At the Francon Trophy Meeting at Woodchurch, Wallasey A.C. took fifth place.
Wirral A.C. were the hosts for the new trophy meeting. The trophy, valued at £500, was won outright by the late Sep Francon, a founder of the Wirral club, when he finished first in the Hull 20 miles road race three successive years, 1912-13-14, running in the Olympic Games of 1912.
The Wallasey squad could never quite come to terms with the strong teams competing, Stoke A.C. and Wirral A.C. being particularly good on the day. The Wirral club gained second place and revenge for the defeats by Wallasey A.C. in the Merseyside League.
Absent from the Wallasey team were Pete Lewis and Mike Teahan, competing elsewhere, Susan Carter, Doug Hanna and Andy Fulton - all on holiday.
Best performance of the day was from Dave Lockley, who celebrated his selection for the Cheshire Athletics team with a personal best over 1500 metres. After some brave help in the early pace making by colleague Bob Warburton, Dave led for the final 800 metres, covering the final lap in 63 seconds, to finish 15 metres up on his nearest rival, T. Harper (Wirral A.C.), Bob eventually finishing sixth.
Earlier Bob ran a good positive race in the 800 metres to finish third in one minute, 59.7 seconds. Alan Cheers found the strong headwind a problem in the triple jump but still managed to win and later in the afternoon won the 100 metres.
Not quite on winning form but still performing well were Bob Brimage (5000 metres) and John Rollands (High jump).
The weaker Youths' section did not have the same success, their best performance coming from Pete Martin in the 1500 metres were he ran a well judged race to take fifth in four minutes, 27 seconds. The Boys' section performed with credit, best efforts coming from Neil Simpson and Davy Jones.
The small ladies contingent did well to compete in every event, Barbara Banks in the 800 metres, Margaret Ashcroft in the 400 metres, Mary Caldwell in the 400 metres and Susan Kew in the 200 metres showed up best.
Julie Halfpenny and Gillian Murray ran well in the intermediate girls' 800 metres, both running above their normal distances and they held on well to finish well up the field.
In the intermediate girls section the limited programme failed to give the competitors much scope. Susan Murray, Jillian King and Sylvia Brimage did, however, gain some useful points.
The relays did not produce any performances of note, although the senior team gave some indication that they may be a force to contend with next season, the running of Robin Tarrant, making a comeback to running was particularly encouraging.
At Atherton, Pete Lewis ran an excellent 800 metres. Joining Dave Lockley in the Cheshire team for the first time will be Pete Lewis in the 800 metres and Alan Cheers in the long jump. They will be competing in the inter-counties at Leicester on August 29.
Today the club will be competing in The Leigh Harriers open meeting.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 22/08/1970 by P.M.W.
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