Plenty of action for Ilford members
Ilford AC's Jak Wright proved his fitness with a stirring display at the South East England Schools' Cross-Country Championships on Sunday.
Harrow School was the venue with a testing 7k course full of mud, trails, water and hills.
Wright started conservatively in the under-19 race, staying with the chasing pack, before making a decisive move in the final mile.
He made his way through the field to finish in eighth place, clocking 27 minutes 56 seconds.
The big event for Ilford was the Essex 20 in Rochford on a breezy, sunny Sunday morning, and the squad took part as preparations for the forthcoming spring marathon season and also as a Southern Inter-Counties match.
Paul Holloway led the way for Ilford, taking the county title and gold in the M50 category in a personal best of 2:04.28 for 28th.
He was supported by Sam Rahman in 34th spot with a new best for the distance of 2:05.27, while Terry Knightley rolled back the years with a fine time of 2:15.42 to place fourth in the M55 age group and 64th overall.
Diarmuid MacDonnell raced the distance for the first time in 2:19.25 for 81st with Dennis Briggs taking nine minutes off his personal best in 125th.
For the women, Carlie Qirem improved her best time for the distance by over 10 minutes to place 15th in their championship in 2:34.45.
Tony Young was another with a new personal best in the event of 2:53.53 for 194th and the squad was completed by four others, all of whom were running the distance for the first time.
Gaye Young finished seventh in the F50 category, Alison Sale clocked 3:19.30, Ray Everingham 3:27.26 and Mandeep Bassi 3:41.52.
The Vitality Big Half took runners on a closed route through London on Sunday.
The first Ilford runner home was Amin Koikai who clocked a remarkable 1:15.36 to finish 112th overall and third in the V50 category.
That makes him the fastest ever V50 for Ilford over the distance.
Next home was Steve Chissell in 1:36.10, closely followed by Alan Pearl who put in a great performance to achieve a best of 1:38 exactly.
Ilford's two women also did the club proud with Lovedip Dhaliwal clocking 2:22.32 and Brennie Gabbidon 2:28.31.
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