Any hopes the club had of being placed in the Ham Finney Trophy race last week were dashed when two members were unable to turn out because of illness. Nevertheless Bob McCaig and Ramsey Hewson volunteered to complete the team which eventually placed sixth out of fourteen teams.
The venue for this year's race was Leyland, and the host club chose one of the best cross-country courses that I have seen for some time. There were numerous obstacles and two streams that were both deep and wide. In addition heavy rain falling continuously made the going very hard, At the start Brian Woolford, Kevin Mather and Bill Morris were soon well up, with Woolford challenging North and Swarbrick (both Blackpool) for the lead. Other club runners, Young, Howard, Chalton, McCaig and Hewson were much further back at this stage. After the first lap Woolford was still third, but Swarbrick had dropped back and his place was taken by Hodgson (Blackpool) Kevin Mather maintained his position but Morris had a bad day and slipped back. The finaI club positions were: - B. Woolford (3rd), K. Mather (11th), W. Morris (48th), J. Young (61st), J. Howard (84th), B. Chalton (85th), R. Hewson (99th)
and R. McCaig (100th).
Blackpool and Fylde won the Ham Finney Trophy with 137 pts, (1, 2, 8, 12, 14, 20, 37), and Warrington were second with 215 pts. followed by Wirral with 257 pts.
In a youth race held after the senior event Wallasey had only two Peter Meldrum and David Martin, Both these lads ran well over a course which had been churned up by the seniors they finished 6th and 11th respectively.
Today some members of the club are traveling to Kendal for the annual 5 mile road handicap. The last Mob run also takes place from Wirral H. Q. at 3:00 p.m.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 09/12/1961 by P.W.C.
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