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Club Race Reports Season 1937-1938



Liverpool & District XC Union



Championships - Court Hey - 05/03/1938 - Senior Men


In the 9-mile race of the Liverpool & District Cross-Country Championships at Broadgreen last Saturday, Liverpool Pembroke Harriers gave a brilliant display placing the first six men home. They thus broke a record for the event that had stood since 1914, when Wallasey A.C., then in its heyday, had seven out of the first eight. N. Jones, Johnson and Frost of Pembroke led throughout the race, well clear of the rest of the field of about 80 runners. On the last lap, Jones went ahead of his clubmates to win fairly easily by about 20 yards. On this performance, Pembroke stand a good chance in the National Championships that are being run to-day at Reading. As anticipated, Wallasey A.C. seniors put up a better show than for several seasons, though they just failed to get a team position. K. Westmore and J. Edwards ran very well to finish 9th and 11th respectively, the former gaining the medal awarded to the first man home of an unplaced team. W. Richardson, the Wallasey captain, also had reason to be satisfied with his position, for he had only recently recovered from a leg injury and was not in proper training. The rest of the club packed well but unfortunately it was at the wrong end of the race. W. Davey, of Wallasey, was unable to turn out to defend his junior title, and the team had therefore, little hope of success in this event. The race over 6 miles (two laps of the course) was won by E. Jones, of Liverpool University in the fast time of 35 mins. 12 secs., with Downs (Sefton) second and Riley (Wirral) third. Chief interest from Wallasey's point of view lay in the performance of N. Marples, the junior captain, who run brilliantly to finish fifth very close behind the leaders. This achievement was all the more creditable as this is his first year in the junior ranks and he had moreover little incentive to run hard as the team could hardly hope for a place. Marples has a very easy style and a long stride and is at his best over a longer distance than 6 miles. There is no doubt that he will be in championship class in a few years. Next to Marples, D. Grisedale also did very well to finish 10th. Here is another runner in whom Wallasey A.C. has high hopes for the future. He showed on Saturday that he has not only the running ability but also, what is more important, the tenacity to keep a position and run for the rest of its counters. Eventually, however, a full team finished, J. Kelly, after a close struggle over the last lap with a University representative, just managing to avoid the distinction of coming in last. In the youths' race over 2 miles, W. Marsh of Pembroke won easily in 37 min. 44 secs. From Owen of Liverpool H. and Craddock of Sefton. Andrews was the only Wallasey runner to distinguish himself, finishing 8th in excellent style. Fishwick, handicapped by a bad cold was not up to his usual form and could do no better than 23rd.