Mr. Alan Pennington son of Alderman and Mrs. John Pennington, of Groveland Road, Wallasey, and a former student of Wallasey Grammar School has secured his B.A. (Law) degree with first class honours.
Mr. Pennington, who is continuing at Hertford College, Oxford, for another year, has thus achieved a coveted distinction despite the fact that he has devoted considerable time to sport. His successes as a sprinter are too well known to need repetition, but it is interesting to record the fact that on August 1st he is to be included in a team to represent Great Britain in London against an American team of record holders.
On Saturday last, Mr. Pennington was second by a foot to Brown, the winner of the 440 yards in the A.A. Championships, White City, London. His appearance in the 440 yards instead of the 220 yards - his usual distance - was his own choice, and we understand he intends to run in the 440 until he wins it and thus achieve what to him is a great ambition.
On Tuesday afternoon next, Mr. Pennington will give an exhibition of sprinting at the New Brighton Summer Vacation School.
Mr. Alan Pennington is to captain the Universities' team to-day.
Yesterday (Friday) the 'Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News' commented upon Pennington's record, giving a full page picture of the Old Wallaseyan as a sprinter.
The journal's comment reads as follows: 'Alan Pennington captains the combined Oxford and Cambridge team against Princeton and Cornell at the White City tomorrow. He will run in both sprints, and his showing in the championships last week suggests that he will win both races. Last year in America he broke the Oxford and Cambridge v. Harvard and Yale record (for the 220 yds. with 21.3 secs., and in Paris the same year he ran 100 metres in 10.6 secs. He gave up athletics last term in favour of his Law finals, which he has successfully passed, and he returns to Oxford next year to take his B.C.L. degree before taking up law as a profession in Wallasey, his home town. Pennington has not only been President of O.U.A.C., but he was also President of Vincent's Club. He holds two O.U.A.C. records - the 100 yards (9.9 secs.) and the 220 yards (21.8 secs.), and he has also equalled Bevil Rudd's quarter-mile record (48.6 sees).
In 1935, when he was at Berkhamsted, he won the Public Schools 100 yards in 10.3 secs. Pennington represented Great Britain at Berlin in 1936 in three events. His style then was apt to be a little dishevelled in a close finish, but his form is now perfectly chiselled - smooth and certain. Athletics are not by any means his only love. He is a very fair footballer and left-handed bat of some distinction. He will be an ideal captain, for he radiates a 'quiet confidence.'
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Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 23/07/1938
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