The inter-area match at St. Helens last Saturday between Liverpool District, Manchester district and Durham and District resulted in a clear victory for Liverpool by 179 points from Manchester (166 pts.) with Durham third (152 pts.).
The outright winner though was the weather, which dominated the afternoon with a steady downpour which had flooded the track even before the first even got underway.
Wallasey A.C. had been honoured with invitations to six athletes, but because of holidays and other commitments only three of them, Melvin Schless, Dave Lockley and Peter Lewis could accept, Mel ran in the youth's mile, Dave in the junior mile and Peter in the youths' half.
Melvin's race had Wirral runner D. Dutton entered and as the fastest miler in the country (for his age) last year he was expected to win with ease, but the waterlogged track was a great leveller, and he had to be content with a narrow win in 4 mins. 36 secs., Mel was in sixth place on 4:51.
A similar story in the junior mile left Dave Lockley in sixth place in with 4:44, and Peter Lewis recorded 2 mins. 7 secs. for the youths' half-mile.
The Tuesday evening standards meeting at Kirkby Stadium have been well attended by athletes from Wallasey, and recent performances in the longer distances suggest that Ron Barlow will reestablish himself as one of Merseyside's top country runners this winter.
Barrie Smith also returned some useful times recently and should prove his worth this winter now that Barlow, B. Woolford and J. Wright are all fit.
This quartet with support from L. Durkin, M. Teahan, D. Hanna, newly promoted juniors; M. Weatherilt and R. McCaig and John Howard and Gordon Benson, who have both returned to running after a four-year absence, should be able to make their weight felt in local circles and represent the strongest team (in depth) that the club has had for many a year.
Ex-star miler Kevin Mather has also indicated that he wishes to return to the track next year and he should get some useful distance work in during the winter session, whilst in certain races over the country, the stronger youths will be able to support their senior counterparts.
Wallasey A.C. send a strong team to Warrington today for what should be one of the last track meetings of the season.
Despite a number of entries through holiday calls, the club should acquit itself well and it will not be surprising if the field event section score a larger portion of the club's points than the track specialists.
A group of about six throwers and jumpers have emerged during the last three months to give a more balanced look to the side. Notable among these are Eric Taylor, Richard Clegg, Brian McGrath, Terry Fleming, and Terry Leach all of whom should finish in the top three in their events today.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 19/08/1967 by DISCOBOLUS
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