ILFORD AC competed in round four of the Essex Cross Country League at Orion Harriers in Chingford on Saturday. Ian Macdonald s 55th place finish led the way for Ilford, as the men s team finished 11th in the 8.5k event. Only four seconds separated vetera

ILFORD AC competed in round four of the Essex Cross Country League at Orion Harriers in Chingford on Saturday.

Ian Macdonald's 55th place finish led the way for Ilford, as the men's team finished 11th in the 8.5k event.

Only four seconds separated veterans Gary Floate in 64th (37.03) and Andy Catton in 65th (37.07).

The remaining effort to reach 426 team points came from Terry Knightly in 67th, Matt Maple in 86th and John MacKenzie in 89th.

Bree Nordin (pictured right) came in first for Ilford's women's team when she crossed the line in 26th, followed by Mel Jones 27th.

Sally Gilliam in 43rd and Pam Jones 56th were the third and fourth scorers to achieve a collective seventh place team finish with 152 points in the 6.5k race.

Ilford's young guns achieved a sixth place finish in the under-15s boys' 4K race. Competing for the east Londoners was Thomas King (29th), Taschan Peart (35th), George Hadler (37th), Gowdeep Selveranjan (41st), Ricardo da Silva (43rd), Harpreet Virdee (44th), Ameer Mer (45th) and Alex Grigorescu (46th), who recorded a score of 139 points.

Laura Swords ran in the under-15s girls' race and claimed an individual 21st place finish and solo team score for a strong seventh place position.

Elliot Joseph claimed a 25th finish for the under-13s boys, while Souwmya Silvakumar crossed the line in 39th for the girls.

Aaron Westwood came seventh in the under-11s race, while under-17 runner Vishan Singh came 34th in the age womens' category inclusive 6.5k event.

ILFORD AC clinched two top three finishes in the Surrey Walking Club's Christmas Cup.

It proved to be a red-letter-day for Stephen Crane who was in imperious form at Selsdon. He dominated proceedings from gun-to-tape, recording a winning time of 24.32 over the 5k course.

Steve Uttley clinched third in 26.23. The Ilford man was beaten by precocious Kent teenager Chelsey Howard, who clocked 26.05.

Stalwart Dave Sharpe crossed the line in a season's best of 30.04 for 11th position.

Teamwise, Ilford AC finished second behind an in-form Tonbridge AC.

AFTER 38 years of staging their annual Christmas 10 Kilometres' Walking race at Chigwell Row, Ilford AC have finally bowed to ever-increasing traffic and taken their event off the highway.

This year it moves to a new venue and is to be staged over a slightly reduced distance. It is to be held over five miles on Sunday at Redbridge Cycle Circuit in Forest Road, Hainault with an 11am start.

The victor receives the Roy Mendham Cup, which was put-up in memory of an Ilford AC walker who died in 1979.

Mr Mendham was blinded in a WW2 mortar attack while serving in the Italian campaign. Despite his injuries he continued race walking, with guides, and even completed London-to-Brighton walks.