marathon competitor, was also out in the bad weather when she completed the Luton marathon in a time of 4hrs 18mins in preparation for a 35 mile ultra event early in the New Year. Ilford now look forward to the 4th round of the Essex Cross Country League which is to be held at Hockley Woods, near Southend, on Saturday.