Club Race Reports Season 1909-1910
Liverpool & District XC Union
Championships - Bebington Showground - 05/02/1910 - Junior Men
The attendance of spectators at Bebington Show Ground, in the Wirral Peninsula, to witness the championship of the Liverpool District Association was not sufficient to gladden the heart of the treasurer.
Rain had fallen all the morning in the district, and although it had been the means of making the course exceedingly heavy, the splendid entries of clubs and competitors and the assurance of accommodation so perfect should have been the means of attracting a much larger crowd.
With the departure of rain soon after midday. Came glorious sunshine and a fine atmosphere, and when the juniors were due to make their appearance everything looked promising for a fine afternoon's sport,
Junior turnout - The ten teams tamed out as per the programme, exactly 108 runners being dispatched on their way from the far side of the track. An improvement on previous arrangements enabled the runners to clear out of the grounds into the country without first traversing one circuit of the track.
There was one outstanding performer when one lap had been covered, about two miles; this was last year's winner, Louis Drinkwater, St. Helens Recreation. His performance at Rainford only two weeks ago did not show him in a favourable light. Evidently he had not prepared himself. On Saturday last he was a vastly superior runner. He strode out with confidence, his style easy, yet disclosing an amount of strength and speed. H. H. Herbert, a winner of two seasons ago, came next in order, with W. H. Begg about 80 yards behind, and J. W. Fraser the same distance away. The only changes in the next lap were the movement forward of McGuffog to second place and the falling away to fourth place of H. H. Herbert.
Drinkwater had increased his lead by about 50 yards, and as the leaders left the enclosure for the third and last time it looked like an easy and certain victory for the St. Helens Recreation man. Therefore, when the men were sighted half a mile from home it occasioned no surprise to find Drinkwater still forging ahead. He entered the ground with a handsome lead of 200 yards, which was reduced by W. H. Begg. Who ran a well-judged race.
The desperate efforts of many of the runners to regain a few higher places in the list was left, as is nowadays a common occurrence, until the track was reached, and only a matter of 300 yards had to be covered. The racing of some of the juniors at this period of the contest would have been creditable to many finishes in one-mile track races. These performances were exciting to the spectators. Who relished the vigorous struggles, but they could hardly have been so inspiriting to club officials, who saw chances thrown away earlier in the contest. As a matter of fact, the judges' task was no sinecure, and more than one dead-heat might have been recorded. As it was, the judges failed to separate the pair who followed the second man home.
The season's performances of Wallasey A.C. entitled them to the honour of being styled favourites for team awards, but, as is so often the case with absolute certainties, the result did not justify the confidence. The team met with a portion of bad luck at the start when a prominent member. R. J. Lowes, had the misfortune to be spiked, and his shoe torn from his foot. This weakening had its full effect, but not enough to make the difference of 33 points. H. S. Mellander bore his portion of the contest with a due regard for his ponderous junior figure. In the forefront at the start, he occupied a position two minutes behind the leader after one lap had been covered. W. Wharton who ran so well for St. Austin's, at Rainford, never figured on Saturday in a promising position. When the placings came to be totalled up it was seen that victory had gone to Liverpool Boundary Harriers, with Wallasey second, the same position they held a year ago. Members of the winning team were always prominent; they packed well in the early stages, and as the race progressed the back men gave the desired support to the leaders and made victory doubly certain by doing more than maintain their position in the last circuit.
