Wallasey athlete Dave Lockley showed a welcome return to form last Saturday, when he won the youths' 2¼mile road race, held on King's Parade, as part of the Wallasey Festival of Sport.
There had been speculation whether or not the team from Warley (Birmingham), the Midlands champions, were going to prove too much of a handful for the local team, but after a fast start, in which they packed their five runners into the leading positions, Wallasey took over and dominated the remainder of the race.
Once Lockley hit the front there was no holding him and in recording 11 minutes 40.5 seconds he had more than 10 seconds to spare over the second runner, J. Harvey (Warley), with Cheshire junior mile champion Johnny Jones 3rd in 11-52.4.
The third counter for Wallasey's "A" team was Melvin Schless (4th), with eight seconds in hand over Steve Walker, who was 5th but first counter for the "B" team. Schless' time was 12 minutes, with Walker 12-28.
Phil Wealthy in 9th place (12-53.5) and John Horobin 14th, obviously short of running practice, closed up the remaining two positions.
SENIOR RELAY WIN FOR LIVERPOOL
With the non-appearance of Manchester, who were favourites to win the event, Liverpool took on the role of victors late in the senior relay race, when international cross-country runner Mike Turner pulled his team from 3rd place to 1st on the last leg.
John Wright took the injured Ron Barlow's place in the "A" team for Wallasey and returned in 5th place, having run the first leg in 11 minutes 41 seconds and passed the onus on to club secretary Brian Woolford, who showed his usual determination by lifting his team into 2nd place behind Michelin (Stoke) in 11-37; whilst for the "B" team, Mike McNamee had returned in 7th place on the first leg in 13-21 and Len Durkin had recovered a place in 12-03.
SMITH IN FORM
The third stage was entrusted to Barrie Smith ("A") and Doug Hanna ("B"), and whilst Doug held his placing with 13-09, Barrie upset the form book by running his lap in 11-36, one second faster than Brian Woolford and Wallasey's fastest man.
In doing so he led Terry Harper, the well-known Wirral runner, for the entire lap before conceding the lead on approaching the takeover point and handed to Alan Keating only one second down.
The "B" team's fourth runner failed to put in an appearance so Doug Hanna finished for his team in 6th place with a personal 13-09.
Meanwhile, the "A" team's last man had "blasted off" too fast and after half a mile had been covered he was 50 yards ahead of the Wirral man in second place, with Turner of Liverpool closing fast. Alan paid the price of a too-fast start when he was caught by both runners with a mile to go, but hung on to clinch 3rd place for Wallasey behind Liverpool and Wirral A.C.
The majority of runners commented that with a bigger entry next year this race could become an annual event and Wallasey Athletic Club are indebted to Alderman T. Garnett for presenting the handsome prizes and Liverpool Post and Echo for the magnificent trophy put up by them for the senior relay, as presented by their representative Paul O'Brien.
INTER-CLUB TODAY AT BLACKBURN
Today, the Wallasey club visit Blackburn, where the host club entertain Liverpool H., Stretford A.C., Blackpool A.C. and Wallasey A.C. in an inter-club match and some fast times can expected on this well maintained track.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 17/06/1967 by DISCOBOLUS
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