�Ilford AC produced a mixed bag of results in the 31st running of the London Marathon on Sunday.

Malcolm Muir was first man home but his two hours, 50 minutes and 39 seconds was around 10 minutes slower than he had hoped.

Similarly 50-year-old Terry Knightley started strongly before cramp and fatigue set in during the final miles. Nevertheless he completed the course in a time of 2:56.25 for a high placing of 34th in his category.

Kevin Newell just missed out on the three-hour mark with a personal best of 3:01.43, with Robin McNelis not far behind him with 3:04.38.

Iain Knight was forced to briefly pull up at the 19-mile mark for attention to a bad nosebleed he had suffered earlier on, bravely making his way to the finish in what was for him a disappointing time of 3:19.28.

Steve Parker was next in, running solidly as usual in 3:20.49, with Peter Spelman finishing in 3:50.34.

Debut man Billy Green just missed out on his predicted four hour and 45 minute mark but was happy to finish in 4:49.39.

Dave Sharpe, running for Cancer Research, race-walked in 5:23.24.

Meanwhile, the club had four ladies in the mass field with a far from fit Bree Nordin leading the troops home in 3:40.47. Nicola Hopkinson finished some five minutes behind that with 3:45.15.

Sally Gillam ran her fastest London Marathon race and second fastest ever in 3:47.49, whilst Carol Muir finished her race in 6:04.24.

In the earlier mini-marathon, Ilford youngsters were on parade to represent the borough. Star run of the day came from under-17 Alex Richards whose 16.08 clocking placed him well to the head of the field and 13th in his category.

There were some other very promising runs with under-13 Jack Maher finishing 122nd, with Israel Olujnimi just 49 seconds further back for 166th.

Under-15s Sharmaarke Adan, Ameer Mer, Ricardo Da Silva and Thomas King finished in 126th, 109th, 123rd and 158th respectively, whilst Michael O’Callaghan finished 138th in the under-17 event with a time of 19.42.

Ilford’s Ben Jones was the man in charge in Saturday’s Park run in Valentines Park.

Jones blasted away from the gun to set a new personal best and course record by clocking 16.28 over the measured 5km, whilst Pam Jones came home in 14th spot in a time of 26.14.