In the Merseyside Schools Cross-Country Championships, Wirral Schools produced nine of the first twelve finishers from the 90-strong field in the junior boys' race.
After one mile, three Wirral boys pulled away to open up a 50-yard gap. With Mike Hughes forcing the pace, Mike King was content to await his chance, having the faster finish, but the presence of the year younger Nick Harvey caused the leading pair to doubt their own tactics. With 600 yards to go, Mike King went into a narrow lead which he held comfortably on the run to the line with Mike Hughes and Nick Harvey following close behind.
Graham Morgan, Anthony Martin and Mark Poustie finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively and all should now qualify for the All England Schools' at Norwich in March. Special mention must be made of Richard Higgins' performance in finishing 9th. Richard has been training seriously for only three months and has made remarkable progress. The second year boys, James Corbett (11th) and Jonathan Davies (12th), produced their very best form to finish so high in the placings.
In the junior girls' race, Joanne Forrester produced her consistent form, finishing third to ensure a place at the English schools. The scoring six for Wirral were 3, J. Forrester; 25, J. Johnson; 26, S. Brockway; 27, N. Evans; 30, 1. I. Derwent; 35, C. Kine.
In the intermediate boys' race, Richard Jones was below form in finishing 7th, but he showed tremendous spirit in battling through the final mile, as he has suffered since December from the various viruses going around. Nigel Thompson ran extremely well to finish 11th.
In the senior boys event, Peter Crompton was in great form judging his pace well, he came through to finish 6th, with Seb Shepley 7th and the improving Greg Lewis 8th.
Calday Grange Grammar School travelled to Coventry in mid-week for the open 6 x 2 miles cross-country relays; this event attracts schools from all over England. With a team which contained two 13-year-old boys in the under-19 age group, Calday produced a brilliant performance to finish in second place to the host school (Henry the Eighth, Coventry). They defeated such famous schools as Millfield, Doctor Challoners, Bradford Grammar among the 44 competing. John Robinson produced the best performance by running the fastest time of the day 11 mins. 24 secs. 13 seconds faster than the next best. Calday's team was: Nick Harvey, Mike Higgins, Richard Wesencraft, Darrell Jones, Iain Lockett, John Robinson.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Thursday, 07/02/1985 by Dave Jeffs
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