At Wigan last Saturday, Wallasey Athletic Club's senior team failed by only four points to gain their first Liverpool & District Cross-Country Championship for over forty years.
The individual race was a personal triumph for Brendan Deary of Sefton Harriers whose strong running has been a feature of the local early races. Brian Woolford repeated the previous Saturday's performance by finishing second but this time he had the satisfaction of seeing Martin Cranny of Wirral AC, the Cheshire champion, finish behind him in 3rd place.
John Wright, now almost fully racing fit again, considerably improved on his Cheshire race and finished in fourth position, only about 60 yards behind Cranny. Roy Parry was Wallasey's next man home in 11th position having lost five places at the end of the first lap when he stopped to replace a shoe which had been lost in the scramble at the start, and he was never quite able to make up the lost ground.
Brian Chalton and Kevin Mather both came through strongly on the last lap to take 13th and 14th positions respectively. Completing the scorers and running a good race was John Young in 25th position. David Field again ran quite strongly to finish in 40th place.
Wallasey's points totalled 72, Wirral A.C. had 65 pts., and the third club, Liverpool Pembroke, had 124 pts. The difference in the points shows the superiority of the two Wirral clubs over all others in the district.
In the junior race, Wallasey had only two runners and considering that they were without the support of a team, both turned in very creditable performances. Nigel Thompson was 14th and Mike Teehan finished 19th. The winner was Wigan runner R. Wood, who recently finished 10th in the championship.
ANOTHER FINE RUN BY ALAN BELL
The boys' team again did not quite live up to the expectations of the Wallasey supporters and once more finished in fourth place. Alan Bell was again the mainstay of the team, running a very fine race against some good-class opposition to finish in 7th place. Following Alan home to complete the scoring were David Burns 21st, Robin Tarrant 23rd and Les Watcham 30th. Other members who ran in this race and added their support to the team were David Adair 36th, Eddie Oldham 38th and Brian Wood 44th.
Today, the Inter-Counties Championships are to be decided at Epsom, and Lancashire as the reigning champions must be favourites to retain their title. The individual race is wide open: most people will plump for Ron Hill of Bolton who so far this season is unbeaten over both the road and the country. Best wishes go to club members Ron Barlow and Brian Woolford who represent Cheshire. Roy Parry travels as reserve and at the time of writing it is strongly rumoured that he will be required to run.
There is no race for the remaining club members this week and a club run will be held from the headquarters at Leasowe Playing Fields at 2.30 p.m.
Anyone interested in joining the Club will be welcome at the Clubhouse on Monday or Wednesday evening between 7.0 and 9.30 p.m., or any Saturday afternoon.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 18/01/1964 by STEPTOE
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