In the second Northern League meeting at Huddersfield, Wallasey Athletic Club slipped to third place, behind Longwood and Warrington A.C.
This means that to be in contention for a place in the Northern League Division One next season, they must now win the final meeting and Warrington A.C. must finish no higher than third on their home track.
Track athletes Pete Lewis and Phil Truscott were the day's heroes. Pete returned from Birmingham University for the meeting and strengthened the middle distances considerably, scoring fine wins in both the 800 and 1,500 metre events.
In each case he utilised his superior finish to defeat former England miler John McGow (Longwood).
Phil Truscott was equally effective in winning the 400 metres in a personal best of 51 sec. with his now customary late run.
However, perhaps Phil's best contribution was in the 400 metres relay, where he recorded a leg of 50.5 sec. to pull the team back into contention after an unusually indifferent run by Phil Wealthy.
The distance events were disappointing in the absence of Dave Lockley. Bob Brimage, Bob Warburton and Gwyn Griffiths failed to make up for his absence, with performances well below their best in the steeplechase and 5,000 metres.
The field athletes were again below par, with the exception of Chris Preston, who threw a personal best of 145ft 7in to take 2nd place in the competition.
Chris's contribution to hammer throwing in Wallasey has been very noticeable, raising club standards to new heights in a bid for individual honours. Needless to say he had good support from Carl Gee, not only in the hammer but in shot and
discus, with Carl also 'throwing in' a pole vault.
The high jump and javelin were the final events of the afternoon and it was hoped that these events would help Wallasey snatch 2nd place; unfortunately even with surprisingly good performances from Doug Hanna and Mike Teahan in the javelin, Wallasey were still eight points behind.
At a Young Athletes meeting at Blackpool. Wallasey A.C. was well represented by an ever growing group of talented young athletes blossoming after careful coaching from Doug Hanna.
Outstanding performance came from Pete Jones in the youth's 400 metres and 200 metres, in the former he finished 2nd in 55.6 sec. and looked very capable of helping continue the club's current strength in this event.
Of the intermediate girls Jane Platt produced the best set of performances in shot, 100 and 200 metres events. Pete Rozons was yet another athlete making his debut, jumping well over 4ft 7in.
Today the club is likely to compete in an inter club at Stretford and it is hoped that a strong team will be available.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 07/07/1973
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