The Merseyside Women's Road Relay Championships were held on Sunday at a rainy and windswept Victoria Park in Southport.
Wallasey Athletic Club had three teams taking part and in the minor girls' race, Joanne Johnson started well, taking the lead early on but was not able to hold off the challenge of a strong Liverpool Harriers and Wirral A.C. teams.
She finished the first leg in seventh position handing over to a relative newcomer, Emma Derwent, who ran extremely well, and picked up a position to give Jane McCoy an outside chance of a medal. Unfortunately the gap was to much for Jane to make up, but she ran hard all the way and finished in fifth position. She and Joanne recor-ded excellent times within two seconds of each other for the 1¼ mile distance.
Liesel Phillips and Kerry Eaton ran as two members of the B team, Liesel ran well finishing in 13th position on the first leg. Kerry did not seem to like the cold conditions, and suffered in the wind and rain but battled on to the finish.
In the junior race Lisa O'Hara, suffering from the effects of a bad cold, started well but her lack of strength took its toll and she finished in 15th position. Cheryl Dyer, who prefers the shorter distances gritted her teeth and finished in 18th position.
On the last leg, Louise Hardwick ran a stormer, gaining two places and holding off a strong challenge from a Pilkington girl twice her size. Her time of 7:22 was very good over the distance.
The seniors race saw only 10 teams towing the line, Lynne Kennedy was up with the leaders at the end of the first lap, but could not sustain the pace and had to be content with fifth place.
Her captain, Fran Phillips took over from her and held on to fifth position looking strong and confident on her leg.
Both girls have recently undergone a change of coach and it seems to have done them a power of good with both girls competing better in recent races. On the last leg Sue Knight was drafted into the team at the last minute and performed admirably considering that two weeks ago she was running in the Mersey Marathon and now running, in a 2½ mile relay she suffered on the second lap but carried on to see the team home in eighth position.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 15/10/1983 by Margaret Johnson
Ref 1986