To-day is the last day of the cross-country season and from now until October next the members of Wallasey Athletic Club will concentrate their activities on track events.
Many have already commenced their training and two, A. Pennington and D. H. Irving have already set the ball rolling, the former by winning both 100 yds. and 220 yds. events at the Good Friday sports meeting held on the Police Athletic Ground at Stanley, and the latter by gaining a third prize at the same meeting.
A. Pennington is the son of Councillor Pennington and there is no doubt that this young man is one of the smartest sprinters in the North of England at the present time; he should gain at least one championship medal before the season closes.
To return to 'the country', Wallasey A.C. held their annual championships a fortnight ago, the senior and novice events being run off at the same time in conjunction with a sealed handicap. There were twenty-two starters, fourteen being eligible to compete for the Wright Challenge Trophy, the principal prize in the novice race. Mr. W. S. Brookes gave the starting signal about 3.50 p.m. and the field was led off the mark by F. K. Ledward who set a furious pace for the first half mile, causing W. R. Richardson, the favourite for the Senior Race, the gravest misgivings. However, the marshes took their inevitable toll of pace, and by the time Bidston was reached Richardson had taken the lead and Ledward had fallen back to fourth place, behind Calveley and Morgan, with F. G. Ambrose, H. C. Binns and H. Jones close behind. That seasoned warrior, Bob Young, was also 'on the premises' as was Baird, a new recruit, but W. Geddes, who had been quietly fancied for the sealed handicap, was obviously not too happy, and P. Small appeared to have abandoned all hope.
By the time Moreton was reached, Richardson had pulled out a huge lead over the whole field with the exception of T. B. Calveley who was clinging grimly to his heels, and it was obvious at this point that so far as the individual championships were concerned it was all over bar the shouting; Ledward and Morgan were over a minute behind the two leaders and neither was moving with sufficient ease to suggest that they might turn the tables. In fact it seemed to be doubtful if they would be successful in holding their positions in front of Ambrose who was lying fifth and who appeared to be travelling exceptionally fast. H. C. Binns was still in close attendance but H. Jones had lost ground to Bob Young who was running very fast at this stage and taking every advantage of the good going under foot.
Richardson won the senior championship, crossing the finishing line seven seconds ahead of Calveley, the novice winner, but Ledward surprisingly failed to annex the second senior medal, being beaten by B. Morgan who galloped home 13 seconds ahead of him. Ambrose crowned an afternoon of sterling endeavour by capturing the honour of runner-up in the novice event and there is no doubt that his was the most meritorious performance of the day; he was the only competitor to make any substantial improvement on his previous best recorded time for the course.
Results. - Senior Race:
1. W. R. Richardson 39 50
2. B. Morgan 41 05
3. F. K. Ledward 41 18
4. R. Young 41 55
5. W. G. Williams 43 01
6. J. Edwards 43 05
Junior race:
1. T. B. Calveley 39 57
2. F. G. Ambrose 41 31
3. H. C. Binns 42 08
4. H. Jones 42 50
The sealed handicap, for which there were four prizes, resulted as follows:- 1, J. Edwards; 2; R. Young; 3, Baird; 4. W. Geddes. It is worthy of note that 37 seconds 'covered' the four prize-winners in the last mentioned race.
To-day, commencing at 3.15 p.m., the Wallasey A.C. will hold a handicap over ????
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 07/04/1934
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