AT the end of a furious week of action, Ilford AC are setting the pace in both the men s and women s sections of the East London Five Inter-club Series. They surged to back-to-back wins in the second race at Havering s five-mile race at Raphael s Park. D

AT the end of a furious week of action, Ilford AC are setting the pace in both the men's and women's sections of the East London Five Inter-club Series.

They surged to back-to-back wins in the second race at Havering's five-mile race at Raphael's Park.

Despite missing some of their stars, the men had enough quality to defeat a spirited challenge from Barking Road Runners.

Neil Crisp led from the front, clocking 29.31 for an excellent seventh place, ably supported by Iain Macdonald 30.15 for 10th.

Kevin Newell (18th in 31.18) and Matt Maple (19th in 31.24) packed well to consolidate the team position, and with veterans Steve Parker (36th in 34.17) and newcomer Simon Algar (54th closing in 36.42), Ilford squeezed home in a nail-biting finish.

The ladies squad, although having Bree Nordin sidelined with injury, had a more comfortable ride. Former triathlete Karen Sindall finished in a good time of 34.03 in second place, beaten only by series leader Karen Levison of East London Runners.

The dependable Dianne Crisp was next home with 37.08 for eighth, followed by Vanessa Burns, who ran a personal best of 39.02 for 13th. Nicola Hopkinson and Sally Gillam followed in 15th and 16th positions, recording 40.06 and 40.26 respectively.

Super veteran Pam Jones closed the scorers in 20th with 42.18 and Carol Muir was next home in 49.16 as 167 runners finished a race won by Rob Warner of Havering Mayesbrook in 27.23.

n Ilford's Malcolm Muir was back in action despite nursing a knee injury and clocked 34.32 for ninth place at the Essex Championships on Sunday at Brentwood.

There was a good turn out by Ilford AC runners at the Thrift Green Trotters 10k as cooler conditions aided a field of over 500 runners.

Darren Bottrill was happy with his time of 37.23 which gave him 34th place and Neil Crisp was 39th in 37.36, while Iain Macdonald was 42nd, clocking 37.44.

Kevin Newell just kept ahead of Terry Knightley, and both did well to record times of 38.57 and 39.18 for 55th and 57th places respectively.

Ilford's ladies squad had some pleasing performances, but were not quite good enough to be in the mix for county medals. Dianne Crisp (186th 46.16), Vanessa Burns (266th 49.44), Sally Gillam (301st 51.06) and Pam Jones (317th 51.48), were in action.

Other Ilford performances included Matt Maple (79th 40.23), Rohan Alexander (109th 42.22), Gerry Pells (434th 61.17) and Robin Davis (457th 63.37).

MEANWHILE, Steve Parker was in action, when he ran the Dartford half marathon in a time of 1hr 33mins 47secs.