- PRESS REPORT 29th
August 2005 - World Masters San Sebastian,
Mersea Island 10, Barking Park 5k
Ilford AC's super veteran Pam Jones is
currently putting in some terrific performances in the
16th World Masters Athletics Championships in San
Sebastian Spain. Pam, 69 years young and competing at
the higher end of her age category, opened her account
last Wednesday when she took the silver medal in the 8k
cross country event in wet and windy conditions. Pam
then ran 5000metres on the track the next day and again
ended up on the podium in 3rd spot with a time of 23mins
52.27 seconds. Pam described the event as something of a
fiasco with the some question marks against the numeracy
of the Spanish lap counters when some lapped runners
were pulled off 1 lap too early. Pam returned to the
track on Sunday to finish an excellent 4th in the 10000
metres in a time of 49mins 18.29 seconds.
Closer to home Malcolm Muir led the Ilford AC team home
in a fine 7th place clocking 58 mins 29secs in the Essex
10 mile road championships held at Mersea Island on
Sunday. In very hot conditions Terry Knightley ran
strongly to record 61.20 and finished highly placed in
the veteran category. Graham Williams battled well and
finished in 83 minutes. In the womens race Sally Gillam
training for the Abingdon marathon clocked 82mins 17
seconds. Martin Clarke and Nicola Hopkinson competed in
the accompanying 5 mile race and recorded times of 34.14
and 37.50 respectively.
On Bank Holiday Monday several Ilford athletes chanced
their arms in the Barking Park 5k road race where
Malcolm Muir was once again first home for the club in
16mins 54 secs. However the star performance of the day
came from 11year old Alex Richards who ran a magnificent
19mins and 50 seconds, exceptional for an athlete of his
age. Hidir Ylidirim should not be too disappointed with
his 18.14 effort with heavy mileage in his legs in
preparation for the Berlin marathon. Martin Clarke ran
20.05 just ahead of the trio of Nicola Hopkinson 21.50,
Keelie Brooks 22.06 and Duncan Turner 22.16. Sally
Gillam chipped in with 23.19 and Dave Sharpe racewalked
an excellent 29.30 beating many of the runners.
