Both sections of Wallasey Athletic Club had one of their most successful weekends ever in meetings at Leeds and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The men's section fielded a strong relay team in the annual Aeron Trophy relay race at Leeds. Dave Lockley ran a magnificent first leg, looming in second with a time of 11 minutes 8 seconds.
Bob Brimage ran his leg in 11 minutes 42 seconds and handed over to Phil Wealthy in fifth position. Doug Hanna then brought the team in eighth with a leg of 12 minutes 44 seconds. It was a tremendous effort by the team in what amounted to a mini Northern championship.
It was all relays on Saturday, and at Newcastle-under-Lyme the ladies' section had the national road relays to deal with. The senior team has for some years been highly successful in the North and are current cross-country champions. Much of the success was due to the huge improvement by Margaret Ashcroft who brought the team back third after the first leg.
Margaret's time of 10 minutes 39 seconds for the 3,000 metre course was the sixth fastest of the afternoon and with athletes recently home from Munich taking part the standard was extremely high. Barbara Banks' time was 11 minutes 9 seconds. It was good enough to hang on to fourth place.
The intermediates and juniors also had their national relays. Diana Kelly ran the first leg for the junior team, completing the lap of just over a mile in 7 minutes 55 seconds. The team finished a commendable 26th.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 18/11/1972
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