Merseyside schools team which travelled to Birmingham for an inter-counties meeting and four Wallasey A.C. athletes.
The day was marked by a brilliant performance by Kevin McGee in the senior men's 1500 metres. Kevin, and three other athletes set up a lead on the first three laps which gave a classic finish with the duel continuing all the way to the end. Kevin earned himself third place a tremendous performance, especially as he was the youngest in the race, in a personal best time of 4:02.3. Nobody in the club has bettered this for many years. Wallasey A.C. had two girls in the 800m, this was split into two races. In the first, Lynn Jenkinson ran well to gain fifth place in 2:23.5 and in the second, Barbara Jones also took fifth place in 2:24.5.
On the same day at Pilkington's Wallasey A.C.'s senior men were competing in the first round of the Northern league. Despite being weakened by the absence of three athletes, having nine to compete in 32 events, Wallasey won the meeting by a narrow margin from Pilkingtons, followed closely by the other four teams.
In the first event, the 400 m hurdles, Pete Smith finished third in 62.3. He later came fifth in the 400 metres in 55.4 'A' races and second 'B' in the long jump with 5.02 metres.
Neil Tunstall ran a good race to finish second in 68.4 and later ran a great race to win the 110 hurdles in 19.0 seconds. In the second event, the 800 metres, Pete Jones returned to form to gain second place in the time of 2:04.8. Pete also came second in the 'B' race 400 metres in 53.5.
The next event was the 100 metres and Dave Swindell ran a tremendous race to finish second in 11.3 and followed it by another great race in the 110 hurdles 'B' to win in 18.0 seconds. He also finished second in the 'B' team discus, with 17.64 metres and then came third in the 200 metres 'B' with 24.4 seconds.
In the 3,000 metres steeplechase Bob Brimage headed from the start, setting up a comfortable lead and then just running hard enough to win in 10.24 seconds a good time in the strong wind. Bob later ran the 1500 metres finishing second in 4:24.4 and then being fourth in the 5000 metres in 17.44 seconds. In the 'B' 3000 metres steeplechase Alan Smith came second in 12.04 and later came second in the 5000 metres in 17.44.
Running the 'B' 1500 metres, Tommy Bond came first in 4:43.0 after earlier finishing third 'B' 800 metres in 2:18.7. In the 200 metres 'A' race Ian Macleod had an outstanding race, gaining third place in 23.8, this being his first Northern league run. Ian later finished second 'A' in the long jump with 5.62 metres and second 'B' in the triple jump with 10.60 metres.
Wallasey had only one athlete who specialised in field events, Chris Preston, and what a tremendous afternoon he had. Chris won the discus 'A' with 36 metres, won the hammer 'A' with 43.18, finished second 'A' shot in 12.12 metres (just 03 cm behind the winner). Chris also won the 'B' javelin 30.40 metres and came third in the 100 metres 'B' in 12.0.
Wallasey finished second in the 4 x 100 metre relay with 47.9. The team of Ian Macleod, Neil Tunstall, Chris Preston and Dave Swindell put in a tremendous performance. In the 4 x 400 meter relay Pete Jones, on first leg, ran brilliantly to bring Wallasey home in front. Dave Swindell ran second leg, unfortunately dropping to third place (this was his eighth event). Pete Smith ran third leg and caught 30 metres up on his opponents to recover the lead but unfortunately disaster struck again as Bob Brimage could only hobble home in agony in fourth place with cramp.
On Sunday, June 18, Wallasey A.C. competed in the Cheshire league meeting and finished fourth In both men's and women's competitions, reflecting how much the meeting the day before had taken out of the athletes. One of the few good, performances was an incredible run by Mark Bollard in the youths' 200 metres. He won in 23.6 which made him at 19 the fastest athlete in the club. Steve D'arcy in the colts' 200 metres also ran well, finishing second in 29.7, and Janet McGee in the junior ladies 200 metres ran well, finishing third in 29.7.
In the 800 metres Pete Jones and Barbara Jones both ran well despite running hard races the day before. Pete was second in the senior men's 800 metres in 2:04.5, and Barbara came third in the intermediate ladies 800 metres in 2:24.0.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 01/07/1978
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