Feast of fast running for spectators

4:31pm Tuesday 11th March 2008

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TWENTY Wirral AC athletes represented Merseyside Schools in the English Schools' Cross Country Championships in Sefton Park as part of Liverpool 2008.

With firm underfoot conditions for most of the races, spectators were treated to a feast of fast running by the best young athletes in the country.

It proved a torrid afternoon for Merseyside, with only four athletes making the first 50 in the six races. The best Merseyside team result was eighth in the Intermediate Girls, with Nicole Haviland (93rd) and Georja Busetto (120th) in the counting six.

Andrew Gawne had the best Wirral run of the day, finishing 56th - just a couple of places behind the leading Merseyside counter. Shaun Egan (90th) and Chris Cooper (137th) both featured in the count as the team came ninth.

Chris Smith, competing in the 800m at the Under-20 England Championships in Birmingham, sliced several seconds off his best indoor time in 1min 54.58secs in qualifying - and ran almost as fast to take second place in the final, just edged out by 0.2secs in a tight finish with Rick Ward (Norwich).

In London, at Lee Valley, Julie Money won the 60m in the 40-44 age group at the British Masters Championships in a time of 8.23secs. For good measure she also picked up the silver medal in the 200m in 27.97secs, just 0.04secs slower than the winner.Becky McLinden also competed in the Under-20 England Championships at Birmingham, making the semi-final of the 400m, before going out in 57.46secs. She went out in the heats of the 200m, as did Kate Brick in the 60m.