Wallasey Athletic Club is enjoying a revival of fortunes after some years in the doldrums.
The senior men runners are leading the way with a succession of good performances this winter in the highly competitive Liverpool & District League Cross-Country races.
Last year saw Wallasey fielding complete teams in these events, for the first time in recent memory. This season they have again produced six scoring runners in each of the three contests and nine different members of the club have been placed in the first 100. The outstanding new-comer is Jimmy Ennis, who lives in Greenleas Road, Wallasey, who only started competing, seriously in September. He has twice finished in the first 40 in Liverpool League races, beating many more experienced local athletes In the process.
Jimmy, who ran in the Merseyside Marathon, is tall and strong, with an impressive turn of speed and, while he is aiming for fur-ther improvement in the marathon, club officials also believe, he will prove a major asset in the Northern League track meetings next Summer, at either 1,500 metres or 5,000 metres.
Dave Bevan, who comes from South Wales, and is studying at Liverpool Polytechnic has run some excellent times in the past at 3,000 metres and is steadily gaining fitness. Other promising distance runners include Pete Smith, Alan Muir and young James
Downey, a Liverpool University student who has greatly improved this winter with some outstanding cross-country performances.
The best performance of the winter has come from Kevin McGee, another university student, who has long been one of Wallasey's leading middle distance runners. He finished eighth in the last of the Liverpool League cross-country races, and Wallasey also had Bob Brimage and James Roberts home in the first 30, to score a surprising and memorable victory over neighbours Wirral Athletic Club in the team positions.
The girl in form at present is Lynne Kennedy who followed up a solid run for Merseyside Schools in an inter-counties race, by finishing eighth in the Merseyside Women's Intermediate Cross-country Championships at Arrowe Park.
Lynne together with Francesca Phillips, has also qualified via the Wirral Schools Championships for the Merseyside Schools' cross-country title races next February.
Both of them ran for Merseyside in the English Schools' championships last winter and will be bidding to repeat their selection.
But the Wallasey club, also caters for runners of all ages and abilities, including novices. Anyone interested in joining in one of the training sessions will be welcome at Leasowe Leisure Centre on Monday nights, or St. George's Middle School gymnasium in Leasowe Road on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Friday, 24/12/1982 by R. PHILLIPS
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