At St. Helens last Saturday, Wallasey came within 5 points of winning the inter-town youth athletics festival, scoring 91 pts. to St. Helens 96.
In the junior boys section, John Watkins won the long jump with 18ft. 9½ ins. and was second in the 100 yards in 10.8 secs. Eric Kendrick won the javelin with 115 ft. and Bob Parry was 2nd in the shot, just inches behind the winner. Jim Finder won the discus with 139 ft. 5 ins. and then ran into third place in the hurdles, whilst Teddy Oldham was third in the 880 yards in a personal best time of 2 mins, 15 secs. Robin Tarrant was third in the long jump and fourth in the 440 yards as were Eric Griffith and Dave Adair in the mile, whilst the sprinters ran well to win the relay (which was 4 x 220 yards) in 1 min. 40 secs.
The senior boys won their section comfortably and but for the unexplained absence of two star performers would have swung the match decidedly in Wallasey's favour. Results were: John Hughes won the mile in 4 mins. 43.4 secs., with Barrie Smith in fourth position and in the 880 yards John was second and Barrie, third. Peter Newton scored the only double of the meeting, taking the high jump at 5ft. 1 in., and th6 hurdles in 17.2 secs. In the latter event Tony Parry was second in 13.6 after winning the long jump with 17ft. 11½ ins., being placed second in the 100 yards and third in the 440. John Huddart was third in the 100 and the 220, then helped the relay team to second place close behind the winning St. Helens team. Frank Ritter, jumping for the first time in the long jump was second, then had a similar placing in the shot. Cliff Hilliker was second in the discus and. Mike Leonard third, whilst Tony Parry reappeared once more to take second place in both the hurdles and 220 yards, then ran in the relay in which Wallasey were second.
The girls did not fare too well against local teams which included no fewer than five county champions and finished in third position behind St. Helens and Warrington. For Wallasey, Susan Elliott was 2nd in the high jump and 3rd in the javelin; Angela James came third in the discus and the relay team also were third. The final placings, with scores, were:- Boys; ,1st. St. Helens (96 pts.); 2nd Wallasey (91 pts.); 3rd Warrington 24 Pts. and 4th Salford 17 Pts. Girls: 1st. St. Helens 36 pts ; 2nd, Warrington 34 pts.; 3rd Wallasey 6 pts,; 4th, Salford 4 pts.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 11/07/1964 by DISCOBOLUS
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