Wallasey A.C. athletes had rather a disappointing day at the Cheshire County championships held at Port Sunlight Oval on June 3, both their main hopes for county titles having to be content with the runner up positions.
Track captain Carl Gee was engaged in both the, shot putt and the discus; and her body placed third in the shot he failed by only four inches in the discus event when his throw of 122 feet 9 inches was several feet below his normal distance this season.
Wallasey's other main hope Kevin Mather, elected to run in the half mile rather than the mile and he was beaten in a tight finish by Ashe of Sale Harriers, whose time of 1 minute 58.3 seconds was several seconds slower than expected, as both Mather and Ashe had times of 1 minute 55 seconds to their credit this season.
The first lap was clearly on the slow side with neither Mather nor Ashe prepared to lead and it was not until the last 200 yards that Mather moved into the lead and started a long sprint. for home. However, the slow pace up to that juncture had left all the front runners with the ability to prevent Mather's break being decisive and although he was still in the lead coming into the home straight he was gradually overhauled by Ashe, to be beaten by three or four feet at the tape.
With the international star Mike Berisford winning the mile in the slow time of 4 minutes 16 seconds, it would indeed have been interesting to see how much faster Berisford would have had to run if Mather had been performing in his recent 4 minutes 11 seconds style.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 17/06/1961 by R.M.C.
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